John Carter 2 (2025) imagines a bold return to Barsoom, picking up after the Warlord of Mars has restored peace to the Red Planet. The film opens with Carter torn between two worlds—Earth, where he is still a man out of time, and Mars, where he has become both hero and husband. His reunion with Dejah Thoris is short-lived, however, as a mysterious cosmic disturbance threatens to unravel the fragile harmony he helped forge.

In this installment, Barsoom faces a new enemy emerging from the planet’s forgotten past. Ancient ruins long dismissed as myth begin to stir with strange energy, and whispers spread of an old race known as the Ithoni, beings who once wielded technology powerful enough to bend the fabric of gravity itself. When entire city-states begin to collapse into molten deserts, Carter is called upon to investigate the source of these cataclysms.

His journey takes him deep beneath the surface of Barsoom, into labyrinthine caverns filled with relics of a civilization older than the Therns. There, he discovers that the Ithoni are not merely memories—they are awakening from millennia of stasis, preparing to reclaim the planet they believe was stolen from them. Their leader, a calculating figure named Vor-Ash, recognizes Carter as a threat and seeks to sever the bond that gives him strength: his love for Dejah.

As the stakes rise, the film explores Carter’s inner struggle. Though he possesses unmatched physical prowess on Mars, he must confront doubts about whether he can protect the world he has adopted. Dejah, meanwhile, takes on a more central role, guiding Barsoom’s factions—Heliumites, Tharks, and Zodangans—toward unity even as politics and old grievances threaten to divide them.

The climax builds toward a spectacular confrontation in the sky caves of the Ithoni, where gravity collapses and the boundaries between worlds thin. Carter and Dejah must work in perfect harmony to prevent Vor-Ash from opening a dimensional rift that would drain Mars of its remaining life. Through daring combat, sacrifice, and a rediscovery of ancient Barsoomian lore, they manage to thwart the Ithoni uprising.

The film ends on a hopeful but unresolved note. Though Barsoom is saved, the cosmic disturbance that awakened the Ithoni hints at larger forces at play across the solar system. Carter and Dejah stand together atop the towers of Helium, aware that their greatest challenges may still lie ahead, setting the stage for future adventures in a universe far larger than either imagined.