Come Zack Snyders's Justice League, fans will be getting their first taste of the New Gods in the form of Steppenwolf and his wave of Parademons. However, that's merely scratching the surface because they all answer to Darkseid, who boasts an even bigger legion back home on Apokolips. One of the main challenges the DC Extended Universe will be facing, however, is how to shape them beyond just another alien army invading Earth in a comic book movie.

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We already got this schtick in Joss Whedon's The Avengers and Snyder's 2013 Man of Steel. The New Gods, though, have something more to them than the Chitauri or a bunch of Kryptonians seeking refuge. While early reviews of Justice League have praised the superhero squad assembled by Batman and Wonder Woman, the introduction of Steppenwolf and the concept of the New Gods has been described as one of the film's flaws, some calling it rushed and forgettable. However, there's still time for the DCEU to improve on how they're depicted as we count down the days to Darkseid's full-on assault.

Make It A Star Wars

Created and designed by Jack Kirby, the New Gods debuted in February 1971, focusing on the sibling planets of New Genesis and its dark counterpart, Apokolips. A truce was established where New Genesis' leader, Highfather, traded his own son, Scott Free (aka Mister Miracle) to Darkseid in exchange for his son, Orion. As expected, Darkseid broke the truce and war continued to be waged on not just New Genesis, but the galaxy. Orion and Mister Miracle even worked with the League over the years to fight Darkseid.

To make the New Gods stand out here, the DCEU should have Darkseid's hounds hunting for something more than relics. The Anti-Life Equation, which Darkseid requires in order to enslave the universe, immediately comes to mind, but it has to be done in a way that transcends your typical space army. The DCEU should scatter Darkseid's warriors, such as Kalibak, Granny Goodness, Desaad and the Furies, across the star ways to build them as a Galactic Empire, something much more threatening than a single planet. As for the heroic New Gods, the likes of Orion, Mister Miracle, Big Barda and the Infinity People can be used in the mold of another Star Wars group: the Rebel Alliance. Such a resistance would allow collaboration with the League and even the Green Lantern Corps.

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Craft A Powerful History & Legacy

We must also note that the concept of extraterrestrials as superpowered beings, and gods, has already been covered by Marvel Studios in how they molded the Asgardians. In Thor: Ragnarok, we saw that they actually were world conquerors under Odin who then set a peacetime across all the Nine Realms. The DCEU, on the other hand, needs to differentiate their New Gods from simply being war-mongers and explorers, in order to leave a lasting impression. The advantage that Geoff Johns and Warner Bros. now have is that the concept of gods already exists in their sandbox and they can not only piggyback on this, but subvert the mythos a bit, to fit their narrative.

amazons justice league

Early on in the DCEU's history, rumors spread that the Amazons were Kryptonian experiments on Earth. These were dispelled, but it's actually believable, given that ships left Krypton to conduct research and tests off-world. Now, in Wonder Woman, Patty Jenkins' gods were considered mythical, but what if they were actually from outer space and the concept of Olympus was similar to Marvel's Asgard? We didn't get much backstory into Zeus and the older gods so if they were somehow aliens that fled New Genesis, Apokolips, or similar planets, it would connect a lot of threads, and expand on why Earth always happens to be the focal point for all this cosmic drama. Could the New Gods have spawned not just the Amazons, but the Atlanteans as well?

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An Evolution That Matters

At first glance, the New Gods do seem like an average, repetitive and boring concept. However, there's a lot of politics, heart and soul in how they've warred with each other. New Genesis fights to survive while Apokolips fights to conquer. However, while we're expecting them to be warriors and soldiers, that doesn't mean they can't have evolved over eons of existence. Take for example, the vile Glorious Godfrey, usually depicted as a mouthpiece on Earth, spreading propaganda against superheroes, all done to destabilize the planet. This shows war on a different playing field: the mental one.

Embedding New Gods into Earth's fabric like this on the whole goes light years beyond something as simple as Loki posing as a human to hide from Thor or Odin. As opposed to being Skrulls in disguise as well, the New Gods could actually be fashioned into segments of Earth that existed for centuries without red flags being raised. What if some New Gods, both the good and the bad, were on the planet all this time and similar to Apocalypse in the X-Men lore, they assimilated with homo sapiens, and through this cross-breeding, the DCEU got the metahuman gene? It would be a brave move but one that organically ties them to Earth and origins of the planet's earliest superpowered individuals.

At the end of the day, the DCEU has to make the New Gods, both the heroes and villains, stand out as more substance than style. They can add a lot to DC's filmverse and who knows, whether it's bucking trend and making some of the virtuous ones part of the League, or even having one or two as Green Lanterns, we can all agree that there's a lot of potential to explore.