Themes and Character Arcs in Zack Snyder's Justice League (2025)

• Themes - stronger together, free will, second chances, and more (0:01:32)
• Introduction to character analysis (0:28:30)
• Bruce Wayne / Batman (0:29:13)
• Diana Prince / Wonder Woman (0:33:00)
• Victor Stone / Cyborg (0:38:16)
• Steppenwolf and Darkseid (0:46:29)
• Arthur Curry / Aquaman (0:50:38)
• Barry Allen / The Flash (0:54:52)
• Clark Kent / Superman (0:58:21)
• Lois Lane and Martha Kent (1:08:02)
• Comments on the Dawn of Justice Trilogy (1:11:30)
• Ending Remarks (1:18:40)

Written by Sam Otten, Alessandro Maniscalco, and Rebecca Johnson

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https://play.hbomax.com/

Ray Fisher second chances -https://twitter.com/ray8fisher/status/1373741233571500034?s=20

Interview with Zack Snyder - https://geekvibesnation.com/interview-zack-deborah-snyder-talk-about-zack-snyders-justice-league-finally-coming-together/

MarVeVi on Black representation - https://twitter.com/marvevi_/status/1372941329555197953?s=20

Joe Morton - https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/why-justice-league-star-joe-morton-thinks-fans-should-have-more-of-a-say

JLU Podcast on the Superman/Snyder parallels - https://twitter.com/JLUPodcast/status/1372988361816739840?s=20

<Transcript Below>

Welcome, passionate and patient fans of Zack Snyder’s JusticeLeague. The moment has arrived for us to begin discussing the actual workof art that is the Snyder Cut of Justice League; the true sequel to Batmanv Superman and the rightful conclusion to the Dawn of Justice trilogy. Thisis the Justice League Universe podcast, where we analyze select DC Films fromWarner Brothers studios and HBO Max.

In this episode, we share our top-level analysis of ZackSnyder’s Justice League, focusing as we often do on the themes and thecharacter arcs of the film. There is a lot to process in this one, so wereserve the right to revise our interpretations or add nuance later when we doour scene-by-scene analysis, but for now, this is what spoke to us in terms ofthe deeper messages and the character development in the movie. And at the endof the episode, we will include a few quick thoughts about what it feels liketo have the intended conclusion to this Dawn of Justice trilogy, extending andhonoring what came before in Man of Steel and Batman v Superman.

We are not going to spend our time comparing and contrasting thismovie from the one that was released in theaters. Instead we are going to tryto focus on the substance of this film on its own terms. And as usual, wearen’t going to focus on bashing other movies or trying to make directcomparisons to other film universes, about which one does this better or whichone has a better whatever. As a podcast, we try to stay positive and we try tofocus on appreciating the works of art that are presented to us --- more of aliterary analysis rather than a fan war.

Themes

So let’s talk about a few of the overarching themes of ZackSnyder’s Justice League. And you may have gotten different messages fromthe movie, which is totally legitimate as art is open for interpretation, butspeaking for myself, Alessandro, and Rebecca, here are some of the themes thatcut across multiple characters and multiple plot points in the movie. We’lllist them, and then talk a bit about how we saw each of them playing out in thefour-hour film.

• Probably the central theme is that we are stronger together than we are in isolation.
• Our relationships can help us deal with loss and also accept who we uniquely are. And the bonds we have with one another can help us make it through tragedies and show us that none of us is broken or alone.
• Evil does not sleep, it waits, and thus it is always necessary for a new age of heroes to arise and fight for the good.
• Family is a strength, not a weakness. And parents or parental figures have a large influence on people finding their way in life, especially parents who do not dictate a future for their children but instead simply want their children to reach their potential and make the most of the possibilities of life, whatever that may mean to the child individually.
• Free will is essential to our humanity, and sometimes that free will means taking a leap of faith.
• The film also explores the idea of second chances and that it is important to cherish and make the most of those second chances.

Now we’ll take a look at how each of those themes show up invarious characters and plot points in the film.

First, we are stronger together than we are inisolation.

This theme has actually also been a driving force of the#ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement, so it’s fitting that collaboration and unity arealso central to the movie itself. Bruce states this theme explicitly near thebeginning when he tells Arthur that Superman thought we were “strongertogether.” Bruce spent the last movie sinking deeper and deeper into his rage,putting up barriers between himself and others, especially Superman, but now inthe Snyder Cut he’s actively recruiting others to form alliances. This followson directly from the end of BvS and the promise that Bruce made to Superman.And Alfred even comments that a person who has been stuck alone in a cave mightnot be the best recruiter, but that just speaks even more to how brave Bruce isto take on this big recruitment effort, opening himself up to others, sharinghis secret, and trying to build something bigger than himself.

This theme is not just about collaboration, it’s about thestrength that comes from emerging from your isolation. And it’s not just Brucecoming out of isolation, with him being willing to form partnerships againafter the tragic loss of Robin. The other characters are also coming out ofisolation in one form or another.

• Diana is separated from her sisters, and has largely isolated herself after losing Steve a hundred years ago. But she was drawn forth by the threat of Doomsday, and even at the end of BvS she wasn’t sure that she wanted to fully join up with other heroes, but after the warning from Themyscira and learning about this new threat, she is willing to help bring people together. And as she tells Cyborg, she is still working on building those relationships again -- it’s an ongoing struggle, but one worth doing. This isolation-to-collaboration movement for Diana is emphasized visually. For example, our first shot of Diana is her alone, statue-esque above London, but she gets called down amongst the people to help out. Later, she’s alone again when she learns about the threat of Darkseid, but then she brings that information to Bruce and helps to recruit others, eventually taking a place at the head of the team in some of their key battles.
• Arthur is isolated as a roaming man, caught between two worlds but belonging to neither. He explicitly marks this isolation by saying that “the strong man is strongest alone.” But Aquaman is unable to stop Steppenwolf alone, failing just as the Amazons failed. So although he was reluctant at first, more or less, and although he might not wear his heart on his sleeve like Barry, we do see that he needs and benefits from making friends amongst the League.
• Barry is very clearly isolated at the beginning of the movie, and whereas Arthur said he was strongest alone, Barry knew right away, “I need friends.” We see that he’s physically separated from his father by the prison barrier, and he has lost his mother, and he seems to be viewed as a bit of an oddball by the regular folks he interacts with. But the other League members accept him into the group, quirks and all, and he is able to make unique contributions that no one else could do. And he not only gains some colleagues, but also some friends, especially Cyborg.
• Victor begins the movie isolated in his father’s apartment. He’s not only isolated from the rest of humanity, he even seems to be separate from his own humanity, viewing himself as a monster. He goes from feeling isolated and saying f*** the world to working very proactively to save the world, and valuing his own life again.
• Lois is also isolated, choosing solitude as she deals with her grief and trying to find her way forward without Clark. She eventually gets a bit of a nudge from Marthan Manhunter as an invitation from isolation back to connection with others, which ends up being crucial to the plot.
• Superman is also isolated -- first, isolated in death, and then isolated because he doesn’t remember who he is and he doesn’t know how he fits in with the people standing before him. It is through Lois and his mother, and their scene where their love is strong together, that he is put back on the positive path.
• Interestingly, it’s not just the heroes who come from a place of isolation. Steppenwolf is also very isolated in this movie. He has been ostracized by Darkseid because of a past misdeed, and Steppenwolf desperately wants to rejoin with his lord and nephew. So with the villain, we also feel that pain of separation. But whereas the heroes find one another and support each other as they form a new collaboration, Steppenwolf gets no such support. Desaad seems to taunt Steppenwolf with his past failure and undermines his efforts to prove himself again, and Darkseid does not offer much in the way of grace. He tells Steppenwolf he has to produce his great prize in order to lift the punishment of isolation. And Darkseid literally crushes him underfoot when he fails.

So basically all the characters are dealing with some form ofisolation and they illustrate the theme of being stronger together, with theheroes finding connections and collaborations while Steppenwolf suffers anddies still feeling the desperate sting of his isolation. This theme isexplicitly highlighted in several visual moments and excerpts of dialogue. Hereis just a sampling:

• Bruce alone on the mountaintop to Batman standing with the team at the top of the tower.
• Batman saying “don’t worry about me” to the team coming to save Batman during the batmobile chase.
• Arthur throwing Bruce up against the wall to Aquaman riding with Batman on the batmobile.
• Aquaman doubting Cyborg’s allegiance to Cyborg catching Aquaman in midair and saying “you’re welcome.”
• The Flash needing friends to the Flash fist bumping Cyborg at the end.
• Bruce saying that there are 6, not 5. There’s “no us without him.”
• Bruce explicitly says that they haven’t “faced us, not us united.”
• Diana says that “we do this together.” Not alone. And they aren’t quite synchronized in their first battles, but they work much better as a team by the end.
• Cyborg says that he is not alone.
• Martian Manhunter says that he and Bruce both have to recognize that they have a stake in this world, and so they should unite to fight for it, which can apply to all of us because we all have a stake in this world.
• And there’s an AFSP billboard that says “You are not alone,” which is not only a callback to Man of Steel but also a connection to this theme of stronger together. And hopefully this movie can speak to people who do feel alone or who feel isolated, and they can know that we care about them and there are others who want to connect, such as at afsp.org.

Of course any discussion of unity and the notion of “strongertogether” must also address the fact that the villains have a unity as well.The three mother boxes become even more powerful if they synchronize and formthe unity. So it’s not as simple as the heroes having unity, and the villainshaving separation. The villains are also pursuing their own form of unity. Inthe past, it was the cooperation of various civilizations, from Amazons toAtlanteans to Europeans to Asians and Africans, that allowed them to repel themother boxes’ unity. And in this movie it’s the heroes from very differentbackgrounds coming together that prevents the mother box unity again. Sooverall, either side can gain an advantage through unity, but thankfully it’sthe Justice League who accomplish it most profoundly.

So we have an overarching theme of uniting and being strongertogether. What must we unite against? There are several mentions of a“great darkness.” And one can interpret this as mere comic book threatdevelopment, but one can also interpret it as whatever “darkness” might mean intheir life. Whatever that darkness is that we feel settling on ourselves, thatis what we must unify against and find strong connections to combat.

Hippolyta also talks about the fact that “evil does not sleep, itwaits.” This makes me think about evil in the general sense of the threats toour society, like hatred, division, scapegoating, selfishness, etc. They aren’tnew, they just resurface or come around again in new ways. And so each time theevils return, we have to all unite and try to fight back. Each generation hasto do their part in pushing down the evils and trying to make a better world.As Coretta Scott King said, “the struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom isnever really won. You earn it and win it in every generation. That is what we havenot taught young people, or older ones for that matter.” Hopefully thisfilm can do a small part in teaching that lesson to a new generation, a new ageof heroes.

What must we unite against?

Another place where connections are important is in dealing withloss. Justice League shows various people dealing with loss in differentways.

• We can go back to BvS where Bruce was still struggling to cope with the loss of his parents. He had also lost a Robin, and now he has lost Superman. And he holds himself partly to blame for Superman’s death. The way he was dealing with that new loss in Justice League is with a vigorous commitment to trying to protect the world, build an alliance, and defeat Steppenwolf. He is no longer dealing with loss by isolating himself and lashing out in anger.
• The theme of dealing with loss also continues from the Wonder Woman. Diana lost her home and she lost Steve Trevor. Her way of dealing with that was to isolate herself and withdraw from public heroics, at least temporarily. But now we see her working on making new connections.
• Lois and Martha have lost Clark. Lois feels his absence every day and is not going back to work yet. And Martha has let the farmhouse go.
• Aquaman lost his mother and dealt with it by harboring resentment against her. And he refused to join with her civilization, the Atlanteans, even when Vulko reaches out.
• Barry lost his mother when she was murdered, and then he lost his father to prison when he was convicted for the crime. He is dealing with it by being restless and aimless, and also trying to find a way to get his father exonerated, but it doesn’t seem to be going anywhere. Henry fears that it’s a fruitless endeavor, that Barry is just running in circles. It seems like a fool’s errand, at the beginning of the movie. But by the end, things change a bit.
• And finally there’s Cyborg, who also lost his mom. She was killed in the same accident that maimed him. He is still grieving over his mother and not sure that he wants this new, monstrous life for himself, and then later he has to deal with the tragic loss of his father, which makes it even more important that he has the connections with the other league members.
• Steppenwolf is also dealing with loss, namely, the loss of his position and his status relative to Darkseid.
• As we’ll see as we go through the movie, the heroic characters all have moments where they realize and reflect on the ways that they’re coping or failing to cope with their loss. And they find ways to move forward in healthier ways, often supported by their newfound friendships. But for Steppenwolf, he provides the contrast, because he isn’t really self-reflective at all and he doesn’t find a healthy way to deal with his loss. Thus he suffers yet another loss, again failing to conquer Earth.

And it’s not just the loss of others, there is also the idea oflosing parts of yourself. Each member of the league has some sort of faults orinner demons that they are dealing with. But by supporting one another they areable to face those demons, improve themselves, and come to terms with theirunique qualities and their lot in life. Cyborg probably represents this idea inthe most compelling fashion, and he is also the one to capitulate the idea mostclearly --- “I’m not broken.” And an important part of what helped him torealize that fact is that he is “not alone.” We are stronger together, and partof that strength is in realizing that we are wholly valuable.

Zack Snyder has even talked to Kevin McCarthy about how the visualaspect ratio of Justice League subconsciously reflects this idea ofovercoming adversity and rising up to achieve new heights. Across the Dawn ofJustice trilogy, the aspect ratio goes from 2.35:1 in Man of Steel, to amixed ratio in BvS where the iMax scenes are a bit taller, and now JusticeLeague is fully in the 4:3 ratio which is a bit more upright in stature, soto speak.

Alright, now that we’ve seen how the movie sends the message thatyou can overcome loss and overcome some of your inner demons by buildingconnections and being stronger together, we’ll go through a few of the otherthemes more quickly.

Family is a strength, not a weakness.

This is a continuation of Man of Steel, especially with itsfocus on fathers, and then Batman v Superman, with its focus on mothers.Zack Snyder’s Justice League has several references to family, and thenthere is the new family that the league forms amongst themselves. And there isdefinitely a particular emphasis on the role of parents and parental figures.

Family is especially prominent with Cyborg. He is sad about hisfather being too busy at work, but he clearly has a close connection with hismother. And when he loses his mother, he rejects his father and resents hisfather’s ill-advised attempt to save him. He destroys the tape player ratherthan hear anything from his father’s perspective. This is a family in distress,but we start to see some repair as Vic begins to accept his new gifts and heshows up to save Silas. Vic clearly still cares about him, and after thatrescue he calls him father. Silas also covers for Vic at STAR Labs, with ameaningful nod between the two that speaks volumes. Vic’s new family, theleague, also show good compassion and concern for Vic, recognizing that he hasnow lost both parents. But we can assume that Dr. and Dr. Stone would be proudof where their son ends up in this movie, clearly putting his intellect, hispure heart, and all his gifts to good use.

Barry also has to deal with some friction with his father, withBarry wanting to stay connected and right that wrong, but his dad not wantingto hold Barry back. Like Silas, Henry Allen wants his son to reach his fullpotential. And we see that Barry does take the advice, as he steps out of hiscomfort zone to join Bruce and then gradually learns more and more about how tobe a hero. The connection to his father is especially evident at the end duringthe time sprint when he is clearly moved by the thought that he isaccomplishing something supremely important, one of the “best of the best.”

Although we don’t see Bruce’s parents, they still play a role asBruce tries to make new efforts in this film to honor their memory and make theworld a better place, this time by gathering a team of heroes rather than justhunting criminals. And Martian Manhunter at the end makes an explicit referenceto Bruce’s parents, saying that they would be proud of him.

Aquaman has some resentment toward his mother, but we can see thathe pauses a bit when Mera points out that his mother leaving him might havebeen for his own good. Mera also appeals to Arthur’s mom when she tells Arthurthat it is his responsibility to follow Steppenwolf, so that’s an indirect wayin which Arthur too may be trying to live up to the expectations of hisparents, and he does leave in the Epilogue to go see his father.

In contrast to the leaguers, Steppenwolf says that family is a“weakness.” He views those connections and relationships as something that mayhinder you from pursuing your selfish aims, and they are also a point ofleverage that he can use against you whether you’re a hostage or a foe on thebattlefield. This may come from his own experience with Darkseid who is hisfamily, which we get clues that it played a role in his own selfishpursuits.This comes through very prominently when he faces Wonder Woman. Hetries to exploit Wonder Woman’s sisters and mother as a point of leverage overher. “Why did you abandon your sisters?” He tries to use those emotions andthat love that she has for her family to distract her. He also tries to dividethe team, trying to make her feel guilty for siding with her new family overher original Amazonian family.

So Steppenwolf sees family as a weakness, and he also has clearproblems and a dysfunctional relationship with his own nephew, and he tries touse family connections as a way to drive division. This puts the villain on theopposite side of the actual messages of the movie, which is that family is astrength and that those relationships make us stronger.

This is just scratching the surface of the family relationships atplay in the film, but we definitely noticed how those family relationshipsreally supported the Justice League members through their struggles. And theparents also inspired the heroes by hoping for the best, supporting them inreaching their full potential, especially both of Victor’s parents, Barry’sfather, the narrations from Superman’s fathers, and what we remember fromHippolyta in the Wonder Woman solo movie. There’s even CommissionerGordon’s mom who thought that dentistry may also have been a viable career pathfor him. It’s important to note, however, that for the heroes, it’s not thatthe parents were trying to dictate exactly what they wanted their children tobecome---they just wanted them to pursue their full capabilities and findhappiness and acceptance with who they are. In this way, the parental hopesalso align with our next theme, which is that...

• Free will is essential to our humanity, and sometimes that free will means taking a leap of faith.

A big part of this free will theme comes from all those quotesalluded to above of the main characters making their own way. For example,Silas in the tape recording tells Vic that things are up to his will, and thathe can choose who he wants to be. It harkens back to the advice Supermanreceived in Man of Steel from Jonathan and in BvS from Martha.And of course Henry tells Barry he can be whatever he wants to be, that heshould make his own future. Diana also tells the girl in London that she can bewhatever she chooses to be. So choice is certainly an important element as eachof the heroes must decide for themselves whether to be the heroes, the angelsagainst the demons, or be none of it.

Steppenwolf and Darkseid, on the other hand, explicitly say thatthey want to defeat our free will. They want to usher in an era of blinddevotion to a single lord and master. Even Steppenwolf himself is sort oftrapped in that absence of free will. He kneels before Darkseid and is consumedby a desire to please him and win back his respect. Steppenwolf doesn’t havethat freedom like the heroes have because he chose to commit himself toDarkseid.

Free will can also mean sometimes choosing to take a leap of faithrather than being beholden to cold reasoning. This is most apparent with Bruce.Alfred tells Bruce that his guilt has clouded his reason. But Bruce hasactually shifted from where he was before. He says, “For once, I’m operatingstrictly on faith, not on reason.” And Batman repeats this reliance on faith onthe flying fox. Batman spent most of BvS relying on reason -- arage-induced form of reasoning, but reason nonetheless as he had his 1%doctrine and he felt he had to act on it rather than trust that Superman wouldstay good in this world. But in Justice League he has taken the leap offaith, that recruiting the league will be worth it and that resurrectingSuperman will work out. And like the pastor in MoS said, the trust part cancome later, such as the trust among the league.

There are other connections to faith as well, and this faith canbe interpreted secularly, like faith in family or friends or faith that we arestronger together. But it can also be taken as having a religious connotation.Bruce having faith in the resurrection has a Christian parallel. And Lex doesrefer to Superman again as a godlike figure, saying that god is back up in thesky. And Bruce, the main character who talked about his shift from reason tofaith, said at the end when he’s returning to Wayne manor that there is room formore, “God help us.”

Alright, the last theme we want to mention is the idea of...

Second Chances.

This one stood out to us right away because Silas explicitly tellsVictor to give himself a second chance, even if he won’t forgive Silas. AndSuperman also says that he has a second chance and he’s not going to waste it.This second chance also relates to Bruce, who is trying to right his previouswrongs and make up for his mistakes in BvS, which is why all the scenesrelated to the resurrection have moments where the camera keys in on Bruce’sreaction.

There’s Aquaman who gets a second chance against Steppenwolf inbattle. And then there’s the Flash, who literally gets a second chance at theend of the final battle. Taken together, these second chances show that wedon’t have to be perfect -- we make mistakes, even our heroes make mistakes,but when you get another opportunity, you should strive to do even more or beeven better, to the best of your ability.

Going back to the idea of being stronger together, the leaguers inmany ways support one another through their second chances. This contrasts withDesaad, who seems to be undermining Steppenwolf and basically rooting againsthim as Steppenwolf seeks his second chance; his redemption in the eyes ofDarkseid. If there were to be a sequel to this film, we may also see Darkseid’ssecond chance at an invasion of Earth.

There is also a second chance on a collective scale. There was anage of heroes before, where they united across races to save the world, but nowthat age of heroes has to happen again. We have to join together a second time.It’s up to us, we have the free will to choose not to go “back to the DarkAges” like the London terrorists want, but to go back to that age of heroeswhen we united across our differences.

And as it’s presented in the movie, that collective second chancewith the age of heroes is about literally saving the world. But at the sametime, the age of heroes is also shown on a very small, personal scale. Being ahero is not just about an epic battle against evil, it’s also about showingcare and kindness to regular people. Being a hero is Lois bringing the coffeeand having a warm morning greeting with the police office. It’s Cyborg helpinga single mother when she needs it the most. It’s not just Barry reversing timeto stop the mother boxes, but it’s also Barry saving Iris West, a person hejust met. It’s Diana checking on the young girls after the trauma of theterrorist attack. And it’s Arthur helping the Icelandic villagers or the guyout in the storm. It’s also Silas, director of STAR Labs, showing respect tothe custodian, or Hippolyta showing deep care for each Amazon.

So we see all these smaller acts of kindness, even while theheroes are still separated from one another, and it indicates their good heartseven before they are called upon to deal with the larger threat, which issomething they cannot do alone. It also shows that the idea of “strongertogether” encompasses everyone, even the so-called little people, not just thesuperheroes. And it shows us how we can be part of an age of heroes, too.

Zack Snyder spoke in the virtual premiere about how he thinksabout heroes. He said that “these heroes are misfits. They [are] incrediblyrelatable to just people. The best myth speaks to us in an archetypal way tothe struggles we all face in our lives. These heroes are us. ...If you look atCyborg's journey, he's the linchpin. ... In the end, there's a line, ‘I'm notbroken. And I'm not alone.’ In a lot of ways that has a beautiful meshing ofour message of mental health... We all are heroes to ourselves. We can allstand up. We can all be strong. We can support each other.”

And with that reference to suicide prevention and mental health,Zack is bringing the message of the movie out into the real events surroundingthe movie. Ray Fisher also commented on twitter about how the movie itself sortof connects to the saga that was the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement. Ray Fishertweeted: “Random Thought: Getting a second chance to bring a film to life whileplaying [a] character that gets a second chance at life within that film iskinda trippy... #Cyborg #SnyderCut”

https://twitter.com/ray8fisher/status/1373741233571500034?s=20

Now we are going to share some of our initial, top-level thoughtsabout the main characters in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. There ofcourse could be an entire episode on each one of these characters as we seethem throughout this 4-hour film, so what we’re going to do right now is just commenton the main elements of their characterization and how we viewed their arcacross the course of the movie.

I wrote this together with Alessandro and Rebecca and so they’regoing to help present some of our character analyses, and we’ll try to be relativelybrief because we already mentioned some ideas about characters in relation tothe themes and we will also save many of the details for later scene-by-sceneanalyses.

But let’s start with the guy who is trying to pull together theleague...

Bruce Wayne / Batman (REBECCA)

Bruce’s arc is a direct continuation from Batman v Superman,where at the end of that movie we saw him emerge from his shadowy descent andcome back into the light, pledging himself to a new cause, inspired bySuperman. Bruce is continuing his redemption arc and is now moving fromisolation and toward connection. As part of those connections to other people,he has found faith and he has moved beyond that mentality of promises beingworth very little, and people not staying good in this world. BvS was abattle between that pessimism and Superman’s optimism, and although Superman’soptimism was tested and shaken, it didn’t crumble and in the end it won Batmanover into the place that we see him now in Justice League. Batman inthis film doesn’t necessarily have all the answers, nor does he know exactlyhow things will turn out, but he has enough faith to try. And his faith doeswork out well, at least in this film, as Superman does show up as Bruce said hewould.

One can also think of Bruce through the lens of religiousallegory, which is often a part of the Dawn of Justice trilogy. We can think ofBruce as a sinner who fell from grace -- think about the strong motif of the fall,especially at the beginning of BvS -- but then he is redeemed throughthe savior as represented by Superman. That savior then becomes an inspirationfor Bruce to rededicate himself in Justice League, where he gets to be apart of resurrecting Superman. From this standpoint, the faith component in JusticeLeague makes sense. He is now a believer. He's been born again. He's thatBatman he once was before the rage and the feelings of powerlessness. And it'sthat faith that leads him to encourage others to be their best selves, forexample, telling Cyborg that flight is in his nature.

Even for people who don’t see it through the religious lens, thereis clearly an arc going from isolation to collaboration. He goes from lashingout at the alien Superman to accepting the help of Martian Manhunter. Hiscollaborative turn even extends into the Knightmare timeline. He brings JusticeLeague members together even in the worst possible circumstances, to try toright another wrong that he may have had a hand in. And it’s interesting tothink about how far Batman’s newfound collaboration might go. In the knightmarescenes, he even joins up with former adversaries, Deathstroke and the Joker.That is a long way from the branding that he was doing in BvS.

Zack Snyder sums up all of this when he was interviewed onGeekVibesNation. Snyder said, “Ilike seeing Bruce starting to turn toward a less dark, calculated character,one that’s inspired by faith that the world will turn correctly as opposed to acharacter who believes the world will always turn toward the dark. That’s a bigmove for Bruce in the movie.” - Zack Snyder

https://geekvibesnation.com/interview-zack-deborah-snyder-talk-about-zack-snyders-justice-league-finally-coming-together/

We also want to mention Bruce’s most important relationship inthese films, and that is Alfred. At the end of BvS, as Batman wasemerging from his tunnel vision, he said to Alfred, “I don’t deserve you.” Thathumility has continued and expanded in Justice League. He now has thehumility to know that he needs help from the other Leaguers, but he also says,“Thank you, Alfred,” and “I work for him.” Bruce has detoxified his masculinitya bit, but that hasn’t made him any weaker or more vulnerable, but instead ithas strengthened him by allowing him to have stronger relationships.

Diana Prince / Wonder Woman (SAM)

Diana is the first one to join Bruce’s cause, having connectedwith him in BvS, and in this film she gets quite a bit of focus in thefirst parts of the film. Like Bruce, she is re-emerging in a sense. A hundredyears ago she walked from mankind and she has been trying to work her way back--- it’s been a struggle and as she says, she’s “still working on it.” Thisalso gives her a connection to Victor, and she opens up about her own strugglesto him, which is just enough of a human connection that he is willing to comearound and join the team. She even says to him that she needs his help, so it’snot about “fixing” Victor but is instead about a notion of mutual support. Thisshowed a keen insight and emotional awareness on Diana’s part, highlighting herstrengths as a recruiter with a different style than Bruce.

A unique thing about Diana is that she does have experience aspart of a team that had to face a world-level threat, with the Oddfellowstaking on Ares. The Wonder Woman film also presented the idea thateveryone is fighting their own battles and dealing with their own struggles,and to be a true team, you have to see each other in that full light and youhave to build connections and trust. Wonder Woman is an important part of bothteams because she does have that empathy and compassion. As Gal Gadot describedit in a behind-the-scenes short, Wonder Woman is basically the glue of the team.She loves everyone and accepts everyone for who they are, and she offersencouragement so they can reach their full potential. She did that with theOddfellows and she does it again here with the Justice League. She even showsthat compassion and encouragement with the young girl in London -- it’s aconsistent part of the Wonder Woman character.

Some other quick connections to the Wonder Woman film arethe references to Steve Trevor, which is handled in a subtle and respectfulway, where we can still see that she carries the love and grief for him but itdoesn’t prevent her from going forward. The very brief little romantic momentbetween Bruce and Diana was minor enough that it doesn’t encroach on herfeelings for Steve, but it hints at something possibly developing in the futurebetween Diana and Bruce. And there was also the parallel with the flying fox,where we see that Bruce is actually a pilot, too, like Steve. It’s also kind ofnice that Diana bonds with Alfred just as much as she does with Bruce, and thebit with the tea and her also teasing them about copying her gauntlets wereenjoyable moments.

The biggest connection to the Wonder Woman mythology isthat we see several scenes on Themyscira and we also have the Amazons centrallyinvolved in the history lesson. These are important for Diana’scharacterization in the film because, as she is working to save the world, sheis also dealing with guilt for having left Themyscira. Steppenwolf tries toprey upon that guilt by taunting her with the death of the Amazons and theirfailure to guard the mother box. But it is unwise to taunt a godkiller. And asZack Snyder said, he uses gods to kill gods.

In the Wonder Woman film, Diana uses the power of love todefeat Ares, and in Justice League there’s a quick joke that Barry makesabout saving the world with love. It doesn’t seem disrespectful, though,because it fits with Barry’s sort of nervous-energy characterization. And Dianais an unapologetic belief in love. Love drives her character. Her knowledge oflove is how she can recognize that Clark is not necessarily all bad when heresurrects and she understands that his love for Lois Lane was the key to hismemory returning. And Diana knows about the depth of that love because she wasthere when Superman died and Lois grieved over his dead body. Diana was alsothere to see Lois alone at Clark's grave.

Diana also says that “hate is useless.” This allows her to movepast the Amazons’ animosity toward Atlanteans, and so it’s through hercommitment to love and understanding that she is able to get past anysuspicions of Arthur and make connections with him that allow them to be a veryeffective duo by the end of the movie.

In terms of how Diana was portrayed, we share the view of@lombacarol which is that this film avoided depicting Diana as an objectified,sexual figure. She is not there to titillate the male characters nor is shelacking in intelligence, which unfortunately is often the case inmale-dominated media. In the Snyder Cut, she is very intelligent and her bodyis shown in ways that emphasize her strength and skills. For the Amazons, too,their bodies are often shown but it’s not salacious, it is emphasizing their strengthand abilities.

One final thing we want to say about Diana is something that’s notvery deep but is just fun to notice --- there are two early foreshadowings ofher final beheading of Steppenwolf. First of all, Diana blasting away the leadterrorist hints at the fact that she will not hesitate in killing a villain whothreatens innocent life. And second, Hippolyta in the early Amazon fightsequence does the move where she steps up and then launches off the wall tostab a parademon, which foreshadows the exact move that Diana will use todecapitate Steppenwolf. She has a love for humanity, but she doesn’t hesitateto do what is necessary.

Victor Stone / Cyborg (SAM)

Like Diana, Victor is closed off and is working on opening up toothers, though for him it is a much more recent trauma and it involved adrastic change to himself physically. But early in the movie, we see Victorrefusing to talk to his father and literally turning his back on him as a formof withdrawal. And Cyborg says to Diana, “I don’t need anyone.” He feels like amonster and is in a sense torn between two worlds -- who he was before and whohe is now, which was not something that he chose for himself. He also has hishuman side and his Apokoliptian enhancements, so this combination of originslays the groundwork for a connection to Superman or Aquaman, although thosearen’t explored fully in this movie.

Cyborg has very strong arcs in Justice League. He goes fromviewing himself as a monster to taking his place as a hero on the league. “I’mnot broken.” And he goes from isolation to being basically the co-leader of thegroup by the end. “I’m not alone.” And as we mentioned with the family themethat cuts across many characters, Victor goes from losing his family to forgingconnections with a new sort of family.

The relationship between Victor and Silas is one of the strongestparts of the arc. In their opening scene, Victor totally refuses even a hint ofpleasantries with his father. The general audience may have wanted lots ofexplicit dialogue between the two to explain exactly what they’d been throughand what they were feeling, but this movie tends to show rather than tell. AndVictor’s pain is so acute that he starts off not even giving his father achance to try to repair things; Victor is not ready for that yet. Vic’sanimosity is clear as he goes straight to, “You know a lot about monsters.Especially how to make them.” And that’s all he says. It establishes at thebeginning that much of Vic and Silas’s communication is going to be nonverbal,or it is through the recording that is not an actual conversation between them.That recording becomes symbolic, representing Silas’s desperate attempt to openup some sort of channel of communication with his son, and Silas’s attempt tosomehow offer guidance and encouragement to Vic. At first Victor crushes it,representing his destruction and rejection of their relationship because of theanger he feels about Silas not being there before the accident and then angerat turning Victor into this alien monster. But later, the recording and therelationship are symbolically restored, when Victor is finally willing tolisten to Silas as a father.

This relationship also arcs well because it has some meaningfulstory beats in the middle. We eventually see more from Vic’s backstory, we seeSilas with pride and relief when Victor comes to STAR labs because it showsthat Vic is emerging from his isolation and they are starting to have thepossibility of reconnecting, even if communicated just through a nod. We alsosee Cyborg’s genuine concern when Silas is taken, so there is still the lovefrom a son to a father underneath the prior anger. And this concern is showneven more clearly when Cyborg saves him from Steppenwolf. There’s a key momentafter that rescue when Silas says he wasn’t sure Victor would come, but Victorsays, “You’re my father.” So he is acknowledging that relationship, which is astep forward from crushing the audio recorder. At the same time that it’s astep forward, there is still some implicit friction there. For Silas to say, Iwasn’t sure you’d come, this harkens back to a younger Victor who was not surethat his father would show up, and indeed, we saw that Silas wasn’t there atthe football game and he often put his work ahead of his family. So in this sense,Cyborg saying, You’re my father, could be interpreted as a subtle jab sayingthat, since you’re my father, you should’ve also been there for me. Thisuncertainty about whether they can count on one another is also a contrast toBruce in this movie, who is now trying to put faith in other people.

As for Victor and Silas, their relationship does end up at alittle bit of a better place in STAR Labs later, but they never get to fullyheal their relationship because Silas is killed when he marks the mother box.This is especially tragic because Cyborg was starting to turn the corner, butbefore that full repair can happen, he has to actually witness his father’sdeath. What also makes that an especially potent moment is that Silas got a lotof development in this film, and he was centrally involved in the plot. He notonly saved Vic’s life earlier, but he also ultimately saved the world becauseSilas' sacrifice helps the Justice League find the Mother Box and whereSteppenwolf has set up his base of operations.

We’re just scratching the surface here, but Cyborg was an amazingand deep character in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. From the character’screation in 1980 by Wolfman and Perez, it is now forty years later and wefinally get to see the origin of this character in cinematic form, and this ishis awesome introduction to the general audience where we see this star athletewho is also extremely smart, kind, and emotionally vulnerable. We can’t speakfrom personal experience what it is like to see this sort of representation ofa Black character in the film, but we do want to share a tweet from MarVeViwho, from her profile picture, appears to be a Black woman. She shared thefollowing reaction to Cyborg’s portrayal in this movie: “I can’t explain the importanceof a portrayal of a young black man who is powerful, capable [of] showing pain,insanely smart, and very respectful with a good heart. Ray Fisher isextraordinary Thank you @ray8fisher and @ZackSnyder.” https://twitter.com/marvevi_/status/1372941329555197953?s=20 Ray Fisher himself responded to this tweet. He added: “AND hassuccessful parents with genius level intellects.” https://twitter.com/ray8fisher/status/1372945911404498956?s=20

A few more quick things about Cyborg, just because we can’t helpourselves:

• Joe Morton, the actor playing Silas Stone, said the following about Silas’s sacrifice and how that relates to the theme of humanity. “I think that his self-sacrifice was the ultimate human gesture, if you will. The same thing was true in Terminator 2. When the Terminator actually sacrifices himself at the end of the film, it’s because he understands the fullness of humanity and what that means in terms of making it better for other people. And I think that’s certainly what Silas is going through in that moment.” https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/why-justice-league-star-joe-morton-thinks-fans-should-have-more-of-a-say?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
• The flashback scene to Vic in school is a good one. It shows Vic’s good heart, as he uses his ability to try to help another student in need. That foreshadows the way that he helps the single mother later, when he has his digital powers. There may be questions about exactly how Vic carried out these efforts, and whether in his youth changing grades was the best way to support a student having a tough time, or maybe questions about where the hundred thousand came from for the single mother. But beyond those questions, there is a broader call to all of us. Just as Dr. Stone asked the principal, we can ask ourselves, what have we done to help?
• Arthur is initially a bit skeptical of Cyborg and his connection to the motherbox, and we don’t really blame him for that. It also makes it more meaningful when they come together later that there was some doubt to overcome and some trust to build in the first place. There’s also that leap of faith again, with the trust part coming later.
• It’s awesome to see Cyborg eventually taking a leadership role in the league, and the fact that he is willing to put his life on the line to enter the motherboxes, and to do it so soon after suffering the tragedy of losing his father, raises the stakes in that final battle. And he was not only the most crucial league member at the end but he was also central to them making it out of the gotham harbor battle.
• In our scene-by-scene analysis we are going to dig more into the visual motifs with Cyborg. One that we already noticed is the focus on either side of his face, depending on the moment. You can tell that these were purposeful choices right from the start when his father comes into the apartment, and Vic starts with the right side, his human side, but then when he accuses Silas of creating a monster, he shifts to his left side, the Cyborg side. It’s meaningful in many later scenes, too, like when he nods to his father when he’s entering STAR labs, he looks back and nods with the camera focusing on his human side.

Steppenwolf and Darkseid (Alessandro)

In this film, Steppenwolf and Darkseid are the opposite side ofthe coin, sort of the yang to the yin, of Batman and Superman. Like Batman,Steppenwolf is seeking redemption from Darkseid, his own Superman figure towhom he feels beholden to. Instead of bringing a team of heroes together tofend off an evil conquest, he is trying to bring together the Motherboxes tofulfill one.

If Superman is the Christ figure, Darkseid is the Anti-Christfigure. Darkseid, like Superman, appears to have a second chance following aprevious fall when he was previously defeated by Earth’s defenders. NeitherSuperman or Darkseid want to waste their second chance, with Darkseid saying hewill stop at nothing.

Steppenwolf makes clear that he wants to return home. He seems toregret his past indiscretions, and he desires to return to Darkseid’s goodgraces. His desperation to be valued once more by his blood relative appears tobe motivated by both a thirst for clout he once might have held sitting at thedark one’s side, as noted by Desaad, and a fear of Darkseid’s wrath. Hemight’ve succeeded too if not for The Flash’s ability to rewrite history.

Darkseid is not as well developed as Steppenwolf, but he is animpressive looming force. He also has a clear motivation of ultimate glory andwanting to redeem his loss from thousands of years ago. And of course he wantsto bend everyone to his will and so he’s sort of a classic conqueror villain,with the added threat of the anti-life equation as a possibility in the future.

Having Steppenwolf be the villain in this movie, rather thanDarkseid himself, allows for some additional layering in terms of the villainsbecause we are seeing Steppenwolf as the destroyer of Earth but he himself isalso marginalized and oppressed by Darkseid, and yet Steppenwolf wants toplease Darkseid. He desperately wants Darkseid to see his worth again.

These nuances from Steppenwolf come through in the voice acting byCiaran Hinds but also some surprisingly good CGI acting in his facialexpressions and body language. One really good moment of CGI acting was when heannounces the anti-life equation and Desaad steps away and then Darkseidappears through the communication obelisk. Just watching Steppenwolf’s facethere is great. It was also a compelling visual choice that Steppenwolf mostlyuses his spiked armor to show his power when intimidating those he isinterrogating or in front of the parademons as well as to protect himself whenfighting, but when he bows to Darkseid, the spiked armor goes away and hisvulnerable skins shows.

With regard to the theme of unity, Darkseid does actually provideunity for the Apokoliptians. But it’s an oppressive sort of unity where theyare all united underneath him. Nevertheless, there is some strength that comesfrom that absolute adherence to Darkseid. And the mother boxes also haveadditional strength that comes from synchronizing. In contrast, Steppenwolfdescribes Earth as divided, at war with one another, and too separate to beone.

But of course the heroes end up forming their own unity, and theydo it of their own free will and by supporting one another, flaws and all,rather than through domination. And by the end of the movie, we see that it’sthe unity of free will that wins the day over the unity through domination orsubservience. Diana sums up this rejection of subservience well when she tellsSteppenwolf, “I belong to no one.”

We also get a glimpse at the flaws that can emerge within adominating type of unity. Sometimes it’s only unity on the surface, but underthe surface people may be jockeying with one another and looking foropportunities to backstab or throw someone under the bus. For example, at theend of the movie, Desaad says to Darkseid, “I told you he would fail.” So theydid not have unity and collaboration. They were undermining one another ortrying to compete with one another for Darkseid’s good graces.

As for us, we really appreciate films like Man of Steel andBatman v Superman where the villains also tie into some of the mainthemes of the film, and they show the negative side of the theme.

Arthur Curry / Aquaman (REBECCA)

Arthur Curry is a character who chooses isolation. He makes itclear to Bruce Wayne that he wants to be left alone, which is the opposite ofBarry Allen’s desire for friends. This reluctant and closed-off attitude whichArthur exudes can easily lead someone like Barry Allen to come to theconclusion that Arthur doesn’t care about anyone else. Bruce, however, seesthrough this tough exterior and knows about Arthur’s good deeds that Arthurtries to hide. In an effort to break through to Arthur, Bruce references Supermanand says “He thought we were stronger together”, a lesson learned by Superman,Batman, and Wonder Woman during the battle with Doomsday and which applies herein the Snyder Cut as he recruits members for his team. Arthur hasn’t learnedthis lesson yet. He hasn’t needed to. He’s been operating solo and doesn’t yetrecognize the value in working with others until Atlantis is attacked, asituation requiring teamwork with Mera in order to survive.

Some interesting connections that come from Arthur’s loner phaseis that we see him doing some good deeds, kind of like Clark in Man of Steel.And we also see that Arthur finds solace in some monuments from the past,particularly the memorial to King Atlan, similar to how Lois finds her solacein visiting the Heroes Park tribune to Superman.

Arthur is also a lot like Diana, being torn between two peoples.Even though he is drawn towards the quiet of Atlantis in his visits to theremnants of King Atlan’s throne, Arthur fights against his calling. He may notwant to be King at this point, but he still chooses to help others when theyare in need. Like Diana and Victor, Arthur’s “strongest man is strongest alone”attitude reflects his attitude about not needing anyone. But he hasn’t given upon others because we see him actively helping those in need. He struggles withthe bitterness of not wanting to embrace a part of himself, similar to Victor,and in that respect, can relate to him in that way. He shows his ability to beopen and his understanding of Victor by showing empathy for his well-beingafter he loses his father.

Arthur thinks that the surface doesn’t expect him to be king, butwhat he doesn’t seem to see are the villagers left behind who display reverencefor his heroism through the singing of a folk song. Vulko (much like BruceWayne, driven by promises) argues with Arthur, telling him, “You can’t turnyour back on the world forever”, and in time, Arthur makes the decision to stepforward and join as a leaguer, helping save both the surface world and the Atlanteansagainst Steppenwolf. After rescuing a sailor from almost certain death, Arthursuggests that he “Respect the storm.” This respect for stakes and consequencesis why he questions Victor about his history with the Mother Boxes, would beconcerned about fighting the Devil and his army in Hell, and how this futureKing of Atlantis would be prepared for menacing threats like an Evil Supermanand a Darkseid, who, in the Knightmare, will skewer him (paralleling Aquaman’soffensive strike against Steppenwolf) and end his life.

We also want to remark on the fact that Arthur Curry was acharacter who brought some subtle, organic humor that was neverthelesseffective. The next character was clearly the main one providing comic relief,but Arthur had his moments too, saying to Cyborg, “You talk to machines?”which mirrors the way that Aquaman often gets called out for talking to fish.We also got a chuckle out of the moment with Barry trying on hats when Arthursays, “show me A again.” And there’s also a good moment when Aquaman glares atThe Flash after the Flash had crashed into him. These moments do not take awayfrom any seriousness of the film, they don’t interrupt any building tension,and they fit well with the gruff characterization of Aquaman.

Barry Allen / The Flash (Alessandro)

Zack Snyder’s Barry Allen has caught favor from many, but he isnotably different from the comics in that his personality is very similar toWally West’s at times with his silly, humorous remarks. As we mentioned, hefills the role of comic relief on the team. There are even brief physical gags,like the Flash pressing himself up against the wall during the Gotham tunnelfight to avoid being shot, and some of his facial reactions during his slowmotion scenes. So in that respect Ezra Miller plays a bit of an amalgamation ofthe different versions of Flash. But he is also integral in the major plotpoints of the story. And he is shown to be confident and capable with hisabilities.

For us, Ezra’s best scenes are those in which he captures theessence of Barry Allen. From his emotion-filled rescue of Iris West to hisevocation of his father's words as he turns back time, it's his sincerity thatmakes him like the Barry that most are familiar with.

Barry’s journey in many ways resembles Superman’s own journey in Manof Steel, so it is very fitting that he should consider Superman his hero.They both start off as loners taking on odd jobs and trying to find their placein the world. And both had their mettle tested before saving the world fromdestruction of alien origins and fulfilling their fathers’ dreams for them. ForBarry it’s about being the best of the best. And while he can’t quite tell hisfather about how he saved the world, he can share that victory of getting areal job and starting to find his direction as Barry Allen.

Similar to Clark, Barry has found that he doesn’t quite fit in,evidenced by his need for friends. He appears to be socially awkward aroundpeople, something on display while interviewing for a job as a dog walker. LikeClark, Barry also exposed his abilities to a woman who would eventually be hislove interest. Admittedly we don’t see any character development for Iris Westin this film, but she does seem to have an interest in Barry, so it’s not just aone-way infatuation. “Song to the Siren” by Tim Buckley and Larry Beckett isthe song that plays during the Iris rescue, a moment that is over in a flashfor Iris but, much like the tempo of the song, a much slower, longer-lastingmoment for Barry. It really strums at the heart strings despite the addedcomedic element of the hot dogs.

Of course Barry and Victor both share a lot of the samesimilarities with Clark, but Barry and Victor also have their ownuniquely-shared backgrounds. Both are struggling to find a steady relationshipwith their fathers while they are also dealing with having lost their mothers.They seem to relate most with each other for which their similar age likely isa factor.

An interesting element to Barry’s scenes in the film, given hisability to time travel, is their foreshadowing. Almost like bookends, in the character’svery first scene he is late for a job interview, and in his very last scene heis late to jolting Cyborg into the unified Motherboxes. And the scene with hisfather in prison also foreshadows his big third act moment when he tells Barryto make his own future which he does by changing the past. Part of Flashfinding his path is creating his own future, as his father tells him to do. Thelesson is to create your own past and your own future in the present. Becausethe present becomes the past and shapes the future. Unless you have timealtering super powers of course. Suffice it to say, it’s not wise for him tocreate his own past or future in the past, which comic readers know results inthe dour Flashpoint timeline.

Clark Kent / Superman (Alessandro)

Clark continues in a revitalized pursuit to find his reason forbeing on Earth, as Jonathan Kent told him he needed to do. He explicitly saysto Martha, echoing Jonathan’s sentiments from Man of Steel, that he was broughtback for a reason and he needed to find out what that reason was. Hereturns to his world, both Lois and planet Earth. And he is able to fulfill hisrole as protector of Earth by going toe to toe with Steppenwolf. In a way,Clark has to rediscover himself all over again after being brought back tolife. He starts out as an alien among humans, only to find love from Lois inthis instance, as opposed to Martha and Jonathan when he was a baby. He thenneeds to find his humanity as he did as a child, only to then embrace hisKryptonian origin to protect the people of Earth. It comes full circle for himas he retreads his arc from Man of Steel to BvS.

Clark tells Lois that he has a second chance, a sentiment Silasshared with Victor about his rebirth. Both Victor and Clark stood at death’sdoor without actually crossing it. (And by the way, given that the scout shiprecognizes Clark when Barry rolls his body through its halls, we think that helikely was in a deep coma similar to his presumed death in the comics.) BothClark and Victor use their second chance to do great things, to save the planetand embrace their place in it. For both, what didn’t kill them made themstronger. Victor has acquired a whole array of powers and abilities. Clark hasgained new appreciation and perspective for his world. He also seems to possessnew strength and abilities he has not shown before. Specifically he uses superbreath to freeze Steppenwolf’s axe. We don’t know if this is a newly-acquiredability or if Zack’s previous films just never had the occasion to show it. Onepossibility is that perhaps his body adapted or evolved a bit from hisencounter with Doomsday. Alternatively, the Motherbox might have resurrectedhim with improvements. This is all of course speculation. It does lead to thequestion of how Superman would know about this new ability unless it manifesteditself off screen during his second first flight after soaking in the sun’srays in his black costume.

Speaking of the black suit, the film doesn’t quite explain itspurpose, however it certainly plays an important role in Clark’s continuedtheme of choice, especially in the context of his free will being taken fromhim by Darkseid in the nightmarish future. It’s an important connection toSuperman’s origins in Man of Steel. He is born instead of bred likeother Kryptonians, and bestowed with free will by Jor-El to choose his ownpath. Steppenwolf saying “their free will must be ripped from them” connectsdirectly back to this hugely important theme from Man of Steel and as itrelates to Superman specifically.

Back on the scout ship, Superman passes by several suits,including his recognizable blue and red one, and settles on the black andsilver suit. Comic readers may be familiar with this suit as being helpful toClark in reenergizing himself. And a general knowledge of physics tells us thatthe color black absorbs more light and releases the energy around it.Theoretically it should naturally allow him to fully power up more quickly.This is something Zack Snyder consciously considered in choosing the blacksuit. He mentions the practicality of “needing a way for Superman to charge upquickly and be stronger than he was.” He adds that there is also symbolism tothe black suit, referencing the book The Red, White, and Black by RobertBly in which white represents naivety, red anger, and black humanity.Superman’s choice to keep the suit even after they defeat Steppenwolf isanother choice, one which we hope would be explained within the story in thesequel. However, we can already gain some insight into the symbolism of thesuit color going forward where the black suit represents his connection tohumanity, and once his free will has been stripped of him following the deathof Lois, he returns to the red cape to represent anger.

Going back to the resurrection, it’s a bit of a callback toDoomsday, who came from a re-animated Zod in the genesis chamber in Batman vSuperman. Before both of them are brought to life, the Scout Shipspecifically warns of such action. To Lex the ship says the action is forbiddenciting the Kryptonian counsel’s decree. To Victor it advises againstactivation, stating the action is irreversible. Both actions lead to death anddestruction which ties directly back to the saying both Atlantians and theAmazons have, “None are taken back from the darkness, not without giving one upin return.” When Zod is taken back from the darkness, Superman is given up inreturn. When Superman is taken back from the darkness, Lois is given up inreturn as Victor’s vision shows us. Once activated the ship says that “thefuture has taken root in the present,” a line borrowed from Merlin in the movieExcalibur.

Both Doomsday and Superman then emerge from the ship and land atHeroes Park. When Doomsday arrives, the Superman statue is still intact andDoomsday throws Superman through it, foreshadowing his death. When Supermanarrives, the statue is in pieces, like his mind. And the phrase written on theground “If you seek his monument, look around you,” reflects both the crumbledstatue and the need for Superman to rediscover himself by finding his place inthe world again. Both Doomsday and Superman are confused with vague memories oftheir previous lives as indicated by their subtle recognition of faces. But asBarry brings up, the “power of love” is what returns Clark to his right mind,as opposed to the heartless, objective-driven Zod. During that brief time thatClark’s thoughts were clouded, he became the very thing he fought against in Manof Steel and the thing that Bruce was afraid of in BvS: a menacingKryptonian threat to humanity. To emphasize this point, a variation of the song“Arcade” from the Man of Steel soundtrack, which was Zod’s theme, plays whenClark sees Batman for the first time.

Diana even makes mention to Arthur that hate is useless. This tiesto Batman’s own fall from grace in BvS when he became the very thing hewas fighting against, the killer that murdered his parents.

Once Clark’s clarity has returned, he has some beautiful momentsreuniting with the women in his life. This is especially heartfelt given Clarkhadn’t seen Martha since before she was kidnapped. And he talks about beinghome, and both Lois and Martha represent home in different ways. Martha was themother who gave him that loving home after his world was destroyed. And Loisconnected with him in a way that allowed him to be both Clark and Superman inthe world, and they established their new home in Metropolis, which was ontrack leading to an engagement and possibly even a child, depending on theresults of that pregnancy test in the bedside table. The clothing enhances thisfeeling of home, as Lois specifically chooses the Clark-Kent style flannelshirt. This familiar clothing, plus the familiar setting, all seem to helpbring back his memories and his sense of self. It’s a nice, subtle moment whenhe remembers that not only did his mother love it in this farm house (making itall the more sad that she was foreclosed on), but he also remembers that heloved it here. And we get that great camera shot pulling back to the swingsetfrom Man of Steel. It’s also great to hear Zimmer’s piano theme forClark Kent. And the butterfly is another visual connection to Man of Steel,and Clark’s gentleness with the butterfly shows that he has fully recoveredfrom his violent phase at Heroes Park. The butterfly can also be symbolic offlight and the fact that Clark is as gentle as a butterfly in spirit, but thathe also has this great power to fly. It's an infusion of both of hisidentities.

In all his scenes, Clark and his alter-ego Superman continue thecharacter trait of being fairly sparse with his words. He doesn’t talk at allwhen he’s first resurrected, which is understandable given he is confused. Butonce he reconnects with Lois and returns to his old self, each line with Loisand then with Martha are delicate and meaningful. As is personifying thehistorically attributed catchphrase of fighting for the American way, Supermanevokes leaders such as Theodore Roosevelt and Benjamin Franklin by speakingsoftly, or little, and doing much, including showing strength.

Although we see little of Superman, and his arc seems slightlyrushed, we do get a sense that he has completed his original character arcwhich began in Man of Steel and we definitely see direct continuationsfrom BvS, and thus by the end of the Snyder Cut he becomes the Supermanthat audiences expected him to be right off the bat. Almost as if his fathersare speaking to him from beyond the grave, a reference to when Superman waskilled in the comics and met Jonathan Kent in the afterlife, we hear the voicesof Jonathan and Jor-El speaking to Clark telling him how much they love him andare proud of him, and to fly, it’s time. This sort of implies it wasn’t timebefore, suggesting the world wasn’t ready. And as we learned from Batman vSuperman, there seems to have been some truth to that. Whereas the women inhis life helped him to reconnect with Clark, the men in his life help himreconnect with Superman. He’s been through great ordeals, learned much, and hasa new perspective with his new lease on life. He also is widely accepted andhas friendships with commonalities. In that respect he too is no longer alone,something that resonates with all the members of the Justice League andconnects back to the through line “You are not alone”.

Lois Lane and Martha Kent (Alessandro)

Lois, as Superman’s world, has always been his connection withhumanity. She is also a representation of the people of the world and acts as alens into their state. Just as Lois is mourning, so too is the world.

She is still deep in grief, so much so that she has not gone towork in over a month. This just so happens to be relevant to the#ReleasetheSnyderCut movement’s cause, American Foundation for SuicidePrevention and Mental Health Awareness. It also brings Lois into the fold ofdealing with the loss of a loved one like the rest of the heroes.

Lois has shut herself off from the world which fits into the themeof isolation. She goes alone every day to Heroes Park and mourns the death ofher fiance under the cover of mourning the death of a public hero. It’s a wayshe can display her grief in public and be around or among others who miss himtoo. Similar to Cyborg and Diana, it seems she too may be working on openingback up again by visiting the memorial and seeing the flowers left by otherswhich probably makes her feel less alone and isolated in her grief. Thisconnects to the Lois/Martha scene when they talk about the public is mourning asymbol but the public didn’t know the real Clark like they did. Lois knew both,represented by the fact that she mourns with her personal picture with Clarkand she also mourns at the public memorial. Lois carries her black umbrella atHeroes Park, like a metaphorical shadow cast over her. Her grief is alsosymbolized by the rain which can act as a cinematic metaphor for crying.

Lois’ opening scene is especially emotional because we can seeZack Snyder’s cameo and we know that he too ended up facing a devastating lossin his family. So in a way Lois’s mourning here is also the Snyders mourning.

Lois and Clark’s arcs in this film go hand in hand and somewhatmirror each other. Lois is lost without Clark, and Clark is lost without Lois.Without Clark, Lois has shut herself off and is a sense dead to the world justas Clark is literally. Without Lois, Clark is confused and missing his ownidentity. They are both reborn at the same point in the film with the help ofsome super friends. Lois is guided back to the world of the living, out fromthe metaphorical grave she dug herself, by Martian Manhunter, and Clark isrevitalized by the league from his dormant state and out from an actual grave.Both Lois and Clark reclaim their love and their second chances. And togetherthey once again are not alone.

In coming full circle, Lois’s arc leads her to fulfilling what sheset out to do in Batman v Superman when she hopped on a helicopter toGotham. Because in BvS she couldn’t have suspected that Batman had anymeans of killing Superman, after Superman said he might have to kill Batman,Lois went after him to stop him. She ended up arriving just in time to saveSuperman from Batman. This time she arrives just in time to save Batman fromSuperman. It’s also fun to think about how this is the second time Batman hasbeen saved from a blast of heat vision by a woman arriving just in time. SoLois is not only the key here in the Snyder Cut, but she is also hinted as thepossible key in a possible future where Lois may be destined to die in theBatcave, along with her unborn child.

Summary / Conclusion / Comments on Trilogy

There’s much more that could be said about this four-hour epic,but those are our initial thoughts focusing on the messages we took from themovie and the journey that the characters went on together. The overarchingidea of being stronger together may seem like a bit of an obvious theme for ateam-up movie, but we think that this movie went above and beyond the obviouswith all the nuance in how the different characters were previously isolatedand how they all benefitted in different ways from coming together andsupporting one another. And even if stronger together is a bit of an obviousmessage to send, we nevertheless feel that it is an important message in thismoment because we live in a society where partisanship and division are stillbig problems, and we need inspiration to come together as we face our owncollective challenges like the pandemic or climate change.

We also really like how Zack Snyder’s Justice League has asub-theme of second chances. That’s fitting for a movie that is literally asecond chance at telling this story, and it’s also a good reminder that to formconnections and truly be stronger together, that sometimes means offeringsomeone a second chance, or being willing to give yourself one.

Now to close this episode, we want to ask one final question:

What does it feel like to have the rightful conclusion to the Dawnof Justice trilogy?

First of all, it was emotionally resonant to have the familiarmusical themes from the prior films. And as many people have pointed out, it isgreat to have the structural parallels tying all three films together, such as BvSstarting with a return to the ending of Man of Steel but showing a newangle on how those events impacted other people, and here in Zack Snyder’sJustice League we have a parallel structure where we return to the death ofSuperman but now we expand out to see some new aspects of how Superman’s deathimpacted the motherboxes and the protectors of those motherboxes. Anotherstructural parallel is the use of dark, alternative visions -- first for Supermanfrom Zod, then Batman’s knightmare, and now the motherbox trying to temptCyborg with the return of his family and his human form. Even beyond thetrilogy, Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman also featured these sortsof manipulative visions.

As fans of BvS, it is also rewarding to see the directcontinuations of the Knightmare scene, the Flash time travel, the engagementring, and so much more. There was also a continuation of the overarching story.There are many ways to look at the story across the trilogy, but from oneperspective we have...

• Man of Steel, where Clark has the freedom of choice and has the influence of two fathers. He chooses to side with Earth and strive for a better future rather than returning to Kryptonian society.
• Then in Batman v Superman Earth now has to choose whether they will support and accept Superman. They do during the honeymoon phase, but then the halo starts to fall. Lex and Bruce represent powerful men rejecting a being more powerful than themselves. As Earth starts to have doubts and prejudgments about Superman, will Superman still stand up for them?
• BvS is also a metaphorical battle between two futures -- the one represented by Batman, which is a future dominated by fear, anger, resentment, and the idea that a 1% chance of someone being your enemy has to be acted upon. Versus the future represented by Superman, which is a future of personal sacrifice and shrugging off the slings and arrows of public ridicule. Superman also represents looking for the best in people and trying to see the good in humanity --- Lex and Bruce really test this idea, because they keep making things worse when Superman is trying to turn a corner, but that’s when hope is most important -- when people are disappointing you and showing you a darker side. But Superman does not give up, he continually finds new inspiration, from Jonathan and from Lois, and ultimately Superman wins the debate, wins the battle for the future, even as he loses his life. Superman’s victory is most poignantly represented by Batman’s turn at the end, re-dedicating himself to the potential of mankind and following in Superman’s footsteps.
• And now we come to Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Because Superman chose humanity, and after some tribulations, humanity chose Superman by the end of BvS, that leads right into the Snyder Cut where Batman is actually leaving his isolation and his solitary cave and is trying to recruit others. Batman is no longer trying to kill meta-humans but is recruiting them because, like Superman, he wants to focus on their potential for good. Recruiting heroes, this is the thing he can do that matters! And it’s not just Batman, several of the other Leaguers are directly inspired by Superman too, just as we all can be the monument to Superman’s example. As Jor-El said, embodied in that hope is the fundamental belief of every person to be a force for good. That idea from Man of Steel has now come to fruition. And we literally get to see others joining Superman in the sun at the conclusion of this Dawn of Justice trilogy.

Although this film continued many elements that we appreciatedabout Man of Steel and BvS, it also expanded things and becameeven more epic in scale. Those prior films already had worldwide threats, butin the Snyder Cut the worldwide threat is truly universal in scope and it builtthings out across multiple societies and also across time, to the past andto the future. This makes it a big and satisfying conclusion to the trilogy,even if that expansiveness also means that we are very eager to see more or tosee what might happen next.

Our final comment is that it’s interesting to think about how theDawn of Justice trilogy actually parallels some of the real-life events andreactions to the movies. I’ve written before on my blog, comicandscreen.blogspot.com,about how Man of Steel tries to give freedom of choice to the characterof Superman, and yet the backlash to the film is that some fans only wanted thecharacter to behave in a certain way. And with Batman v Superman, itcautions against prejudgment and bandwagoning, emphasizing the importance ofconsidering multiple perspectives because you may actually be missing the fullstory, and yet the backlash to that movie was largely a piling-on by people whodidn’t understand it or in many cases didn’t even see it. So with those movies,the villains in the movie and the detractors of the movie were basically oneand the same.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League alsoreflects the real journey of the film because it required a diverse team ofpeople to come together, to face challenges and setbacks, but to persevere andbasically give a second chance to this movie. And as we posted on twitter in aconversation with @theSNYDERVERSE, the trilogy has an arc for Superman that iseerily similar to the journey that Zack Snyder had to take in making thesefilms. https://twitter.com/JLUPodcast/status/1372988361816739840?s=20

With Man of Steel, it involved difficult choices but theyultimately continue with this world. With Batman v Superman, there is amob mentality that undercuts and attacks them but they give of themselvesanyway. And with Zack Snyder’s Justice League, people realize whatthey’ve lost and a team of supporters unite to bring them back for a rousingvictory.

End of Episode

Thanks for listening to our initial thoughts on Zack Snyder’sJustice League from HBO Max. We are looking forward to continuing ouranalysis by going scene-by-scene through the film. But with kids and busy day-jobs,we can’t necessarily promise a particular schedule. We’ll do our best. We’dcertainly love to hear from you at @JLUPodcast on twitter or via email atjlupodcast@gmail.com. You can also help motivate us by supporting the show atpatreon.com/jlupodcast and we will also be continuing with our Man of Steelanalysis, which will post first at patreon.com/jlupodcast.