Warner Bros. has released a new red-band trailer for their upcoming animated movie, Injustice, which will release on October 19, 2021. Matt Peters (director of 2017's Justice League Dark) serves as director for the film, with Ernie Altbacker (Batman: Hush) penning the screenplay. The film is an adaptation of the video game, Injustice: Gods Among Us and the subsequent graphic novel, Injustice: Gods Among Us: Year One.
The broad strokes of Injustice's various incarnations remain consistent: the story is set on an alternate Earth where Superman (Justin Hartley) is driven mad by the tragic death of Lois Lane (Laura Bailey) and their unborn child – an incident incited by the nefarious Joker (Kevin Pollack). In his grief, Superman establishes a totalitarian regime to police Earth with an iron fist. As The Regime's grip on society began to tighten, many grew disenchanted with Superman's rule, leading Batman (Anson Mount) and his allies to form a resistance movement called The Insurgency to liberate Earth from Superman's regime. Due to the bleak subject matter, the Injustice franchise isn't afraid to show copious amounts of violence and gore (the source material is a fighting game, after all). It appears now that the upcoming film adaptation will follow suit.
Warner Bros.' latest red-band trailer for Injustice shows just how brutal the upcoming film will be. The trailer shows Superman brutally murdering the Joker in his interrogation cell – something even the original video game refrained from showing entirely. Check out the full trailer below:
Click here to watch the trailer.
The trailer clearly shows that Peters' film will (quite literally) pull no punches in adapting the more gruesome aspects of Injustice's story. Indeed, DC's animated film library as a whole is notorious for its gritty interpretations of famous comic storylines. In many cases, the edgy tone works; however, it can also work to an adaptation's detriment, which was famously the case for the animated adaptation of Alan Moore's Batman: The Killing Joke. In The Killing Joke, the writers added superfluous sex scenes that muddled an already problematic storyline featuring Barbara Gordon (AKA Batgirl).
Grittiness for the sake of being gritty is a recurring criticism of certain R-rated movies. However, given how dark Injustice's source material already is, the shock factor generated from additional gore and violence could help supplement the story's themes. That said, the quality of the final product will always rest in execution. Hopefully, Peters and co. have struck a balance with their adaptation of Injustice.
Source: Warner Bros.