Steppenwolf Wants ‘Hell On Earth’ In Justice League

Through a recently revealed action figure and Lego set, the character of Steppenwolf in the upcoming Justice League is becoming increasingly easier to visualize. With Ciaran Hinds discussing the CG-nature of the main antagonist — and precursor to Darkseid — months ago, the former Game of Thrones actor recently spoke on BBC’s The Michael Ball Show to share that he never stepped foot on set while also giving some insight to Steppenwolf’s goal.

“I’m sorry I’m not in costume. I didn’t even have a costume when I was doing it. It’s all done in motion capture. So… they stick a helmet on your head, they put two cameras around, and they capture all your expressions, facial expressions. So basically, they’re going to concoct some kind of construction and they will use my facial expressions – eyes, mouth, voice – they’ll turn into this murderous, avenging Steppenwolf from the planet Apokolips, apparently. Who’s bent on Hell on Earth.”

With modern movie magic the way it is with motion capture, it’s not entirely shocking that Warner Bros. would go this route. David Thewlis was used similarly in Wonder Woman as a CG-heavy Ares, albeit sharing actual screen time with Gal Gadot as the villain’s “human form.” Even Marvel is well-known to have included completely CG characters at certain points with Spider-Man during Civil War, despite also having  time with the actors on set. Hinds also spoke a bit on the difficulty of not being there physically.

“No, I don’t know whether they’re all afraid to come and meet me– no, no they weren’t, really. Because it’s imaginary, you do it with green screen… That was another challenge, you could say, yeah. But it was quite fun. And they’re very encouraging in what you do, suggesting ‘Over here, look over there, imagine that, do this here, they’re coming at you now.’”