YMMV / Justice League: Gods and Monsters

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Bruce Timm admitted that the entire Chronicles series was to ease fans into understanding wildly different interpretations of classic characters. Specifically Harley Quinn, one of his own personal creations, being reinterpreted as a very dark Serial Killer versus the bubbly, Broken Bird Anti-Villain she is better known as.
  • Was this Universe's Darkseid really nicer and more reasonable than his mainstream counterpart, or did he plan to betray New Genesis later only to have Highfather react faster than him?
  • When Magnus reveals his status as the Big Bad, he says this to Kirk about his jealousy over Tina's feelings for Kirk: "Even after I turned you into a monster, even after that, she still wanted you". While Kirk doesn't have any reaction to this line and Magnus warned Kirk that it should be tested, and it was Kirk's idea in the first place, so it's not conclusive proof, some have taken this to mean that Magnus turned Kirk into a vampire on purpose, out of jealousy.
  • Was Tina really in love with Kirk? Or was Magnus jealous of what was simply a deep friendship? Was Kirk really romantically attracted to her?
• Audience-Alienating Premise: While many superhero fans welcomed the What If? interpretations with open arms, especially with Bruce Timm's signature on it, general audience members were apparently turned off by it, presumably because of the departures from the iconic character depictions to rather obscure and drastically different characterizations. Sadly, this trope was apparently strong enough that the movie became the Direct to Video equivalent of a Box Office Bomb, resulting in it becoming a Stillborn Franchise.
• Broken Base: This project quickly became divisive and controversial. While many fans are glad to see Bruce Timm involved in a new animated movie and series again, many other fans despise the dark tone and premise of this new series, disappointed that this isn't a new DC Animated Universe project, and are afraid about it. Though opinions generally became more positive after the last two episodes of Chronicles.
• Catharsis Factor: Alternate Universe or not, since the DCAU saw Darkseid always being a Karma Houdini, it is quite enjoyable to see him and his cohorts be completely slaughtered.
  • It's also pretty satisfying to watch Batman maul Harley Quinn after she murdered several people including a little boy.
  • Superman destroying the murderous Metal Men after all the lives they've taken.
• Complete Monster:
  • Prequel comic: Jackson Alpert, better known as Dr. Psycho, is an egomaniacal madman who seeks to evolve humanity to the next stage so he may lord over it as a god. Having taken part in the CIA's MKUltra experiments, Psycho performed extra tests on his subjects to turn them into rampaging mutants who wreaked death and havoc. Years later, Psycho keeps a group of superhumans as his enslaved experiments, threatening to agonizingly end their elongated lives at a moment's notice if they dare question his orders. After a failed attempt to torturously experiment on Superman, Dr. Psycho transforms himself into "Imperiex" and lays siege to Earth with his evolved humans, letting them run rampant while he controls the Justice League in his plan to eradicate the minds of all life on Earth and impose his own will onto them. Uncaring for the dozens who he tortures and experiments on and even less for the hundreds who die by his schemes, Psycho is called out by the League for disguising his blatantly self-serving goals as "peace" for humankind.
  • Chronicles' "Twisted" short: Harley Quinn stands in stark contrast to her mainstream portrayal. An utter psychopath, Harley abducts civilians before mutilating and killing them, making "toys" out of their mangled corpses. When Batman rescues a teenage girl Harley kidnapped, she tries to kill them both. During their fight, Batman comes across a makeshift "family" of the people Harley has murdered, including a young boy.
• Creepy Awesome: Vampire Batman. Nuff said.
• Cry for the Devil: Weirdly enough, you can feel the inverse reaction of Catharsis Factor, as well. Given the viciousness of Highfather and the New Gods attack to Darkseid and his cronies, that turn in a real slaughter for the inhabitants of Apokolips, it is possible to root for Darkseid in this scene.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Due to Kirk Langstrom's general lack of social skills, emotionless attitude and the fact he was apparently always seen as a freak, some fans have theorized he is subject to Asperger Syndrome.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Harley Quinn; if you do a search for fanart from this movie, a good portion of it will be of or include her.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: The majority of fanfics for this film have Kirk and Hernan as a couple, so it's clear that nobody was interested in Hernan's relationship with Bekka or Kirk's crush on Tina.
• Fetish Retardant: Bekka's Wonder Woman outfit. It's meant to be a revealing and alluring outfit that shows that this Wonder Woman is more sexually liberated than other incarnations, but it's almost comically impractical to wear in combat, or even to put on. The Optimus Prime-esq helmet she squeezes her head into is ESPECIALLY distracting.
• Harsher in Hindsight: In this movie, Benjamin Bratt voices Superman, who among other things, hero-worships his father, General Zod, only to learn of his villainous actions in life, spurring him to a Heel Realization. In Coco, Bratt voices Ernesto de la Cruz, a celebrity who the protagonist, Miguel, thinks is his ancestor and tries to get his blessing from, only to find out that he's both a fraud and the man who murdered his real ancestor. This likewise spurs Miguel into a Heel Realization when he realizes how selfish he's been in his own character arc.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Kirk and Tina would later voice archenemies Toffee and Queen Moon in Star vs. the Forces of Evil. Moontoffee was a popular Crack Ship up until the Season 3 premiere and Toffee would meet his end by disintegration, like Tina.
  • The New 52 comics had a bit of joking Ship Tease between Diana as Wonder Woman and Orion.
• Like You Would Really Do It: With Wonder Woman in her short when she gets stomped on by Giganta. Of course they won't be killing her when the movie she is starring in hasn't even come out yet. Especially when she has been shown a few minutes ago to have the ability to teleport with her sword.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Superman and Batman are a pair of morally questionable superheroes intent on bringing their own brand of justice onto the world. Both having taken down entire criminal organizations on their own, Superman recruits Batman and their partner Wonder Woman to form the Justice League and take on international threats. With Superman's ambition and Flying Brick abilities combined with Batman's genius mind and vampiric physiology, the duo work with Wonder Woman to slaughter entire terrorist cells and take down even intergalactic enemies. Even when the rogue Dr. Will Magnus tries to frame the Justice League, Superman and Batman deduce the ploy and get ahead of the curve, eventually outing Magnus, destroying his Metal Men with cunning and force, then shutting down his plans for world domination, cementing the two heroes as the best—yet most ruthless—protectors Earth could ever have.
  • This version of Highfather is presented as a more villainous take on the leader of the New Genesis. Deciding to end his war with Apokolips once and for all, Highfather contacted Darkseid, proposing to marry his granddaughter Bekka with Darkseid's son Orion to unite both worlds in peace. Convincing Darkseid, Highfather then sneaks his forces into Apokolips and attacks Darkseid and his soldiers, catching them off guard and killing them all with ease. Killing Orion for interfering and thus angering Bekka, who attacked one of his own soldiers, Highfather offered her to rejoin his side again and allowed her to teleport away from him.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • The most common response to the prologue where Zod makes himself the sperm donor to the incubation pod is either asking if that's technically rape to Lara or how Jor-El got cucked on the cellular level.
  • This conversation:
    Superman: You still friendly with Steve Trevor? He could be useful.
    Wonder Woman: He often was.
    Superman: Well, stay on top of him. [Wonder Woman smiles slyly] You know what I mean.
• Misaimed Fandom: This version of Harley Quinn was designed by Bruce Timm to be Fan Disservice as a Take That! to the recent New 52 design she got. Judging by how many fanarts she got, some people interpret her as a Ms. Fanservice.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Hard to say exactly when Magnus crossed it, but by time we first meet him he had crossed it long ago, though contenders are when he killed Tina, and sending his drones to kill his fellow scientists, as well as a young Victor Stone.
  • In the Twisted short, Harley Quinn crossed it sometime before the events of the short by murdering a child.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: While Kirk Langstrom/Batman wasn't exactly hated, his short and comic tie-in were overall the least-liked ones out of the trio, some fans feeling they were overly dark, gory and depressing. The movie itself fleshes out his character a bit and makes him more likable.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Bekka being used as Wonder Woman, making her notable among the Justice League for not being from the same series as her basis, unlike Superman and Batman, who are largely connected to their own lore.
  • The Drones framing the Justice League turn out to be the Metal Men.
• Win Back the Crowd:
  • "Twisted", the short Batman starred in, was divisive for its gory elements and was perceived as trying too hard to be dark. "Bomb" features more worldbuilding and pathos, and quelled some of the fears that Superman wouldn't be anything but a violent Anti-Hero.
  • "Big" then quelled some fears that after the first two episodes the movie would be all doom and gloom. Bekka and Steve's playful banter and joking around showed that there was still fun and levity to be had with these darker characters.
  • The Movie itself received praise from fans and critics alike for its great pacing, sympathetic main characters, excellent animation and surprisingly giving Superman a character arc about recognizing the consequences of his violent actions and resolving to at least try to be a more traditional hero by the end. Many people who were pessimistic about the project or suspected it would be overly dark for the sake of it were pleasantly surprised.
• The Woobie: Every single Justice League member in this incarnation:
  • Having been raised by a family of Mexican migrants, Superman had to face racist prejudices since he was a kid. He also accidentally crippled his own foster sister while trying to play with her, a mistake he was so ashamed of he stopped using his powers for years out of fear to harm someone.
  • Batman/Kirk was treated like an outsider even before his transformation, suffered lymphoma and ended up turning himself into a vampire in an attempt to cure himself. His father never cared much about him due to disapproving his choice to be a scientist, and his family ended up kicking out of their home. Out of the only three friends he had before the Justice League, one turns out to be a psychopath and eventually became the movie's Big Bad, the second (his college sweetheart) turns out to have been killed by the former because she still loved Kirk over him and the third (shown in the comic) turned out to be a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who tried to manipulate him to his own ends. By the time Superman found him and helped him get better, he had been reduced to a depressed fugitive running away from everyone and eating rats to survive.
  • Bekka/Wonder Woman was in a Perfectly Arranged Marriage with Orion in an attempt to ensure peace between Apokolips and New Genesis, only for her own grandfather to use this as an opportunity to stab Darkseid in the back, slaying him and all his council during the wedding, including Orion.
  • The poor (unnamed) woman in Twisted who's being held by Harley Quinn. She's absolutely terrified, and while she gets away unharmed, one can only wonder how long Harley kept her there or what she did to her (especially considering some of Harley's "family" or heads stored in the fridge could be the woman's own friends or family members who all got killed).
  • Brainiac in Bomb, who Superman finds out is a Unstable Powered Child who's causing city-wide destruction by pure accident, clearly feeling guilty over it as he bursts into tears when informing Superman that he cannot stop himself. To make matters worse, being raised as a Laser Guided Tyke Bomb in isolation has rendered him stunted to the extent that he doesn't even know who he is. Needless to say, Superman wasn't the only one who felt sad over having to put him down.

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