WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Justice League Dark: Apokolips War, available on digital HD now.
As the last film in the DC Animated Movie Universe, Justice League Dark: Apokolips War more than lived up to its cataclysmic title. Many major characters died in horrific ways or were transformed into servants of the despot Darkseid. However, the film nearly had a different title; one that drew from another dystopian storyline in the DC Universe.
While discussing the development process of Apokolips War, producer James Tucker credited director Christina Sotta with drawing inspiration from DC's Futures End event for the film, in particular it's corrupted heroes. "And in fact, Futures End was a title in my head I thought we could go with....But I think DC didn't want to confuse fans into thinking it was a strict adaptation of that." Tucker told ComicBook.com.
The Futures End storyline was conceived during the height of the New 52 initiative. It takes place in an apocalyptic future where the artificial intelligence known as Brother Eye transformed the majority of Earth's superheroes into cyborgs. Terry McGinnis, the Batman of the future, traveled 35 years into the past to save all of mankind. Although Futures End was fairly controversial among readers, it's not hard to see why Tucker and Sotta drew inspiration from it.
Justice League Dark: Apokolips War stars Matt Ryan as John Constantine, Jerry O'Connell as Superman, Taissa Farmiga as Raven, Stuart Allan as Robin, Tony Todd as Darkseid, Jason O'Mara as Batman, Rosario Dawson as Wonder Woman, Shemar Moore as Cyborg, Christopher Gorham as the Flash, Rebecca Romijn as Lois Lane and Rainn Wilson as Lex Luthor. The film is available now digitally and on Blu-ray May 19.