Steppenwolf was born many millennia ago on the distant planet of Apokolips[1] eventually becoming the herald and second-in-command of his warlord nephew, Darkseid.[2]
As millennia passed, Steppenwolf would proceed to carry out Darkseid's bidding by invading and taking over other worlds. In the process, he would encounter and battle members of the Green Lantern Corps resistance, and ultimately would prevail every time. On his first Earth stint, he easily took out and killed an alien Green Lantern who came to the aid of the Amazons.
During the Earth invasion over 30,000 years ago, his master Darkseid ordered Steppenwolf to conquer Earth, and he faced the united alliance of human, Amazon and Atlantean armies, along with at least one Green Lantern, as well as Zeus, Ares, and Artemis of the Old Gods. Steppenwolf began to combine the Mother Boxes into the Unity, in order to terraform the planet into an extension of Apokolips and convert humans into Parademons. Ultimately, however, while Steppenwolf successfully slays the Green Lantern, his invasion fails - his battleships are brought down by Artemis, and Ares wounds him in combat, while Zeus blasts apart the Unity, kills several Apokoliptian Priests, and defeats Steppenwolf, forcing the New God into retreat without enough time to collect the Mother Boxes. Darkseid viewed this defeat humiliating and exiled Steppenwolf until the latter could reclaim the lost Mother Boxes and conquer Earth, thereby restoring his honor.
Steppenwolf was hesitant to re-invade quickly, however, knowing that the Old Gods would only repel him again, so he bided his time, waiting until Earth was free of sufficiently powerful defenders. After the Old Gods' deaths. he still waited, due to Earth now being protected by the godlike alien Superman, who could also potentially repel him. It is believed that Steppenwolf learned of Superman's death when contacted by Lex Luthor from Scout Ship 0344, and thus was finally ready to invade again, which Lex gleefully proclaimed to Batman.
Communion of Earth
Steppenwolf making contact with Lex Luthor.
After Lex Luthor accessed Scout Ship 0344's database, he made contact with Steppenwolf on Apokolips[1], the New God teaching Lex of three important Mother Boxes on Earth. However, Lex was interrupted, breaking contact.[4] On Darkseid's orders[2], Steppenwolf then began his journey to Earth to search for the Mother Boxes, bringing with him a vast army of Parademons.[3]
Return to Earth
"No protectors here: no Lanterns, no Kryptonian. This world will fall — like all the others."
―Steppenwolf[src]After battling against the unified armies of the humans, the Green Lanterns, and the Amazons and after that he has banished from Earth thanks to the armies, Steppenwolf had stayed for a long time at Apokolips.
However, in the present, the world is in mourning following the death of Superman. Sensing humanity's fear, Steppenwolf and his Parademons return to Earth to resume their hunt for the Mother Boxes through kidnapping several employees of S.T.A.R. Labs, which is in possession of one of the boxes.
Having investigated the kidnappings and encountering a Parademon himself, Batman decides to move forward in recruiting his planned team of metahumans as he believes an invasion is coming.
Hunting the Mother Boxes
Steppenwolf arrives at Themyscira.
"Mother, a millennia in exile, searching, atlast you call me home..."
―Steppenwolf speaking to the Mother BoxSteppenwolf would return to Earth to hunt for the Mother Boxes, where he arrives in Themyscira to collect the first Mother Box where he and the Parademons attack the Amazons which he attends to grabs it but stopped by some amazon warriors which Hippolyta uses a Lasso to the Mother Box and escape the temple.
When Hippolyta escape the temple the Amazons close the temple and try to trap Steppenwolf and the Parademons, but he escapes and chases down Hippolyta. Which she hand the Mother Box to an Amazon Warrior, as they try to escape Steppenwolf catches up with them, grabbing the Mother Box telling Hippolyta to warn Diana that he coming.
Steppenwolf then goes to Atlantis where he attacks Mera and the Atlantan Soldiers, Mera tries to stop him by using a water tornado to hold him but Steppenwolf is able to get and where he is met with Arthur Curry. Steppenwolf throws his Axe at Arthur but he moves out the way and starts attacking Steppenwolf by kneeing him, but Steppenwolf get's the upper hand by blocking one of Arthur punches and throws him into a wall. Steppenwolf charges at Arthur and hits him through the wall which the Mother Box floats down and Steppenwolf grabs it and escapes.
The Justice League receives intel from Commissioner James Gordon that the Parademons are traveling underground, Which the team goes to find, the team climb up, to find Steppenwolf interrogating the S.T.A.R. Labs employees about the final Mother Box, which Barry get's nervous and tell's the team that he hasn't done battle before, which Batman says just save one person.
Steppenwolf then grabs Silas Stone, which Cyborg shots Steppenwolf and saves his father, which Wonder Woman helps out by attacking the Parademons and taking Steppenwolf to a different part of the factory, while Batman fights the Parademons, Barry goes and save one of the employees. Steppenwolf tells the Parademons that he will deal with Diana alone, meanwhile, Batman is being attacked by one of the Parademons which he tells Alfred that he needs the Nightcrawler which he sents the machine to Bruce.
Steppenwolf getting ready to attack the Nightcrawler.
Flash and Cyborg save all the hostage which Silas Stone tells Victor that Steppenwolf cannot get the final Mother Box. Batman then jumps down into the Nightcrawler and saves Wonder Woman before the Parademons could kill her, The Nightcrawler get's attacked by Steppenwolf, which Barry helps Wonder Woman get her Sword so she can help Batman.
Flash and Wonder Woman get attacked by Steppenwolf and the Parademons before Batman helps her by killing one of the Parademons. Cyborg then falls into the Nightcrawler and hacks it so it in his control, which he uses it against Steppenwolf but falls when Steppenwolf catches a missile and throw it against the wall, which causes the factory to flood which allows Steppenwolf to escape.
Before Diana could get hit with the flooding water, Arthur comes and saves the team by using the Trident of Poseidon to hold back the water while the League escaped.
Superman Returns
Steppenwolf successfully retrieves the three Mother Boxes.
Cyborg retrieves the last Mother Box from S.T.A.R. Labs for the group to analyze. Batman decides to use the Mother Box to resurrect Superman not only to help them fight Steppenwolf's army, but also to restore hope in humanity. Wonder Woman and Aquaman are hesitant about the idea, but Batman forms a secret contingency plan.
Clark Kent's body is exhumed and placed in the waters of the Kryptonian ship, and Allen provides a strong energy blast to activate the Box and resurrect Superman. Superman, however, possesses few memories, and he attacks the group after Cyborg accidentally launches a projectile at him. On the verge of being killed by Superman, Batman enacts his contingency plan: Lois Lane. Superman calms down and leaves with Lois to his family home where he reflects and tries to recover his memories.
With the last Mother Box unguarded, Steppenwolf retrieves it with ease.
The Final Battle
Without Superman to aid them, the remaining five heroes travel to a remote location in Russia, where Steppenwolf plans to unite the boxes once again and reshape the world for his lord and master. The team fights their way through the Parademons to reach Steppenwolf, although they are unable to stage a significant enough distraction for Cyborg to separate the boxes. Superman arrives and assists Flash in evacuating the city, and ultimately aids Cyborg in separating the Mother Boxes.
Defeat
Steppenwolf being attacked by the Parademons swarm.
Following the separation, an enraged Steppenwolf enters the Apokolipian construct, where he is confronted by Superman, (who after battling both Wonder Woman and Aquaman), easily overpowers by the New God. The Kryptonian uses his ice breath to freeze Steppenwolf’s ax, which Wonder Woman shatters the weapon with her own sword.
Bleeding and thus knowing he has been defeated, he is overwhelmed with fear, thus seeing as his parademons begin to attack him. Turning on him, he fights them as he and Parademons alike, are whisked away via portal/boomtube, leaving nothing left him but only his helmet.
Personality
"Please! We have families!" "Why does everyone keep telling me that?"
Steppenwolf had become old and tired after millennia of invading, taking over, and terraforming other worlds with the Unity, while also creating more Parademons from the native inhabitants. He seeks to be free of Apokolips' ruler, Darkseid, and to regain his place of respect among the New Gods, but Steppenwolf is neither foolish nor powerful enough to disobey or challenge Darkseid.[1] In fact, Steppenwolf seems to admire his master, as he loudly proclaims that he will conquer Earth in the name of Darkseid and the Unity. Thus, Steppenwolf continued to serve Darkseid as the latter's right hand and continued to conquers to invade other worlds for him, eventually carrying out the Invasion of Earth. He appears to also have a disdain for Kryptonians and Green Lanterns, due to having battled them in the past.
Steppenwolf is an extremely ruthless, destructive, cold, and sinister being, showing neither fear nor mercy towards his enemies and prisoners, most notable in the fact that he utilizes the Unity to transform planets' native inhabitants into loyal and soulless Parademons. Much like General Zod, Steppenwolf has trained his entire life to become a great warrior and defeat his enemies. Hence, Steppenwolf relishes battle, and never holds back his divine might. Indeed, when none of the kidnapped scientists are willing to reveal the Mother Boxes' location, Steppenwolf intends to murder them, only being stopped by the timely intervention of Flash and Cyborg. Steppenwolf is not only merciless, but also sadistic, being unimpressed with the S.T.A.R. Labs scientists' pleas to return to their families, sadistically mocking Wonder Woman with the deaths of her fellow Amazons and the Old Gods, and gleefully predicting that the Mother Box-empowered Cyborg is destined to become "a creature of chaos."
Much like Lex Luthor, Steppenwolf hates the mere idea of losing, so despite having his ships destroyed by Artemis, being wounded by Ares, and defeated by Zeus, he remains determined to fight on, which forces his own Parademon army to drag Steppenwolf away from certain death. Steppenwolf is bitter at his first defeat, so he jumps at the chance to invade Earth again, as soon as the Mother Boxes alert him of the deaths of Zeus, Ares, Artemis, and Superman, since now the planet lacks defenders powerful enough to repel him. However, with Superman's timely resurrection, Steppenwolf has defeated again, and when Wonder Woman breaks his battle ax, Steppenwolf feels fear for the first time in millennia - the fear of failure, and of never having the chance to regain his place among the New Gods. Sensing this, Steppenwolf's Parademon army is again forced to drag their leader away from certain death.
The only things Steppenwolf seems to care about is returning to Apokolips after exile, and regaining his standing among the New Gods. Additionally, he seems to adore the Unity, affectionately referring to it as "Mother," and he is delighted to see that Cyborg has been "born of her," proclaiming that Cyborg is destined to become "a creature of chaos," like the soulless Parademons. However, Steppenwolf also has a grudging respect for individuals of exceptional bravery, like Silas Stone (who talks back to his threats) and Wonder Woman (who fearlessly battles him).
New God Physiology: As a New God, Steppenwolf is a phenomenally powerful divine being, to the point that he has conquered many planets with his Parademon army, and it took the combined might of Amazon, Atlantean, and human armies, at least one Green Lantern, as well as three Old Gods to drive Steppenwolf and his forces off of Earth during the first Invasion of Earth. His might surpasses even that of Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Artemis and also the combined might of several Green Lanterns, although he is still surpassed by Darkseid, Zeus, Ares and Superman are known to surpass him.
Immortality: As a New God, Steppenwolf is still alive in the 21st century, despite being over 30 millennia old.
Super Strength: Steppenwolf has a tremendous level of superhuman strength, which is further amplified by his electro ax, surpassing that of Cyborg and Aquaman, rivaled only by that of Wonder Woman and Artemis while only surpassed by the likes of Zeus, Ares, Darkseid, and Superman. Hence, Steppenwolf was able to overpower the Amazon and Atlantean forces during the first Invasion of Earth, defeated and slayed numerous more Amazons on Themyscira, swiftly tore off Cyborg's biomechatronic limbs, easily slayed a Green Lantern, overpowered Mera's hydrokenesis attack, swiftly overpowered Aquaman (collapsing a large Atlantean structure in the process), defeated Wonder Woman in every one of their prolonged duels, gained the upper hand against the combined might of Wonder Woman and Aquaman.
Steppenwolf jumping great distances while attacking the Amazons.
Steppenwolf's incredible strength extends to his legs, making him able to jump immense vertical and horizontal distances, shown during his battle with the Amazons on Themyscira, with him able to easily catch up to Hippolyta and regain his Mother Box with a few leaps.
Super Speed: Steppenwolf can move at considerable superhuman speeds, going toe-to-toe with Wonder Woman and Aquaman's speed during their final fight, even outmaneuvering them on several occasions, despite his muscular physique and heavy armor. While underwater, Steppenwolf's combat speed is barely affected, as he swiftly overcomes Aquaman, despite the latter catching him off-guard. However, his speed is still no match for that of Superman or Flash.
Super Reflexes:
Steppenwolf catching a missile in mid-air.
Steppenwolf was able to easily deflect an Amazon arrow shot at him, and he later even catches a missile fired at him from the Knightcrawler.
Nigh-Invulnerability: Steppenwolf is incredibly durable, which, combined with his armor which makes him almost invulnerable. Hence, Steppenwolf was only irritated by Mera's hydrokinesis attacks, was only slightly affected by direct blasts from Cyborg's arm cannon (though it caused him momentary burning pain), withstood mighty blows from Wonder Woman and Aquaman, by Aquaman stabbing him in the chest with his trident, and later by Wonder Woman slashing his leg with her Sword of Athena, Steppenwolf wasn't much affected by those wounds. Indeed, Steppenwolf was only ever visibly hurt by a blast of Zeus' divine lightning, Ares' hacking blow, and by Superman's tremendous blows, a single one of which made him bleed.
Aquatic Respiration: Steppenwolf, much like an Atlantean, is able to breathe underwater, thus successfully invading Atlantis and regaining another Mother Box.
Expert Leader: Steppenwolf, due to him being Darkseid's herald and second-in-command on Apokolips,[1] as well as having millennia of experience invading and taking over other worlds, is an extremely skilled leader, able to successfully command a vast Parademon army in both of his attempted first invasion of Earth. Steppenwolf's forces were only defeated when the Amazon, Atlantean and human armies, as well as a Green Lantern and three Old Gods joined forces and were led by the extradionarily skilled and experienced leader Zeus, the King of the Old Gods, in which Zeus was the only one able to ever surpass Steppenwolf's leadership, apart from Darkseid.
Master Tactician: Steppenwolf, despite usually winning through sheer divine power and the massive size of his Parademon forces, is a very skilled tactician as well. Hence, he bides his time, and only attacks Earth again after the Mother Boxes alert him of the deaths of all of the Old Gods and Superman, since only then does the planet lack defenders powerful enough to repel him. Steppenwolf also almost kills the Justice League with sheer tactics - he catches a Knightcrawler missile and redirects it towards the harbor wall (while boom-tubing himself), with only Aquaman's timely arrival saving the League from drowning. However, Steppenwolf's overconfidence makes him unable to account for the resurrection of Superman, which leads to his second defeat on Earth.
Master Combatant:
Steppenwolf engaging both Wonder Woman and Aquaman in combat.
Steppenwolf is an extremely skilled, fierce, and formidable combatant (particularly with his fearsome electro axe), with centuries of combat experience. As such, Steppenwolf was able to easily slay a Green Lantern, to swiftly overpower numerous Amazons, Cyborg, Mera, and Aquaman, to defeat Wonder Woman in each one of their one-on-one duels, and even compete with the God of War Ares, though Steppenwolf was eventually beaten and wounded in the process. Indeed, the only known ones to ever defeat Steppenwolf in a one-on-one fight are Zeus, Ares and Superman.
Expert Swimmer: Despite his large size, Steppenwolf is an extremely skilled swimmer, on par with an Atlantean, as he was notably able to overcome Mera's underwater whirlpool, and overpower her. While underwater, Steppenwolf's combat speed is barely affected, as he swiftly overcomes Aquaman, despite the latter catching him off-guard.
Steppenwolf becomes consumed by fear and is attacked by Parademons.
Steppenwolf, despite being fearsome himself and initially fearless, first showed signs of fear after getting overpowered by Superman, having his battle axe destroyed, losing to the Justice League, and failing to invade Earth. Sensing his fear of failure, Steppenwolf's own Parademon army are forced to grab and carry Steppenwolf back to Apokolips.
Overconfidence: Steppenwolf's other main weakness, as stated by Wonder Woman, is his overestimation of himself, which is what ultimately what lead to his defeat during both of his invasions of Earth. However, it should be noted that this arrogance and pride are not unfounded, as Steppenwolf truly is extremely powerful. His arrogance only becomes a serious detriment when he faces equivalently powerful opponents like Wonder Woman, Ares, Zeus or Superman, since despite beginning to lose, Steppenwolf refuses to back down from fighting them, and his Parademon allies thereby are forced to drag Steppenwolf away from certain death.
Electro axe (formerly): Steppenwolf's primary offensive weapon, which the New God uses to blast and obliterate much of the area surrounding him at a given time. It also notably amplified the strength of Steppenwolf to the point where he could go toe-to-toe with Wonder Woman. The ax's red-hued energy is also capable of infecting humans, turning their skin a pale grey, while lengthening and sharpening their teeth, seemingly transforming them into the zombified Parademon soldiers of Apokolips. In addition, the ax is seemingly indestructible, as it can go up against Wonder Woman's weaponry. However, it was ultimately destroyed after being frozen by Superman's Arctic breath, which made it become brittle, thus allowing Wonder Woman to shatter it with her Sword of Athena.
Mother Boxes (formerly): Steppenwolf's other main weapons, which, when fused together as the "Unity", terraform any planet into the likeness of his native planet Apokolips. Steppenwolf successfully does so to many planets, only failing on Earth, twice. While not in his possession after the first Invasion of Earth, the MotherBoxes lit up after Superman's death, alerting their former master of how Earth now lacks defenders strong enough to repel him (due to the Old Gods also having all perished, and no Green Lanthers being close to Earth), and how the planet has now been plunged into fear. The Unity is pried apart first by Zeus' lightning, and then by Superman and Cyborg.
Steppenwolf and Lex Luthor are the only two main antagonists of the DCEU to survive their initial debut.
Steppenwolf's character was constructed completely from CGI, with actor Ciarán Hinds wearing only a motion-capture suit for his performance.
Hinds also didn't perform any of his scenes with any of the cast.
Behind the Scenes
In the original cut of Justice League, after collecting the Atlantean Mother Box, Steppenwolf "talks" to the Mother Box, which contained his mother, Heggra, whom he was attempting to release to defeat his uncle, Darkseid.[5]
In the original Zack Snyder cut, Steppenwolf returns to Apokolips and is confronted by his uncle, Darkseid, who kills him.[5]
.mkv_snapshot_00.44.56_-2018.01.24_11.57.01-.png){kind=link}
_Steppenwolf_attacking_the_Amazons.gif){kind=link}
_Steppenwolf_cathing_a_missile.gif){kind=link}
_Steppenwolf_vs_Wonder_Woman_%26_Aquaman.gif){kind=link}
_149846-149955.gif){kind=link}