Will JUSTICE LEAGUE’s Villain Bring The Apokolips?

The summer of 2015 is going to be crazy for nerds. Just when we thought high tide had hit, along comes a summer that will see:

The Avengers 2

Star Wars: Episode VII 

and 

Justice League.

It's the last of those that feels most like a wild card, especially since it seems like Warner Bros is scrambling like hell to put the thing together. But right now they at least have some kind of a script, and that script has a villain. A villain capable of bringing Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, Hawkman and maybe the Martian Manhunter together:

Darkseid. 

That news comes from Latino Review, where they have a great history of NAILING comic book movie scoops. 

Darkseid is a New God, the evil ruler of the desolate planet Apokolips. He searches for the Anti-Life Equation, which will give him control over the minds of all sentient life. He's part of a larger, Jack Kirby created pantheon of gods who, while they have never been quite 'popular,' have endured. And more importantly, inspired many who came after: Star Wars owes some real debts to Jack Kirby's Fourth World Saga.

So it's ironic that Star Wars will be competing in theaters against a movie featuring Darkseid, but it's even more ironic that The Avengers 2 will be going up against Justice League: Thanos, the assumed villain of that film, is completely and totally 'inspired' by Darkseid. 

Darkseid is pretty much the biggest and best villain in the DC Universe. He's been in a bunch of the animated shows, so the kids might know who he is. But the general public is going to see his stony visage and otherworldly origin and totally assume that Warner Bros is ripping off Marvel, when that couldn't be further from the truth. It'll only get worse when Darkseid invades Earth with his Parademon armies, who will likely remind casual movie goers of the Chitauri. 

Darkseid's a great choice for a villain, but at the same time he's emblematic of Warner Bros playing catch-up with Marvel. Despite being the original he's going to feel like a copycat move.

The next question: will the movie include or hint at the larger Fourth World Saga? Will characters like Orion and Mr. Miracle and Granny Goodness show up or be mentioned? That's actually way more interesting to me. Now that movies have shown they're willing to go cosmic in comic films, will they have the balls to go full on Kirby?