When most people hear the name Steppenwolf, they think about the rock band by that name with the hit songs "Born to be Wild" and "Magic Carpet Ride." Unless, of course, you're a big theater fan, in which case you likely think of the successful Chicago theater company named. And, okay, some Hermann Hesse fans think of his 1927 novel of the same name, which actually inspired both the band and the theater company. However, very soon the name will be associated first and foremost with the "Justice League" movie, because the main villain of the upcoming film is none other than: Steppenwolf!

RELATED: "Justice League" Film Plot Details, Logo Revealed

With his warrior background, his power from being from Apokolips and his military cunning, Steppenwolf should be a great initial villain for the Justice League. His involvement was first rumored a while back and there was also a deleted scene in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" that looked to involve Steppenwolf.

RELATED: First Look at "Justice League's" Upgraded Batmobile, More New Bat-Tech Revealed

Steppenwolf (German for "wolf of the steppe" -- basically a coyote) made his debut in the classic seventh issue of Jack Kirby's original "New Gods" series in 1971 (Kirby was inked by Mike Royer in the issue). Titled "The Pact," the story explained how the great alien worlds New Genesis and Apokolips came to be at war with each other. You see, young Darkseid and his uncle Steppenwolf, the greatest warrior in Apokolips, came across the New Genesis leader Izaya and his bride, Avia. After a brief scuffle, Steppenwolf accidentally killed Avia. Izaya was in a rage, but Darkseid stepped in and seemingly killed Izaya.

In reality, Darkseid only stunned Izaya enough to make him appear to be dead. Darkseid knew that when Izaya awoke, he would declare war on Apokolips, wanting vengeance on Darkseid's uncle Steppenwolf in particular. That's exactly what happened when Izaya later met Steppenwolf in battle.

Izaya eventualy managed to get over the great hatred in his heart with the help of The Source (the non-religious consciousness/guiding force of the DC Universe), transforming himself into the peace-loving Highfather. He and Darkseid made a pact to end hostilities between the two worlds. Highfather would give over his son, Scott Free, to Apokolips and Darkseid would give over his son, Orion, to New Genesis. Darkseid did this knowing that one day Scott Free was going to escape from captivity and thus negate the pact, but by this time, Darkseid would be fully in control of Apokolips. That's precisely what happened.

Steppenwolf next appeared in the sixth issue of the special Jack Kirby "New Gods" reprints that DC did in 1984. Each issue reprinted two issues of "New Gods." Since "New Gods" ended at #11, the sixth issue had a new story that became, in effect, "New Gods" #12. In that issue (by Kirby and Royer), Darkseid resurrected Steppenwolf.

Around this same time, Kirby re-designed Steppenwolf as part of a cool deal with DC Comics that found the creator re-imagining his Fourth World characters for Mattel's "Super Powers" action figure line. As a result of the deal, Kirby would get paid out of the toy fund for designing the toys -- a creative way to get a creator their monetary due in a time when that was a rare occurrence.

Kirby was also hired to draw a "Super Powers" tie-in comic in 1985 (written by Paul Kupperberg and inked by Greg Theakston), which featured Steppenwolf as part of Darkseid's supporting cast.

Over the next decade, Steppenwolf appeared now and then, almost always in a sort of lackey role, except for comics set in the past, of course. Speaking of comics set in the past, in 1995's "Doomsday Annual" #1 (by Dan Jurgens and Brett Breeding), we see that years ago, Steppenwolf and Darkseid faced off against Doomsday. They chose to avoid battle with the monster, but unwittingly carried the beast to the next planet that he tormented, as he slowly but surely made his way to Earth and eventually killed Superman.

One of his more notable appearances happened in 1996's "Mister Miracle" #4 (by Kevin Dooley, Steve Crespo, Marcio Morais and Chip Wallace). Scott Free got a chance to confront Steppenwolf who, of course, murdered Scott's mother. However, when an errant blow by Kalibak ended up with Steppenwolf impaled on his own ax, Scott put aside any desire for vengeance and used his newly embraced god powers to heal his adversary.

In the original DC continuity, Steppenwolf lost his life to, of all people, the Clock King. The C-level villain took control of the Dark Side Club, which Steppenwolf was a member of, to make young heroes fight against each other to the death, in "Terror Titans" #2 (by Sean McKeever, Joe Bennett and Jack Jadson).

Steppenwolf's profile was raised significantly in the New 52, which may be informing his big screen role. We first saw him in "Justice League" #5 (by Geoff Johns, Jim Lee and Scott Williams), where he tortured Superman.

Steppenwolf was next seen as the main antagonist of DC's "Earth 2" series. In the first issue of the comic (by James Robinson, Nicola Scott and Trevor Scott), set in the past, we see the Apokoliptian New God led an invasion of Earth 2 from Apokolips. The Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman of this world try to stop him.

He killed Wonder Woman and Superman, but Batman succeeded in stopping the invasion through exploding the towers powering the gateway from Apokolips that let the invasion occur. Steppenwolf returned later on, though, to pick up on the invasion of Earth again, only from within Earth itself. However, in "Earth 2" #16 (by Robinson, Scott and Scott), Steppenwolf was killed by a Bizarro clone of Superman.

This being comics, Darkseid resurrected him, and Steppenwolf served at his master's side against the Justice League in the recent Justice League event "The Darkseid War."

Where the villain will pop up in DC Comics newly overhauled Rebirth universe is anyone's guess. But fans of the semi-obscure villain can rest easy knowing their bad guy is set to make life hell for the DC Films take on the Justice League.