After a long and arduous journey, Zack Snyder's Justice League is set to premiere next week on HBO Max. The four-hour director-approved cut of the superhero film has been highly anticipated by fans of Snyder and DC comics, and it now appears that Jeremy Kirby, the grandson of legendary comics creator Jack Kirby, is among them.
Earlier today, Snyder tweeted out a character poster on his Twitter account of Justice League's main antagonist Darkseid. The poster shows a full-body black and white image of Darkseid, looking menacing as ever as he stares down at his enemies with his glowing eyes. Jeremy Kirby retweeted this post with the caption, "Thank you @ZackSnyder." Kirby's grandson seemingly approves of Snyder's adaptation of his grandfather's creation and has been involved in keeping his grandfathers legacy alive. On top of being the descendant of one of the most important names in comics, Jeremy Kirby is also the host of the podcast Kirby On Comics and serves as the curator of the website Jack Kirby: King of Comics.
Darkseid was created by Jack Kirby and made his first appearance in Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #134 in 1970. In the comics, Darkseid is the tyrannical ruler of the planet Apokolips who seeks to conquer the universe and eliminate all hope and free will in sentient beings. The character was originally conceived by Jack Kirby to be the villain in his Fourth World Saga for DC Comics. Darkseid is one of the most powerful beings in the universe and would go on to become an important antagonist for Superman and a reoccurring foe for the Justice League.
Jack Kirby is one of the most important names in comic book history and is often referred to as the 'King of Comics.' Born and raised in New York City to Jewish immigrants, Jack Kirby served in the Second World War before working at Marvel Comics, where he helped create many of the company's most beloved and popular characters, including Thor, The Fantastic Four, The X-Men, Hulk, and Captain America. Jack Kirby, along with Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee, was instrumental in bringing Marvel to the forefront of the comics world.
In 1970, Jack Kirby left Marvel for DC, the company's rival, feeling that he had not received proper authorship and creator rights for his work. At DC, Jack Kirby created the Fourth World Saga, a sprawling epic series of connected comic book storylines that featured characters such as Darkseid. The Fourth World Saga featured Darkseid's quest to seek out the Anti-Life Equation: a mathematical formula that would allow him to control all life in the universe.
Many of Jack Kirby's contributions towards DC have continued to influence the DC universe today, including Snyder's DCEU films. Notably, Ava DuVernay will be developing a New Gods film for Warner Bros., focusing on the titular race of fictional super-beings created by Jack Kirby. The film currently has no official release date, but DuVernay has confirmed that she has been working on new drafts of the script, which she is co-writing with author and comic book writer Tom King.
Zack Snyder's Justice League premieres on HBO Max on March 18th, 2021.
Source: Jeremy Kirby/Twitter