I’m having a tough time right now Geeklings. Today’s a big day for comic book nerds, especially if you’re a DC comic book nerd, as a new trailer for the Justice League has just dropped. Not unexpectedly as DC was hyping this release with a number of individual character trailers on Thursday. You know, build up anticipation for this little known project. And that is what we’re going to talk about today Geeklings because there’s a lot to discuss here, but man, I really want to talk about Legion. I just watched Chapter 7 and I am in full blown love with this show. To the point where I’m already bummed that next week is the season finale, and it hasn’t even ended yet. Gawd, this show is brilliant and masterful and gorgeous and uggggggghhhhhh…

Yet, that’s not what we’re here to discuss because DC had to go and drop the new Justice League trailer today and there are somethings that just fall higher on the geek scale. This wouldn’t be much of a geeky website if we ignored things like this. Which means I’m doing this for you guys because if it was up to me we would be talking Legion until my eyes bled. Yeah, my eyes.

There it is in all it’s splendor. Take a minute and process what you just saw. Go ahead. While you do that I’m just going to start hitting some bullet points on my immediate thoughts. You guys can catch up whenever you’re ready.

• My immediate thought when the trailer started was this, “oh good, Batman on a horse”. That thought was mostly sarcastic and I somehow related it to some strange Batman/cowboy fantasy that Zack Snyder must have. Is it fair of me to think this? No. For starters it’s Bruce Wayne on a horse not Batman, but we all know what’s going on here, don’t we? Plus it didn’t even look like a horse was practical here. He’s all the way up in the snowy mountains. Shouldn’t he have a donkey or maybe one of his rich boy toys? Couldn’t he just fly to the exact location? A horse seems like a bit much.  I’m sorry, this isn’t starting off well for me is it?
• We know from BvS that those are indeed Mother Boxes, heavily linked to Darkseid (who isn’t the villain here because reasons) and has some sort of mystic power for these New God creatures, which begs the question… why is this in someone’s apartment? Shouldn’t it be in a lab?
• It is clear that Wonder Woman is the anchor of the DC movie universe, and thus far she has been it’s shining star. She hands down stole the show in BvS, and as much as I don’t want it to, each one of her movie trailers leaves me more and more excited for that film. We do know that with the DC movie universe though that that tends to be a trap. Both Suicide Squad and BvS trailers looked awesome (for the most part) and turned out to be messes. But long live Wonder Woman! This trailer actually needed more of her.
• Justice League aims to shake the notion that Aquaman is a pansy. This dude stands in front of tidal waves and drinks alcohol straight from the bottle. He also throws tridents at flying alien creatures and jokes with Batman. Clearly he’s a bad mamma jamma and if anyone can change the life long perception of Aquaman then it’s Jason Morma. That’s one badass dude right there. So far I’m into this Aquaman face lift.
• Cyborg looks very CGI’ed. I also didn’t like how they randomly sliced a scene of him playing football near the end of the trailer. Just didn’t fit the current state of the action. Ass kicking, ass kicking, super hero awesomeness, football play, ass kicking, ass kicking… not a good edit job there. This trailer also did nothing to make me freak out about this character.
• #notmyflash is still a very legit hash tag for me going forward with this film. I’m convinced that they want Barry Allen to play the Peter Parker role here and come in with comedic relief after Batman says some bleak and dark stuff. And speaking of Batman, there is no way that Bruce Wayne would reveal his secret identity like that. None. This further goes to show how out of touch with these characters Zack Snynder is.
• I did enjoy the “what’s your super power again” exchange between Barry and Bruce. If you’re a comic/super hero fan, I can almost guarantee at some point in life you’ve had a debate about if Batman is really a super hero. Essentially he’s just a rich guy with a bunch of toys, at a very superficial glance that is. The tongue and cheek moment was fun here. Oh, for those of you wondering, his mind. Batman’s mind is what makes him a super hero. He’s the world’s greatest detective people. Come on.
• There is no way that a Justice League movie happens without Superman, and I sort of appreciate the fact that DC is “hiding” his return (even if the studio already teased his return with released images), but we know what’s going to happen. Our heroes will be beaten down and facing certain doom and then the world’s biggest boy scout will arrive and unite them in victory. Honestly, I find this team much more interesting without him.
• Lots of DC cameos here such as Lois Lane, Barry Allen’s father, Mera, Themyscira warriors, and Jim Gordon. While it’s cool to see these characters pop up, it makes me worried, much like BvS, that this film is going to try and cram in as many cameos as possible. This is where they lose traction as Marvel took years of setting up before the first Avengers film. By the time that movie came up we were all practically begging for them to become a team. Outside of Batman and Wonder Woman we don’t really know any of these characters. Yes there are years of comic book history to refer to but seeing how Snyder handled certain characters in previous films (*ahem* Batman *ahem*), I wouldn’t be banking on accurate portrayals. All we know of the secondary League members is what we see in twenty second cameos in BvS and a brief tease of the Flash in Suicide Squad. That’s not enough to make people care. Marvel invested the time so we would invest in the characters, but DC just wants to pump out movies and bank on the hopes that we are watching the film because we’re familiar with these characters. This is the main reason why I feel like they’re losing this movie war with Marvel. Their unwillingness to invest in creating a universe. It’s kind of a bummer.

While these bullet points sound kind of snarky, and they’re meant to be, I kind of hold out a little bit of hope. Hope? Yes, and I’ll tell you why. After each DC movie trailer whether it’s been BvS, Suicide Squad (especially here), or Wonder Woman I felt those ticklings of excitement. After Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad, I wanted to start reading those comics and in some cases even did. Here though, I have no urge to pick up a Justice League book and that has left me with a hopeful feeling. That maybe, juuuuuuust maybe, this thing won’t be as big of a train wreck as I expect. My expectations are already pretty low. I don’t think Snyder is the right one to be leading this project and I still don’t feel that the DC cinematic universe is very well shaped or defined. But maybe if I don’t get caught in the hype machine I can go into Justice League and watch it a little more relaxed. Who knows, maybe I’ll even appreciate it or like it.

Of course there’s a degree of excitement of seeing this film come to life though. I’m not dead inside. I just feel really let down by the other DC films that have started this shared universe. I don’t own any of them, and I own 30 Days of Night, which is saying a lot. Here’s hoping I’m wrong. I really do hope that Justice League melts my face but as of this trailer… there’s nothing here I’m seeing that fills me with excitement. Maybe it’s because I’m one of those types of comic book fans, and to a degree I am, or maybe it’s because I’m a Marvel kid, and make no mistake about it, I am, but maybe it’s because the product hasn’t been up to snuff. I’ll tell you this Geeklings, this trailer puts a whole lot more pressure on Wonder Woman to be good. DC can’t afford another crap show.

Let’s turn it over to you now. What did you guys think? Am I being overly critical here or do you guys hold the same concerns. Sound off in the comments below or on the Faceyspace page (here). Curious to what you guys think.