It’s hard to remember it now, but in the days before its Mar. 25 release, no one knew exactly what the first trailer for Justice League would look like—including, it seems, the people Warner Bros. hired to cut the trailers for the trailer! When the promotional campaign for the Justice League trailer began, the studio’s marketing department—working from very limited approved footage from the trailer to use in the trailer for the trailer—was faced with the difficult task of selling audiences on the trailer for Justice League without spoiling any of its secrets. So how did Warner Bros. pull it off? To answer this question, we’ve dug up all of the original trailers used by Warner Bros. way back on Mar. 23 and Mar. 24. It’s an extraordinary series of trailers for trailers for a superhero movie that, taken as a franchise, rivals legendary one-off trailers for trailers like the Apr. 6, 2016, teaser trailer for the teaser trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. So forget everything you know about the trailer for Justice League, set the Wayback Machine for Mar. 23, 2017, and take a look at the very first glimpses audiences got of the trailer that, in many ways, defined the aesthetic for superhero movie trailers for the entire weekend of Mar. 25 and Mar. 26.
“Unite the League – Aquaman,” Mar. 23
Watching the trailer that introduced us all to the trailers for the trailer for Justice League will give Justice League trailer fans chills now, but believe it or not, most superhero trailer fans barely registered this trailer for the trailer on its initial release. The Observer and Polygon were among the few media outlets ahead of the curve enough to realize Warner Bros. had a potentially monster trailer for trailers franchise on its hands. It’s understandable that larger outlets missed it, though: “Unite the League – Aquaman” doesn’t really show the Aquaman we’d all come to know on Mar. 25 in the trailer for Justice League to his best advantage. Still, there’s nothing like revisiting the first time a trailer for a trailer urged audiences to “Unite the League!”
“Unite the League – Batman,” Mar. 23
The most controversial entry in the entire trailers for the trailer for Justice League series, “Unite the League – Batman” is dark. From the giant death’s head monument Batman stands on (a shot ultimately not used in the trailer for Justice League) to the ultraviolent footage of the Batmobile shooting its guns, this trailer for the trailer for Justice League sent the message that DC trailers for trailers are grim, moody, and above all, adult. Learn how someone feels about “Unite the League – Batman,” and you can make some pretty good guesses about their outlook, not just on trailers for trailers for superhero movies but on life itself.
“Unite the League – The Flash,” Mar. 23
A return to the lighthearted days of “Unite the League – Aquaman,” this entry in the trailers for the trailer for Justice League series marked the moment the mainstream press could no longer ignore the trailers for the trailer for the superhero movie series’ mass appeal. And what better installment to introduce normies to the world of trailers for trailers for superhero movies than “Unite the League – The Flash?” After all, its brighter color palette and ably handled action shots are still unsurpassed, and its vintage trailer-for-trailer-for-superhero-movie feel makes it seem like this trailer for a trailer could have been cut as long ago as, say, February. No wonder everyone from Variety to Deadline had to finally acknowledge what trailers for trailers for superhero movies fans had known since earlier that same day: Warner Bros. had captured lightning—or, if you prefer, the Flash—in a bottle.
“Unite the League – Wonder Woman,” March 24
By March 24, excitement for the Justice League trailer was building on its own, even though it had been an entire day since the last trailer for the trailer for Justice League was released. Warner Bros. took advantage of the public’s appetite for advance information about the trailer for Justice League by giving them a lot of it: The fourth trailer for the trailer for Justice League is a leisurely 22 seconds long, compared to the tight 15 seconds the earlier members of the league received on March 23. Holding this until Friday, March 24, was shrewd on Warner Bros.’ part: Audiences were eager to do slightly less work on the last day of the workweek and took the extra 7 seconds of runtime in stride. Was “Unite the League – Wonder Woman” self-indulgent, or did it simply do a better job of reflecting the expansive two minute, 33 second runtime of the Justice League trailer? Critics may never come around on this one, but trailers for trailers for superhero movies fans delivered their verdict right away: wonderful.
“Unite the League – Cyborg,” March 24
The “Cyborg” trailer for the trailer for Justice League was nearly as long as “Unite the League – Wonder Woman” from earlier the same day. So why does it feel like a victory lap, while the earlier trailer for the trailer, at some points, seems like a slog? Maybe it’s a testament to just how effective the earlier trailers for the trailer for Justice League were. By late on March 24, both loyal trailers for trailers for superhero movies fans and new arrivals on the trailers for trailers for superhero movies scene had been whipped into a frenzy; all Cyborg’s installment had to do was finish what the earlier trailers for the trailer for Justice League had started. “Unite the League – Cyborg” slyly incorporates elements of the earlier trailers for the trailer for Justice League—a font here, a tagline there—but not so intrusively that first-timers will get lost in all the fan service. By the time the trailer for the trailer for Justice League franchise’s iconic shot of the entire Justice League on a cargo plane appears one final time, it’s hard to find a dry eye in the massive, isolated, online, dying-one-low-expectation-at-a-time audience. That’s the magic of trailers for trailers for superhero movies, and there’s no better example than the trailers for the trailer for Justice League—even today!
