We have known for some time now that Batman (Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) and the members of the newly-formed Justice League would tackle Steppenwolf in their upcoming adventure. But even after visiting the London set of Zack Snyder's ensemble pic, we left unsure who would be playing the DC villain, or how they would bring him to life on the big screen. Now, however, an answer has landed.
Game of Thrones character actor Ciaran Hinds will play Steppenwolf, and use a motion-capture suit to enhance his performance, The Wrap is reporting. The technique will be similar to what Josh Brolin is using in Marvel's cinematic universe to play Thanos, the Mad Titan. But having an actor underneath the CGI to lend an actual performance is crucial, and Snyder, it seems, will rely on Ciaran Hinds to bring Steppenwolf to life.
Ciaran Hinds is a fantastic actor who has decades of experience bringing forceful, burly, nuanced characters to life on screen. He has played around in genre fare before, starring in Hitman: Agent 47, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, and playing Aberforth Dumbledore in the Harry Potter series. He picked up awards as part of the ensemble of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, but is capable of going to bat in just about anything, so he'll only enhance the ensemble Snyder has built for Justice League.
Steppenwolf, meanwhile, has a long history in the DC Comics, starting off as the Uncle of Darkseid. It's unclear whether or not Zack Snyder will maintain that origin in the comics, and some fans were curious why Snyder would lead his first Justice League movie with Steppenwolf and NOT Darkseid, especially when the latter was teased in the infamous Knightmare sequence in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
When we visited the set of Justice League, we learned that Batman (Bruce Wayne) will continue to recruit metahumans following the "death" of Superman (Henry Cavill), and will also have to fend off parademons who are seeking three Mother Boxes that are being sought by Steppenwolf. The reveal of the villain was kept hidden from the press on the set tour, but we saw what he'd look like on screen, and it was very similar to the Communion scene that Zack Snyder released the week after Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice came out.
The Justice League movie opens in theaters on November 17, 2017. What do you think of this casting?
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