there's no doubt that the dc extended universe features some of the darkest superhero films in recent memory, in no small part due to zack snyder's take on the superhero genre, which began with man of steel, featuring a the darkest depiction of superman we've ever had on film. in batman v superman: dawn of justice, we got an even darker hero in batman, who charged into the seedy underworld of gotham like a shadowy monster, murdering and branding criminals who stood in his way. so you can probably agree that neither of these heroes are exactly "kid-friendly."
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these films, combined with the recently released, and far more kid-friendly wonder woman, have now culminated in justice league, which is one of the dceu's lighter entries, but is it light enough to be considered appropriate for children?
despite the film's less dark tone, the film is still undoubtedly darker and more mature than parents might have hoped. one of the more obvious reasons for this is the inclusion of adult-themed jokes which riddle the film. take for example the scene in which lois lane reminisces about clark with martha kent at the daily planet. in that scene, martha tries to compliment lois by telling her how clark used to call her the "hungriest journalist" he knew. martha accidentally misquotes clark, calling lois the "thirstiest" clark had ever met -- "thirsty" being a euphemism for someone who is desperate for attention of a sexual nature.
you could argue that jokes like that are still quite tame. after all, it's not so different from some of the more adult-themed jokes in our superhero cartoons. the ones that completely went over our heads when we were kids? the thing is, kids aren't as oblivious nowadays. they have the internet in the palm of their hands, where the adult world has no secrets and little jokes like that are more readily picked up on and understood by young minds. it's one of the reasons modern superhero films are able to sneak the odd curse word into a few scenes, something justice league does quite a lot.
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of course, the film isn't not all gritty atmosphere and adult jokes. our favorite dc heroes are, for the most part, everything we'd want in role models for our kids. wonder woman is as strong and inspiring as ever, the flash as the comic relief is funny while maintaining a welcome innocence, aquaman showcases all the bravado you might expect, but avoids doing anything dark, like committing homicide in the name of justice... well, at least not against anything that bleeds. finally, there's superman, bearing the symbol of hope on his chest. he's back, and he's much more lighthearted and heroic than previous iterations, so you won't need to worry about your kids seeing the man of steel snap more necks.
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the problem here mostly lies with the dceu's version of batman. while justice league doesn't show batman killing anyone, he's still the darkest character in the film by far. in fact, the movie starts off with the dark knight using a small-time criminal as bait, literally dangling him from the edge of rooftop in order to lure a parademon out from the shadows. overall, batman is just as angry and violent as he was in dawn of justice, which may not be appropriate for those kids who are less able to process violent acts, regardless of whether his victims are human or parademon.
and make no mistake about it: as you might have gathered from the trailers, justice league is a violent film. that's sort of expected when it comes to superhero movies, but perhaps not to this degree. it's violent in a lot of ways, down to the general color scheme which involves a lot of black and red, especially toward the end. then there's the way batman handles himself, the explosions and the weaponry. it goes on and on.
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that said, there is very little blood in the film, and while you see members of the league fight hordes upon hordes of parademons, the film remains quite conservative in its depiction of death. the parademons just seem to explode with green goo or completely fall out of shot. even when steppenwolf seemingly massacres the amazonians, you don't see any actual wounds. at most, you see them fall to the ground, at which point you just assume they died. in many ways, justice league is similar to the star wars film saga with regard to how it handles violence. people get injured in those films but they all seem to share the incredible ability to avoid bleeding at all, no matter how bad their wounds are.
so, is justice league appropriate for kids? it was given the pg-13 rating for "sequences of sci-fi violence and action," and the rating is quite fitting, considering how gritty and dark the main characters are. obviously, every child is different, but if yours has had issues in the past with processing violence, or you'd prefer to keep their films more innuendo and adult language free, you might prefer to get a baby sitter while you see this league's big screen debut, and leave the kids home to watch a little justice league action instead.
justice league stars ben affleck as batman, gal gadot as wonder woman, henry cavill as superman, ezra miller as the flash, ray fisher as cyborg, jason momoa as aquaman, j.k. simmons as commissioner gordon, amy adams as lois lane, jeremy irons as alfred pennyworth, diane lane as martha kent and ciarán hinds as steppenwolf.