''Justice League of America'' is a 1997 American
superhero
A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
television film
A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...
and an unsuccessful
pilot
An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...
produced by
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
and directed by
Félix Enríquez Alcalá
Félix Enríquez Alcalá (sometimes credited as Felix Alcala) (born March 7, 1951 in Bakersfield, California) is an Argentinean-American film and television director.
Career
Alcalá's first major breakthrough came in 1991 when he was hired by ...
, based on a team of fictional
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.
DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...
superhero
A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
es from the comic of the same name. The film aired on CBS on December 28, 1997. It centers on a female
meteorologist
A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...
who gains
superpower
A superpower is a state with a dominant position characterized by its extensive ability to exert influence or project power on a global scale. This is done through the combined means of economic, military, technological, political and cultural s ...
s and is later inducted into the "
Justice League
The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...
", while the city of New Metro is held for ransom by a terrorist armed with a
weather control device.
The film is interjected with mock-interviews of members of the Justice League, speaking about life as a superhero in the
past tense
The past tense is a grammatical tense whose function is to place an action or situation in the past. Examples of verbs in the past tense include the English verbs ''sang'', ''went'' and ''washed''. Most languages have a past tense, with some hav ...
, preceding the events of the film.
Plot
The protagonist, Tori Olafsdotter, is a meteorologist working at the Eno Meteorological Institute who will later become
Ice
Ice is water frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius or Depending on the presence of impurities such as particles of soil or bubbles of air, it can appear transparent or a more or less opaq ...
. The city of New Metro is faced with a
tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
controlled by a terrorist calling himself the Weatherman.
The Flash
The Flash (or simply Flash) is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date ...
dissipates the tornado using his super speed while the other members of the JLA use their powers to save civilians.
Tori stumbles upon a hidden device in the lab where she works. While investigating its use, she spills water on it and it strikes her with strange blue electricity. She is unharmed and leaves the lab for home freezing everything she touches. En route she sees a man drowning; when she attempts to rescue him, the water freezes around her. The JLA, believing her to be the Weatherman, abduct and interrogate her. They release her and Tori believes it was all simply a bad dream.
The JLA suspect that Tori's timid colleague Arliss Hopke is The Weatherman. New Metro is attacked again, this time by golf ball-sized
hail
Hail is a form of solid precipitation. It is distinct from ice pellets (American English "sleet"), though the two are often confused. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is called a hailstone. Ice pellets generally fal ...
stones, but
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products.
At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition ...
melts them all. The JLA infiltrate a party at the Eno Meteorological Institute looking for evidence that Arliss Hopke is The Weatherman. Tori however discovers that it is her boss, Dr. Eno, who is The Weatherman.
Tori takes this knowledge to the JLA and they in turn take her to their secret command center, an alien spacecraft hidden underwater. The JLA's leader
J'onn J'onzz introduces himself to Tori and the other members of the League reveal their secret identities. Tori discovers that
The Atom
The Atom is a name shared by five superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of ...
is a man with whom she has been flirting. The JLA attempt to train Tori to hone her freezing powers without much success.
Martin Walters, a young man who has been pursuing B.B. DaCosta romantically, watches a news broadcast about the JLA and sees that Fire is wearing earrings that he gave B.B. as a gift. Martin tells B.B. that he knows her secret identity. B.B. secretly alerts the JLA, and J'onn takes the shape of Fire and appears before Martin and B.B. "Fire" claims that B.B. is a close friend who lent "her" the earrings. Martin is embarrassed by his "mistake", and B.B. gently terminates his romantic interest in her, although she assures him that he's a nice guy and that he will find true love someday.
The Weatherman demands $20 million or he will engulf New Metro in a
tidal wave. He attacks the Watchtower using a heat ray. The JLA escape and devise a plan to stop the Weatherman, leaving Tori behind. They are unsuccessful, but Tori stops it by freezing the tidal wave solid.
The other heroes apologize for leaving Tori behind, and offer her membership again, including a costume and the codename "Ice". Tori forgives them and agrees to their offer.
Meanwhile, the Weatherman plans his escape from prison.
Cast
*
Matthew Settle
Jeffrey Matthew Settle (born September 17, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for playing Captain Ronald Speirs on the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'' and Rufus Humphrey on the CW teen drama series ''Gossip Girl''.
Early life
Settl ...
as
Guy Gardner / Green Lantern, a software salesman.
* Kim Oja as
Tori Olafsdotter / Ice, a meteorologist working at Dr. Eno's Meteorological Institute.
*
John Kassir
John Kassir (born October 24, 1957) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his work as the voice of the Cryptkeeper in HBO's ''Tales from the Crypt'' franchise. He is also known for his role as Ralph in the off-Broadway show ''Reef ...
as
Ray Palmer / The Atom, a science teacher.
*
Michelle Hurd
Michelle Hurd (born December 21, 1966) is an American actress best known for her work in television. She first received recognition for portraying Monique Jeffries in the police procedural series '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (1999–20 ...
as
B.B. DaCosta / Fire, a struggling actress.
* Kenny Johnston as
Barry Allen / The Flash, unemployed.
*
David Krumholtz
David Krumholtz (born May 15, 1978) is an American actor and comedian. He played Mr. Universe in '' Serenity'', Charlie Eppes in the CBS drama series ''Numb3rs'', and starred in the ''Harold & Kumar'' and ''The Santa Clause'' film franchises.
Ear ...
as Martin Walters, an actor who has a crush on B.B.
*
Elisa Donovan
Lisa Adaline Donovan (born February 3, 1971), known professionally as Elisa Donovan, is an American actress. She played the role of Amber in the 1995 teen comedy film ''Clueless'', and reprised her role in the TV series of the same name (1996-1 ...
as Cheryl, Guy's girlfriend.
* Ron Pearson as Dr. Arliss Hopke, one of Tori's colleagues.
*
David Ogden Stiers
David Allen Ogden Stiers ( ; October 31, 1942 – March 3, 2018) was an American actor and conductor. He appeared in numerous productions on Broadway, and originated the role of Feldman in ''The Magic Show'', in which he appeared for four ...
as
J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter, the leader of the JLA.
*
Miguel Ferrer
Miguel José Ferrer (February 7, 1955 – January 19, 2017) was an American actor. His breakthrough role was as Bob Morton in the 1987 film ''RoboCop''. Other film roles include Quigley in ''Blank Check'' (1994), Harbinger in ''Hot Shots! Part De ...
as
Dr. Eno / The Weather Man, a rival meteorologist.
* Jason Weissbrod as Drazen
Production
The film's plot is based on the ''Justice League'' comic era of
Keith Giffen
Keith Ian Giffen (born November 30, 1952) is an American comics artist and writer. He is known for his work for DC Comics on their ''Legion of Super-Heroes'' and ''Justice League'' titles as well as for being the co-creator of Lobo.
Biography
K ...
&
J. M. DeMatteis
John Marc DeMatteis (; born December 15, 1953) is an American writer of comic books, television and novels.
Biography
Early career
J. M. DeMatteis's earliest aspirations were to be a rock musician and comic book artist. He began playing in ban ...
(writers). It was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Reception
Reviews of the film have been negative. Common complaints are of the plot holes, poor special effects, bad costumes and that the League members deviated heavily from their source characters. Critics have also said the movie tried to be like "''
Friends
''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...
'' with superpowers". Established JLA writer
Mark Waid
Mark Waid (; born March 21, 1962) is an American comic book writer best known for his work on DC Comics titles ''The Flash'', '' Kingdom Come'' and '' Superman: Birthright'' as well as his work on ''Captain America'', ''Fantastic Four'' and '' Dar ...
said the film was "80 minutes of my life I'll never get back".
Release
''Justice League of America'' aired on
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
in the United States on December 28, 1997. It has been shown on television in the UK (
Channel 5),
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...
's
WAPA-TV
WAPA-TV (channel 4) is a Spanish language in the United States, Spanish-language Independent station (North America), independent television station in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It is owned by :es:Hemisphere Media Group, Hemisphere Media Group, w ...
(Channel 4), Thailand (
Cinemax
Cinemax is an American pay television, cable, and satellite television network owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Developed as a companion "maxi-pay" service complementing the offerings shown on parent net ...
), Brazil (
SBT
sbt is an open-source build tool for Scala (programming language), Scala and Java (programming language), Java projects, similar to Apache Software Foundation, Apache's Apache Maven, Maven and Gradle.
Its main features are:
*Native support fo ...
), Uruguay, Poland (
TVN TVN may refer to:
* TVN (Australian TV channel), a former horse racing channel
* Televisión Nacional de Chile, a public broadcaster
* TVN (Indonesia), a former television station; predecessor of Rajawali Televisi
* TVN (Norway), or TVNorge, a comm ...
,
TVN 7
TVN7 is a Polish television channel specialising in action, drama and comedy shows and movies. Owned by TVN Group, the channel was launched in March 2002, replacing RTL7. It was relaunched on 1 September 2008 as TVN7. On 1st September 2014 the ...
,
TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to:
*TV4 (Poland), a private Polish television station
*TV4 (Sweden), a Swedish television network
**TV4 Group, owners of the Swedish television station
*South African Broadcasting Corporation TV4, a channel operated by the st ...
), Mexico (
TV Azteca
TV Azteca, S.A.B. de C.V. is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate owned by Grupo Salinas. It is the second-largest mass media company in Mexico after Televisa. It primarily competes with Televisa as well as some local operators. It owns two national ...
), South Africa (
e.tv
e.tv (commonly referred to on-air as e) is the first and only privately owned free-to-air television station in South Africa. It is the fifth terrestrial television channel in the country, following three channels that are operated by the sta ...
), Germany, India and Israel.
Bootleg
Bootleg or bootlegging most often refers to:
* Bootleg recording, an audio or video recording released unofficially
* Rum-running, the illegal business of transporting and trading in alcoholic beverages, hence:
** Moonshine, or illicitly made ...
copies have been distributed through
conventions, websites and file sharing networks.
See also
* ''
Aquaman
Aquaman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Paul Norris and Mort Weisinger, the character debuted in ''More Fun Comics'' #73 (November 1941). The character is a pastiche of Namor. Initially ...
''
* ''
Birds of Prey
Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and other smaller birds). In addition to speed and strength, these predators ...
''
* ''
The Flash
The Flash (or simply Flash) is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date ...
''
* ''
Legends of the Superheroes
''Legends of the Superheroes'' is an umbrella title for two 60-minute live-action television specials produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that aired on NBC on January 18 and 25, 1979. The series was loosely based on Hanna-Barbera's ''Super Frie ...
''
References
External links
*
Trailer & Screenshots
{{Félix Enríquez Alcalá
1997 television films
1997 films
1997 action films
1990s English-language films
1990s superhero films
Action television films
American superhero films
CBS network films
Films directed by Félix Enríquez Alcalá
Films scored by John Debney
Films shot in Vancouver
Justice League films
Television films as pilots
Television pilots not picked up as a series
1990s American films