In 2011, DC Comics rebooted its universe with the comic “Flashpoint” (by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert). In the “New 52” universe (named because all DC Comics were canceled and 52 new series started from issue #1), superheroes have been around for about five years. The DC universe was now home to younger, edgier heroes primed to be adapted in the forthcoming DC movies.

An architect of the initiative with “Flashpoint,” Johns himself took up writing the new “Justice League” comic. His first arc, “Origin” (drawn by superstar artist Jim Lee), saw the team coming together at the beginning of that five year stretch to fight off an invasion by Darkseid. “Justice League: War” is a movie adaptation of “Origin” … for mostly ill. Frankly, it’s a bad film based on a pretty but shallow comic.

“Origin” is transparently Johns’ pitch in comic form for a live-action “Justice League” movie, and it mostly worked. Several of Johns’ ideas, like the League coming together to stop an invasion by Apokolips or Cyborg being one of the JL’s founding members, made it into both cuts of the DC Extended Universe’s “Justice League.”

But the DCEU got plenty of flack for mischaracterizing its heroes and villains. Johns’ comic, and by extension “Justice League: War,” commits the same sins. The worst casualty is Darkseid himself, who is reduced into a generic alien invader. “I am entropy, I am death, I am Darkseid,” he boasts, and he’s 12 feet tall to make him extra scary.

But the whole point of Darkseid (as conceived by Jack Kirby) is that, god though he may be, he’s ultimately a fallible and human evil. He’s the God of Tyranny, remember, which is an evil that rests in men’s hearts. Speaking of sapping the characterization, voiceover legend Steve Blum voices Darkseid in “Justice League: War,” but the movie auto-tunes his voice to the point he barely gets to perform.

“Justice League: War” also turns Wonder Woman (Michelle Monaghan) into a caricature, a naive yet headstrong warrior who always pulls out her sword without thinking. Diana is supposed to be an ambassador of peace, remember. The one bright Wonder Woman spot in “War” is when Diana faces down some conservative protestors. One of them, bound by the Lasso of Truth, reveals he’s a crossdresser. Instead of mocking him, Diana encourages him to live his truth.