Warner Bros. is ramping up its marketing campaign for Justice League with a series of spotlight videos centering on its principal cast, although the latest promo may have given away a bit more than they intended. The last two weeks have seen the release of previews highlighting Aquaman and the the Flash, respectively, and while both showed off brief glimpses of never before seen footage, neither gave away anything that could be considered all that spoiler-y. In fact, the biggest takeaway fans had from them is that -- assuming the trend held true, and each of the 5 confirmed Justice Leaguers would get their own week -- the current schedule would leave one week open before Justice League hit theaters...a seven day stretch presumably reserved for the highly anticipated return of the film's Superman.
For reasons that aren't entirely clear, this week, the marketing team behind the movie elected to pair up two of its heroes to create 'Wonder Woman and Cyborg Week'. Fans who aren't very familiar with these characters will be learning more about them in the days to come, though we might have learned more about Cyborg's story arc in this promotional video than we would have preferred. Then again, we may be completely off-base and reading too far into things; it's hard to tell these days. We've included the video in question below for reference, but if you don't want a potentially crucial character moment spoiled for you before you see the movie, we suggest you close this web page now.
-- Final SPOILER Warning --
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The promo for Cyborg (aka Victor Stone) plays out in the same style as the previous videos starring Aquaman and the Flash, with a few brief glimpses of new footage along with voiceover narration from star Ray Fisher, who lays out the need to know bullet points for his character. But if you pause the video precisely at the 1:00 mark, you'll see a confrontation between Cyborg and the main villain of the Justice League movie, Steppenwolf. The big bad, flanked by his Parademon troopers, looks to be holding up a few folks in white lab coats while he literally holds up a man sporting a brown coat, a man we believe to be Victor's father, Silas Stone.
Playing the second-long glimpse in super slow-motion gives you a better look at the action, although it seems pretty cut and dry at first glance: Cyborg hits the villain with an energy blast, Steppenwolf reels from the blow, the end. But upon closer inspection, we're not so sure Darkseid's underling is simply holding up Silas (Joe Morton) with his hands as much as he is impaling him through the chest. You can even see what appears to be a blade popping out from behind Silas -- could that be Steppenwolf's crazy-powerful war axe that we've seen wreak so much destruction in other trailers?
First things first, that's almost certainly Silas Stone. The brown lab coat he's wearing in this scene is the same one he sported in a previous trailer -- where we saw him getting creeped on by a kidnappy looking Parademon -- and the fact that he's surrounded by folks in white coats all but cements that it's Cyborg's dad who is in mortal danger here. In both the comics and the DCEU, Dr. Stone is the man responsible for transforming Victor into the superhero he is today, having performed an experimental procedure on his son in order to save him from certain death following an accident. The S.T.A.R. Labs employee's actions understandably leave him on shaky ground with his son, but Cyborg would surely still do anything in his power to save his dad's life...including taking on an all-powerful war lord from Apokolips, it seems.
Whether or not Steppenwolf is actually killing Silas Stone here is entirely debatable, of course. That may not be a bloodied war axe bursting through his back, and the baddie may simply be holding him in the air as a threat. After all, Silas knows about as much about these mysterious Mother Boxes we keep hearing about as anyone on Earth; killing him wouldn't exactly be a bright move on Steppenwolf's part. But still, it wouldn't be a huge surprise if the death of his father proves to be the Uncle Ben-like moment that Cyborg needs to rise to the occasion and join up with the Justice League. And if Doc Stone has to go, we could even see something resembling a callback to Joe Morton's fantastically delivered death in Terminator 2 (easily one of the finest movie deaths ever). You've gotta take the good with the bad.
Next: Cyborg’s Character Sees the Biggest Evolution
So what do you think? Is Steppenwolf killing Silas Stone in this glimpse, or are we reading way too far into a simple character trailer? Sound off in the comments.
