Steppenwolf (DC Extended Universe)

Originally conceived as a monstrous, horned being with seven fingers on each hand and hooved feet, Steppenwolf was "toned down" during the troubled production of the film, as Warner Bros. deemed Zack Snyder's design as too intimidating. Joss Whedon's "sanitized" rendering of the character made him more humanoid and "self aware".[8] He refers to the Mother Boxes as "Mother" and makes several "cheesy" quips in the film,[9] and as described by Mark Birrell of Screen Rant, resembles a "Saturday-morning cartoon villain" who enjoys "being a bad guy" with Darkseid's role in the film being almost entirely scrapped.[10]

Once the director's cut was greenlit, Steppenwolf was reverted back to his original, alien design, and was given new armor and gadgets.[11][12] In addition, the character's relationships with Darkseid and DeSaad are explored, and his fight scenes are much more violent and emotional.[11] Hinds described Steppenwolf as characterized in this version of the film as "old, tired" and trying to find a way to escape his role of servitude under Darkseid.[13] He also speaks more "poetically" but overall less frequently, letting his violent actions speak for themselves. Snyder also adds that the character was designed with a "fallen angel" archetype, trying to regain his commander's good graces.[14] His armor, in particular, was rendered by Weta Digital as a bevy of spikes that appear to move with the character's emotions and also follows his design as a "space knight". Anders Langlands, one of the supervisors at Weta, comments that "Zack had the idea that his armor would react to his mood and be part of his performance, as if it was some kind of alien technology that’s symbiotic with him."[14]

Steppenwolf first appears in the Ultimate Edition of the film as a hologram, appearing as he does in Zack Snyder's Justice League, as Lex Luthor is communicating with him at the Kryptonian scout ship prior to being arrested following Superman's death at the hands of Doomsday.

As portrayed in the theatrical cut, Steppenwolf leads the first invasion of Earth thousands of years ago, but his forces are defeated by a united front of humans, Amazons, Atlanteans, Olympian Gods, and Green Lanterns. He is driven mad by his defeat and banished from Apokolips due to this failure. When the three Mother Boxes that he had used in his initial invasion attempt are reawakened in the present day following Superman's death, Steppenwolf returns to Earth in hopes of conquering it to regain Darkseid's favor, setting up his base in an abandoned city in Russia similar to Chernobyl. He effortlessly takes the boxes from the Amazons, Atlanteans, and later humans when the Justice League uses the final box to revive Superman and allow Steppenwolf to take it while distracted. In the final battle against the League, he handily fends off the League when they attempt to stop the Unity of the Mother Boxes, but is defeated by Superman which instills him with a new sense of fear, causing his army of Parademons to attack him and drag him through the boom tube back to Apokolips.

In the director's cut, Steppenwolf's nephew Darkseid leads the invasion of Earth instead. Steppenwolf was banished from Apokolips for attempting to betray Darkseid and seize his throne, and despite his change of heart, owes the latter a debt of one hundred and fifty-thousand worlds conquered before he can return to his home planet. After successfully claiming 100,000, he is called to Earth when the Mother Boxes, left behind by Darkseid following his failed invasion attempt aeons ago, are reactivated in the wake of Superman's death. Steppenwolf and his parademons first invade Themyscira and, after a bloody battle with the Amazons, defeats them and takes the Mother Box guarded by them. He uses the Box to gather radioactive material from the abandoned nuclear facility in Russia and create a barrier around his base, then starts torturing Atlantean guards and humans for information on the other two boxes. After obtaining the second box from Atlantis, he finds the fabled Anti-Life Equation that Darkseid seeks and reports his discovery to DeSaad. Darkseid gives Steppenwolf a chance at redemption by uniting the Mother Boxes to prepare for his arrival. The Justice League, led by Batman, initially prevents him from retrieving the final Mother Box. They use the box to revive Superman, knowing that Steppenwolf will inevitably sense and retrieve it once they do so, but S.T.A.R. Labs scientist Silas Stone superheats the box at the cost of his own life before Steppenwolf takes it, allowing Stone's son, Victor Stone / Cyborg, to track it to Russia.

Though the League breaks into the barrier and eliminates many of the parademons, Steppenwolf holds the League off when they try to prevent the Unity until Superman arrives and subdues him, burning off his right horn and damaging his armor. The Mother Boxes are nonetheless synchronized and Steppenwolf manages to terraform Earth for Darkseid, but The Flash taps into the Speed Force and reverses time to undo this. After Cyborg and Superman separate and disable the boxes the second time around, Aquaman impales the distracted and now-vulnerable Steppenwolf and Superman punches him towards the Boom Tube before Wonder Woman decapitates him, sending his corpse hurtling back to Apokolips. Darkseid crushes Steppenwolf's severed head in anger, pledging to return to Earth through the "old ways" for the Anti-Life Equation.