Monday, September 2, 2013

Fan-Casting DC's JUSTICE LEAGUE: Part 15

Click here to review Part 14.

So far:
The aliens have made their move.  When Bruce Wayne came to Lex Luthor's office with evidence of illegal dealings, Luthor's assistant, Mercy Graves, unleashed Starro seeds to possess the executives.    Lucius Fox was caught and infected by Starro, but Bruce and Lex escaped with a helpful assist from Superman.  Meanwhile, the enigmatic John Jones infiltrated the Middleton Space Center under the guise of Daily Planet reporter, Lois Lane.  But when the real Lois Lane arrived to interview Doctor Erdel, both she and Jones are captured.

Metropolis police have LexCorp Tower under lockdown.  Bruce Wayne (Richard Armitage) and Lex Luthor (James Nesbitt) are under armed guard.  The doors open and Superman (Jon Hamm) walks out with EMTs and Lucius Fox (Ernie Hudson), semi-conscious on a gurney.  Bruce runs up to Lucius as the medics roll him to an ambulance.  Superman tells him how he used his heat vision to burn the starfish creature off Lucius' neck; it didn't give up easily, but the medics were able to stabilize Lucius.

Superman watches a lot of Grey's.

Superman says there are thirty other men and women inside with those things attached, all of them in a kind of daze.  Also, there was no sign of Mercy Graves.  The EMTs put Lucius in the ambulance.  Superman and Bruce step aside.

Bruce: "Thank you for seeing to him first.  And for showing up when you did."
Superman: "You don't have to thank me."
Bruce: "Your world of aliens and monsters has become mine."
Superman: "Seems that way.  I was truly surprised you needed me so soon after our last talk."
Bruce: "I could have handled that myself under other circumstances.  But with Lex there, I couldn't be too effective."
Superman: "Fine."

One of the EMTs calls Bruce back to the ambulance.  Lucius is pulling his oxygen mask off and trying to speak.  He's in rough shape but he holds Bruce's hand.  "She was in my head," he mutters.  Bruce tells him it's okay, but Lucius shakes his head.  "The programs," he stammers, "the drone programs… She can control them.  She's going there."

"… And next time, I'll play scissors, paper, rock!"

Cut To: LexCorp Factory

Mercy Graves (Sanaa Lathan) enters the sub-level production lab where the Metallo armor is stored.  John Corben (Michael Biehn) is there on a hospital-style bed, and Professor Vale (David Clennon) is there as well, tinkering.  Mercy tells Corben that he's getting his wish early and tells Vale to put him in the Metallo armor now.

Cut To: Middleton Space Center

In the medical wing, John Jones (Giancarlo Esposito) faces off against Commander Blake (Thomas Kretschmann).  Blake abruptly changes to Blanx, revealing his pale-green Martian form.  In kind, John Jones reveals his own Martian form, that of J'Onn J'Onzz.

Blanx: "I thought you were dead."
J'Onn: "I prayed you were."

They exchange a few lines, speaking cryptically about a war, a betrayal, and Blanx's new Master.

Blanx: "Are you finally willing to join me, J'Onn?"
J'Onn: "You would destroy this planet like you destroyed ours."
Blanx: "This world is doomed already.  I offer you the chance to stand with the victors… instead of the dead."

J'Onn seems to consider it, lowering his gaze for a moment, then he looks up with fierce defiance in his eyes.  "My'ria'h," he says.  Blanx sneers and lunges for him.  J'Onn reaches to the medical cart near the crew member's bed and grabs an oxygen tank.  Blanx kicks him, which throws him across the room.

A case for global border control:
put a stop to alien-on-alien violence!
J'Onn gets up, still holding the oxygen tank in one hand, and punches his other through the wall, pulling out electrical wires that throw sparks in the air.  Blanx charges him.  At the last minute J'Onn leaps forward and becomes intangible, phasing through the other.  They both stop and spin around.  J'Onn slams the oxygen tank on the floor, breaking off the spigot, venting pure oxygen.  He throws it at the wall by Blanx; a spark from the wiring ignites the gas and the tank explodes.

Fire shoots in all directions.  Blanx screams as he's burned.  He falls down paralyzed, surrounded by flames.  J'Onn, too, collapses roughly to the ground, but he's farther from the fire and he begins to crawl away.  Almost immediately, the fire sets off the alarms and the sprinklers go off.

In the lobby, Lois Lane (Jennifer Carpenter) is still being held by security and Doctor Erdel (Bob Gunton).  Erdel says, "You're not going to report on what's going on here, Miss Lane.  You're going to join us."  He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small container.  She doesn't know what it is, but given the craziness of what's happening, she knows it ain't good.

Just as Erdel is about to open the container, the alarm system goes off.  Everyone is shocked except for Lois, because she was already pretty alarmed.  She elbows the guard that was holding her and makes a run for it.

Lois Lane wouldn't be in danger so much if she acted more like a
HuffPost reporter, quoting stories from The Onion and linking
pictures of silly cats. 

They chase, cutting her off from the exit, so she has to run down the hall further into the space center.  Security, technicians, crewmen, basically everyone who works there pop out into the hallway trying to catch her.  She gets cornered.  Erdel arrives, still holding the container.  He opens it and pulls out a Starro.  "Nowhere left to go, Miss Lane," he says.

"Superman," Lois mutters, backing into the wall, "I could really use a save right now."

Erdel closes in reaching for her with the Starro--

--when suddenly, a big green fist clamps down on Erdel, crushing the scientist's hand and the Starro in it.  Lois looks up and sees J'Onn J'Onzz towering over her.  He pushes Erdel back into the brainwashed guards.  They rush him but he easily fends them off with his superior strength.  Then he picks Lois up and flies down the hall away from their would-be captors.

Cut To: LexCorp Factory

On the factory floor, Mercy Graves sits at a computer terminal booting up the assembled line of drones. There are roughly a dozen combat drones that "awaken" as Mercy's fingers strike the keyboard.  The rest of drones are the construction/excavation models.  As the drones begin to come alive, the lights go out in the factory.

Mercy looks up from the computer and smiles.  "I know you're there, Mister Wayne," she says.  Backup power kicks in, illuminating the factory with emergency lighting.  "Lucius Fox was joined with us long enough to tell me everything."

"I doubt that," Batman says, stepping out of the shadows behind the computers.

Mercy taunts him, telling him he would enjoy the surrender of joining with Starro.  No more sorrow, she says, no more loneliness.

Mercy: "When my Master comes, all will join with us.  A world without violence, without aggression, without crime.  Isn't that what you've always wanted?"
Batman: "A world of slaves.  I'll pass."
Mercy: "Then you'll die, because you're too late to stop us."

Superman drops down behind Mercy, shaking the ground with his landing.  She whirls around to face him.  Superman says, "It's never too late."

Mercy laughs.  "Superman is here," she says to someone they can't see.  "Come say hello."

A deafening clang rocks the factory.  Superman and Batman watch a service door getting hammered in as something on the other side smashes away at the wall.  At last, a pair of metal fists punch through the wall and rip it away.  Emerging from the hole is John Corben… now Metallo.

To quote Aqua Teen Hunger Force: "If I woke up looking like that,
I would just run toward the nearest living thing and kill it."

To Be Continued…

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