WARNING: This article contains potential SPOILERS for Justice League
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The Justice League may be Earth's greatest heroes, but Steppenwolf's secret weapon may be one only Superman can stop. Simply stating that the villain of DC's upcoming Justice League movie has a secret weapon at all is sure to surprise some fans: the marketing so far has shown his known weapons are enough to conquer nations, if not planets. But as the trailers and promos for the movie have shown more and more of Steppenwolf, his Parademon soldiers, and the Apokoliptian tech they use to attack Earth, an unexpected threat may have been revealed. It's not a blade or gun to kill the movie's heroes, and it may not even be alien technology used to turn Superman evil.
If the trailer reveal what they appear to, then Steppenwolf's attack will be against the planet Earth itself. Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Batman may all be able to defeat Parademons in a fight, and outsmart Darkseid's top general as a team. But saving the planet from the infection of Apokolips? Well, that's looking like a task only Superman could tackle - if anyone.
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To explain our theory for Steppenwolf and Darkseid's actual assault on Earth, readers will need to be brought up to speed on a unique piece of Apokoliptian technology. It's one that hasn't been regularly used in many comic book stories, but played a major role in one of the best known Darkseid stories of the modern age. We'e all heard about the Mother Boxes.
Justice League fans, it's time to learn about Hellspores.
The Goal of Apokolips: Conquer Planet Earth
Considering how obviously the twin worlds of DC's 'New Gods' are built in the image of Heaven and Hell, New Genesis and Apokolips don't need to be intimately understood for readers or comic enthusiasts to grasp. Take one look at the scorched planet known as Apokolips, kingdom of Darkseid - armies and workers enslaved, massive fire pits ejecting lava, fire, ash, and smoke into the sky - and everyone knows that's a fate never to be wished on any peaceful world. So when Darkseid threatens to conquer and enslave Earth to a similar fate - as seen in Bruce Wayne's BvS 'Knightmare' - it isn't just humanity's way of life that must be defended: it's the right of every living plant and creature to exist. It's for that reason that Darkseid is such an effective 'big bad,' and so easy a figure to rally against (hopefully the same can be said for his uncle, Steppenwolf).
Still, that only covers the what and the why of Darkseid's Hellish empire spreading: he apparently consumes worlds, transforming their surfaces into scorched deserts of explosive fire. Their inhabitants? The Justice League trailer shows them turned into Parademons. He does it all because he's evil. But that doesn't explain HOW worlds are consumed, or how the energy and heat within them is turned into fuel for Darkseid's armies and war machines. That was, until trailers showed more and more of Steppenwolf and the Parademon attacks on Earth - featuring the villain smashing his axe into the ground, creating fiery rifts and burning everything around him to a crisp.
It helps to char a battlefield and set the cinematic mood, but there's obviously more going on in the consumption of a planet than heat. Thankfully, the world of DC Comics offers one of the only hints at the secret to Apokoliptian world-eating - and why only a being as powerful as Superman could ever reverse it.
The Hellspores of the DC Comics Universe
Comic book movie fans would expect there to be a rich history, filled with famous stories of Darkseid conquering heroic or peaceful worlds, revealing the science, geology, and fantasy of world-conversion in the process (like the Kryptonian World Engine of Man of Steel, for instance). But that's not really the case. In fact, one of the only clues to the science fiction of Apokolips - in other words, what Darkseid would even do with Earth - comes from the 2004 story "The Supergirl From Krypton." In it, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman head to Apokolips to rescue the titular Supergirl. And it's only when Batman turns the secret weapon of Darkseid's technological arsenal against him that the villain must forfeit. Depicted as black orbs, this twist on the mythology of Apokolips was writer Jeph Loeb's explanation for the method to Darkseid's madness.
The weapon is actually not intended as a weapon at all, but a means to convert slave worlds into energy sources. These are the Hellspores, and all that's known about them is what's shown in the image above: a single spore can blast its way through a planet's crust and send its molten core erupting in a firepit on the surface (just like those seen in the Knightmare).
You have to admit, it's effective. And going by the new reveals in the latest Justice League trailers and promos, we think the movie may be following this example. Which explains why the team will need Superman's powers to stop a global chain reaction.
Steppenwolf Infects Earth With Hellspores
The most intriguing feature of the device is the name itself: "Hellspore," blurring the line between its manufactured design and organic nature, with these single spores triggering a planet's transformation into a new Hell. Literally spreading the corruption of Apokolips like an infection from one planetary host to the next. Nothing else would be needed to make Bruce Wayne's vision of the future seem plausible, since only a few such firepits would be needed to begin Earth's terraforming. The dots would be connected... but it's not really adding anything for its live-action interpretation - either to the Hellspores, or the implied 'evil ecology' of Apokolips the planet.
By now, most will realize why the above image, pulled from the final Justice League trailer, has our attention. The Chernobyl-like setting of Justice League's final act has led to much speculation, both for the radioactivity potentially fueling Steppenwolf's evil scheme, and the rumors of Wonder Woman 2 being tied to Soviet Russia. Aside from those details, which may or may not be true, the nuclear cooling towers spewing forth an army seems to reveal something more important. Not the Parademons spilling out to capture nearby civilians, but the small, black, orb-like objects which seem distinctly different from the Parademons at a great distance.
This is the real threat, we suspect. Not that Steppenwolf wants to blast a hole or two down to the Earth's core... but infect it with something alien.
Can Superman Heal The World - Literally?
Whether or not you're convinced by any of the points we've raised, the fact remains: where early trailers showed Justice League set against a red sky, paying homage to the "Crises" of the comic book universe, and hinting at Steppenwolf gaining power, the final versions show something different. Purple growths erupting from underground, and glowing tentacles crawling across and claiming structures, cooling to a dark, colorless crust (reminiscent of the Apokoliptian architecture). Batman may be able to speed between these fungus-like growths, but stopping the process is going to be more difficult. Which is where that semi-organic nature of the Hellspores - either the comic versions, or these - may play a factor.
Wonder Woman can battle Steppenwolf. Aquaman can slay Parademons with a smile. The Flash can get the innocent out of harm's way. Cyborg can (hopefully) overpower and divide the Mother Boxes. Will it fall to Batman to bring Superman back... since he's the hero who can do the impossible? Impossible, as in 'stop the spread of an infection set to take over and destroy all of Earth.' After all, Superman is the only hero whose powers are based in organic superheroics, with his cells converting the sun's light into new energy - a talent that makes him closer to plant than animal. At least where his superpowers are concerned.
We don't know what role, if any, Superman will play in the plot of Justice League. At this point, it appears that his fellow heroes will be able to handle Steppenwolf well enough as a team. Which means the threat that calls Superman back from the grave, if there is one, is going to be more than an alien warrior. It only makes sense that he'll be needed to save the world itself.
Let us know your own theories, or whether or not you think we're onto something in the comments.
