Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice laid the groundwork for Steppenwolf's arrival through Bruce Wayne's Knightmare and Lex Luthor's ramblings (as well as a deleted scene added back into the Ultimate Edition), and a year and a half later, Justice League saw the Apokoliptan general invading Earth with his Parademon army. While the villain received a less-than-warm reaction from audiences, if it wasn't for him, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg wouldn't have come together to form DC's most well-known superhero team. That being said, it would appear that when Steppenwolf battled the heroes in Justice League, he might have been naked, as the below screenshots seem to show.
Because Steppenwolf was being pulled down by Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth when these screenshots from Twitter user Sporaw were taken, the moment looks blurry, but nonetheless, it does look like the movie's main antagonist decided to go into battle bare-assed. In all seriousness, given that Steppenwolf is clearly shown wearing armor throughout all of Justice League, there's a strong chance that is just part of the under-layer that looks more flesh-colored from afar and due to the lighting in this scene. However, in my head, I now like to think that Steppenwolf felt that to be at the top of his game, he needed his ass to not feel restricted, hence why he opened that "window." Hey, if exposing his booty makes him a better warrior, then by all means, moon the DC heroes.
Warning: SPOILERS for Justice League are ahead!
Steppenwolf came to Earth in Justice League to acquire the three Mother Boxes and use them to form "The Unity," which would have terraformed Earth into a copy of Steppenwolf's homeworld, Apokolips. He nearly succeeded, but the newly-formed Justice League was able to stop him. To add insult to injury, Steppenwolf's Parademons turned on him when they felt his fear upon being defeated, and he was subsequently dragged back to an unknown location (presumably Apokolips). Maybe the Parademons also finally decided they'd had enough of serving under a general who likes showing off his ass during fights.
It remains to be seen if Steppenwolf will return for another DC movie, but we're not quite done with the Fourth World mythology yet. Yesterday it was announced that A Wrinkle in Time director Ava DuVernay has been hired to helm a New Gods movie, and if this project has ties to the DCEU, then perhaps we'll see Ciaran Hinds' Steppenwolf alongside the other inhabitants of New Genesis and Apokolips. Justice League also had Steppenwolf namedrop Darkseid, who could easily serve as the lead villain in Justice League 2. However, because Justice League underwhelmed critically and commercially, it's unclear if a sequel will still happen.
Justice League is now available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD, and the DCEU continues on December 21 with the release of Aquaman. To learn what else this franchise has in development, head to our DC movies guide.
