Zack Snyder's Justice League *SPOILERS*

[ComicJunkie21]

Just finished watching the film and have to say that it was great! I have to say that the way it was structured into chapters was the first true time that I felt like I was watching a comic book as a movie.

First thing I think its hard to compare it to the typical cbm that we have come to know because it was so deep in fantasy and mythological storytelling. I got LOTR vibes in the sense I was taken on a journey instead of just given a plot.

Almost every character had a great arc imo Arthur was the only one who didn't and that very well could have been done on purpose given his origin as told in his movie. Going into his story would have over bloated this film in a bad way.

Wonder Woman was awesome, for WW3, Patty needs to revert back to this one no question.

Cyborg arc was soooo well written, I can tell his emotions and psychological characteristics will be major discussion points on how he should be interpreted.

The Flash was good, I liked him. I'm fine with this version considering he needed to be different from the tv series version. He may not be for everyone but personally I don't see the point in having the same character interpretation in tv and movies at the same time.

Superman was good and had some good butt kicking scenes. When he met Steppenwolf and just acted like a cocky badass, I was impressed.

Batman was good but I think when you remember him from bvs you see his journey from losing faith in humanity to it being restored by Superman's sacrifice and how he has changed, his character then becomes freaking amazing! Never thought I'd say this but I want more Batflack.

Steppenwolf was way better and his motivations clear, he was in trouble with Darkseid and wanted to please him to get back in his good graces. Definitely had the best fight scenes for a single villian than any other film since MoS Zod fight.

Darkseid, how in the heck can he surpass all other villains in other cbm without even fighting the heroes? All I saw was that when he meets the JL its GOING DOWN!!!! Not joking his presence was that strong.

The epilogue sold me on any future films. Jared Leto is tge Joker we want and need!!! He had one great line after another in the span of only a few minutes. The boy wonder line had me thinking Batman was going to kill him right there because that cut deep.

Overall score 9/10. It was one of the best films (not just cbm) that I've seen in a long time. We need ZSJL2! HBO Max needs to greenlight it asap. The Snyderverse may be a perfect match for a streaming service imo.

Also, it did not feel like 4 hours at all. I think that can be attributed to how he structured it, as it felt like I was binge watching a mini series. For a comparison the LOTR films and IW both felt longer even though they had shorter run times than this film. Even though the film didn't feel like 4 hours, the reality is 4 hour films will not work consistently in theaters.

Also, I need to know is Lois pregnant? I saw a pregnancy test box in her drawer. If so, is it Clark's? My main nitpick is that the timeline of events is not clear so I don't know how long Superman has been dead at the beginning of the movie.

[Killerbee911]

Wonder Woman was awesome, for WW3, Patty needs to revert back to this one no question.

Cyborg arc was soooo well written, I can tell his emotions and psychological characteristics will be major discussion points on how he should be interpreted.

The Flash was good, I liked him. I'm fine with this version considering he needed to be different from the tv series version. He may not be for everyone but personally I don't see the point in having the same character interpretation in tv and movies at the same time.

You hit most of the stuff, Cyborg is way better, Flash is better in this movie, this version of Wonder Woman is better than 1984. I won't go that crazy with the best comic book movie in a while thing but this movie felt like a Justice League movie where everyone played a part while the first one felt like Batman and Friends. The ending was still average comic book movie stuff but it is easy to overlook it because the first one was so bad to compare to this one. It is a better movie and what should have been released the first time.

I can't believe they didn't put Darkseid in the first movie. That was one of the many things in this movie I watched and went this should have been an easy decision to leave this in the movie.

[ComicJunkie21]

You hit most of the stuff, Cyborg is way better, Flash is better in this movie, this version of Wonder Woman is better than 1984. I won't go that crazy with the best comic book movie in a while thing but this movie felt like a Justice League movie where everyone played a part while the first one felt like Batman and Friends. The ending was still average comic book movie stuff but it is easy to overlook it because the first one was so bad to compare to this one. It is a better movie and what should have been released the first time.

I can't believe they didn't put Darkseid in the first movie. That was one of the many things in this movie I watched and went this should have been an easy decision to leave this in the movie.

The reason I feel like this was one of the best cbm films I've seen in a while is because it created a new structure on how to tell cbm stories that we have not really seen. This was genuinely the first cbm film that I watched where I felt like I was seeing an actual comicbook being shown in movie form. The best way I can explain it is I felt like I was being taken through a JL comic series starting from issue #1 and ending with issue #6. The cbms we've had up to this point feel like adaptations of a comic idea but not the story or book itself. That structure added another layer to the film that I didn't expect. It's pretty interesting and I think a few future cbms will benefit from this structure when it's appropriate.

Completely agree with Darkseid, how did that get left out. After seeing this I seriously wonder where in the heck the additional 100 million that they gave Whedon went to. The best scenes were already shot.

[CliffHanger2]

Definitely a Tour De Force. I've watched 2 hour movies that felt longer than this. Cyborg and his relationship with his Dad were the center piece of the movie imo. Add to that the special effects.action and Heroes using their powers were just crazy. The rave reviews are well deserved.

[CTTT]

So, let me understand this: Zach Snyder releases BVS in 2016, and the reception was not good. Fans everywhere were crying out for him to be removed from the DCEU and then Joss Whedon did reshoots. The "Save Martha" scene is still mocked to this day despite Snyder's attempts to defend it as a lynchpin. Now, all of a sudden with a four hour cut, people want him back on the train again? What did he do right with this cut that he missed the farm on in BVS. Because BVS still feels very rushed with trying to introduce other heroes like WW and the video feed that Diana sees with Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg.

[CliffHanger2]

So, let me understand this: Zach Snyder releases BVS in 2016, and the reception was not good. Fans everywhere were crying out for him to be removed from the DCEU and then Joss Whedon did reshoots. The "Save Martha" scene is still mocked to this day despite Snyder's attempts to defend it as a lynchpin. Now, all of a sudden with a four hour cut, people want him back on the train again? What did he do right with this cut that he missed the farm on in BVS. Because BVS still feels very rushed with trying to introduce other heroes like WW and the video feed that Diana sees with Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg.

Maybe ppl are realizing he didn't miss the farm on BVS they did. The guy knows how to pay a set up off like a mothaeffa. Everything he set up in Bvs got paid off and then some..

[Nate Grey]

This was definitely the better movie vs Whedon's cut. The four hours zipped by. I liked it a lot. That said...I'm trying to reconcile how the movie had no pacing issues whatsoever until the two new scenes Snyder filmed, which occur after the Luther rendezvous with Deathstroke on his yacht scene. I liked both but their place in the movie was kinda jarring like they belonged in another movie.

Ok...problems? Meh, not many. I don't like how Cyborg, and now oddly Mera, are orphans. But I guess in Mera's case, both cuts of the movie never jibbed with Wan's Aquaman anyway, its just odd Snyder leaned into that more. And not sure what to make of Hobo Vulko.

But back to Cyborg. Kinda torn re: specifically toward him being an orphan. I mean I don't like that he's an orphan now, buuuut...man did he and Joe Morton and even Elinore Stone (Karen Bryson) get some much needed character development. I wish I understood why super heating the last motherbox meant Silas had to be in the protective cube WITH the motherbox, but yeah he (Silas) was great up to that point and Silas's voice over at the end was great.

[Castle]

Just finished watching the film and have to say that it was great! I have to say that the way it was structured into chapters was the first true time that I felt like I was watching a comic book as a movie.

First thing I think its hard to compare it to the typical cbm that we have come to know because it was so deep in fantasy and mythological storytelling. I got LOTR vibes in the sense I was taken on a journey instead of just given a plot.

Almost every character had a great arc imo Arthur was the only one who didn't and that very well could have been done on purpose given his origin as told in his movie. Going into his story would have over bloated this film in a bad way.

Wonder Woman was awesome, for WW3, Patty needs to revert back to this one no question.

Cyborg arc was soooo well written, I can tell his emotions and psychological characteristics will be major discussion points on how he should be interpreted.

The Flash was good, I liked him. I'm fine with this version considering he needed to be different from the tv series version. He may not be for everyone but personally I don't see the point in having the same character interpretation in tv and movies at the same time.

Superman was good and had some good butt kicking scenes. When he met Steppenwolf and just acted like a cocky badass, I was impressed.

Batman was good but I think when you remember him from bvs you see his journey from losing faith in humanity to it being restored by Superman's sacrifice and how he has changed, his character then becomes freaking amazing! Never thought I'd say this but I want more Batflack.

Steppenwolf was way better and his motivations clear, he was in trouble with Darkseid and wanted to please him to get back in his good graces. Definitely had the best fight scenes for a single villian than any other film since MoS Zod fight.

Darkseid, how in the heck can he surpass all other villains in other cbm without even fighting the heroes? All I saw was that when he meets the JL its GOING DOWN!!!! Not joking his presence was that strong.

The epilogue sold me on any future films. Jared Leto is tge Joker we want and need!!! He had one great line after another in the span of only a few minutes. The boy wonder line had me thinking Batman was going to kill him right there because that cut deep.

Overall score 9/10. It was one of the best films (not just cbm) that I've seen in a long time. We need ZSJL2! HBO Max needs to greenlight it asap. The Snyderverse may be a perfect match for a streaming service imo.

Also, it did not feel like 4 hours at all. I think that can be attributed to how he structured it, as it felt like I was binge watching a mini series. For a comparison the LOTR films and IW both felt longer even though they had shorter run times than this film. Even though the film didn't feel like 4 hours, the reality is 4 hour films will not work consistently in theaters.

Also, I need to know is Lois pregnant? I saw a pregnancy test box in her drawer. If so, is it Clark's? My main nitpick is that the timeline of events is not clear so I don't know how long Superman has been dead at the beginning of the movie.

I think you have already said everything in the film that was good. Some of the only few weakness was Lois Lane's arc , the lack of civilians and maybe the Epilogue.

However you are right the most about LOTR, I put it more on games of thrones in story telling because it had stronger characters arcs, because Snyder made this more as a mini-series than movies.

It's kind of insane the scope of what Snyder's vision was but you can tell it was meant to be deep and long, the 4 hours is just kind of like a first part.

The cliff hanger was not as worrying as I thought it will be. the movie closed perfectly minus the muddy epilogue ironically also a complaint with return of the king's epilogue,

This movie does not really highly need a sequel but one would be nice, I think Snyder wrapped things up for a man that knew this was his last film to a vision he never will complete.

The way the story is told is so well heavy enough, it felt it paid off to end with Stephenwolf's defeat even if the movie kept on building up Darkseid.

Speaking of ending in cliff hangers, I think this movie got it right to say Joss Whedon final season of Angel, that also ended in a cliff hanger but got it so wrong.

Overall very well done from Snyder, I think I will give it days before I give it a final grade but this movie I guarantee would forever be a vindication for Snyder.

[jackXconnor]

For the record, I loved the movie and the DCEU as a whole! Yes, it had many issues going into the making of this, with all the behind-the-scenes drama, and the polarizing reaction to previous DCEU movies. That said, I’ve only watched the movie once so far, but I have a few questions about the plot that have got me thinking. Hopefully some of these will be addressed in possible sequels, but it’s too early to tell if that’s a possibility yet. Either way, please enjoy and feel free to comment if you have any ideas/theories on this!

1. Superman’s death waking the mother boxes was interesting and the shockwave caused by Superman’s screams made for a cool visual, but how/why does this happen? Superman’s death, while significant, was not the only catastrophic event that could have left the Earth vulnerable. Especially since the mother boxes have been on Earth for thousands of years, long before Superman was born.

2. What exactly did Lex Luthor learn in the genesis chamber in the Kryptonian scout ship? We know he was communicating with Steppenwolf, but we still have yet to get any more details on that. I’m curious whether that was part of his motivation for releasing Doomsday in the first place. I imagine if we do get a sequel down the road involving Darkseid invading Earth, Lex could play an important role, regardless of which side he ends up taking.

3. The reveal of J’onn J’onnz was incredible, and Harry Lennix is a great choice for the role. Assuming that Calvin Swanwick (the Secretary of Defense and former General) has in fact been J’onnz this entire time, why has he not gotten involved until the events of Justice League? He was one of the first people present when Clark made his “debut” as Superman, and could have assisted directly in the Battle of Metropolis or the Doomsday attack. I suppose he didn’t want to blow his cover or neglect his duties as a high-ranking military official, but I would hope that this gets addressed in future sequels.

4. Why exactly did J’onn/Swanwick feel the need to disguise himself as Martha Kent for that heart-to-heart discussion with Lois Lane. Assuming Superman’s identity as Clark Kent is not public knowledge, how did J’onn find out that Clark is Superman? Is it possible that he read the minds of Clark, Lois, and/or Martha at some point? He seemed to know a lot about Martha, enough to convincingly pose as her while talking to Lois.

5. How did J’onn J’onnz deduce Batman’s identity as Bruce Wayne? Is that even a secret anymore? I guess as a government official, he’d have enough resources to figure it out, but we’re assuming that he and Lex Luthor (and possibly Amanda Waller) are the only ones to have figured it out in that way.

6. In the scene in Gotham Harbor, why is Aquaman there in the nick of time? Was he tracking Steppenwolf somehow and just happened to be in the right place at the right time? (Also, did they already have the Knightcrawler there as a means to get into the tunnels? I never really understood what the Knightcrawler was about, but I guess it was the only vehicle Batman could use in that type of setting)

7. During one of the scenes in Lois’s apartment, there was a noticeable shot of a home pregnancy test in one of her cabinets. Was that a possible Easter egg or indication that Lois might be pregnant with Clark’s child?

8. In this movie, we saw/heard a different approach to how Atlanteans communicate underwater, not only with the “oxygen bubble” but what it might actually sound like underwater (since sound travels differently underwater). Assuming that the Aquaman movie from 2018 is still canon, is this just another perspective of how Atlanteans communicate? I’m assuming they don’t necessarily speak English, and that what we saw in Aquaman’s solo movie was meant to be from his point of view, and how he understands speech underwater.

9. Why is Mera’s accent different than it is was in the Whedon cut and the Aquaman movie? That just seemed like an odd choice to me.

10. When Steppenwolf was communicating with Desaad, Desaad mentioned the multiverse. I forget the exact quote, but that raises a ton of questions about Darkseid’s knowledge of the multiverse, and what the implications of that could be. Geoff Johns and others have explicitly state that they want to pursue the multiverse in The Flash’s first solo movie, including the possible inclusion of Michael Keaton’s Batman, Sasha Calle as Supergirl, and whatever else they have planned for that movie.

11. When Superman was killed by Doomsday, it was publicly announced that Clark Kent was killed while covering the story. A likely cover story, but how will they address that now that Clark is alive again? Clark had an open-casket funeral in Smallville, which was attended by many friends, including Fr. Leone, Pete Ross, Lana Lang, Perry White, and Jenny Jurwich. Granted, we know that Fr. Leone knew Clark was Superman, and it’s not a stretch to assume that Pete and Lana could figure it out. But now we’re bringing Perry and other people from the Daily Planet in on the secret; there is no way Clark could resume his civilian identity without all these people being in on the secret and keeping it.

12. We got introduced to Dr. Ryan Choi, who in the comics, becomes The Atom. Does this mean that Choi’s predecessor, Dr. Ray Palmer could exist in the DCEU as well?

13. The revisited “Knightmare” sequence in the Epilogue was spellbinding, no question. However, this is twice now that Bruce has experienced a vision of this possible future in his dreams. How is this possible? Is the Mother Box somehow able to project these dreams into his subconscious? Has J’onn J’onnz been psychically projecting these images to Bruce, or are there other factors at play here?

14. How exactly did Barry Allen get his powers? Historically it has always happened due to an accident at a crime lab where he worked, but in this movie, he does not get a job at a crime lab until the very end. I can’t remember if they gave any kind of explanation as to what happened to him that caused him to become the Flash.

Also, not necessarily related to this movie, but to the DCEU in general:

The way the Olympian Gods and the New Gods are portrayed, I’ve interpreted them as being highly advanced, powerful beings but not necessarily deities (similar to how Asgardians are portrayed in the MCU). We’ve seen several magical/extra-dimensional beings and objects in the DCEU so far: not just the Old and New Gods, but Atlantis as a whole, Enchantress, Incubus, the Wizard Shazam, the Rock of Eternity, and the Soultaker Sword (wielded by Katana). Is there a larger connection between these magical elements in the DCEU? Could that pave the way for things like Justice League Dark, Doctor Fate, the Spectre, Mxyzptlk, etc?

[Dboi2001]

1. I think it was more of a visual representation of Superman's scream. As for why the boxes wake up now I think it is a few factors. While not as strong we know Diana was in the world of men until at least the 80s and since she is the daughter of Zeus I don't think they'd want to mess with her and considering she held her own against Stepphenwolf it makes sense. It could also be Superman literally waking up the mother boxes

2. Yeah probably Luthor is still a mystery

3. Swannick/J'onn still contributed by launching the nuke in BvS. Chances are he didn't want to blow his cover yet

4. Considering he interacted with her in MoS and I think BvS chances are he did read her mind

5. Like you said probably through connections with Waller

6. Deus Ex Machina is all I got. However considering Vulko gave him the ultimatum about choosing a side he probably did follow Stepphanwolf

7. Probably

8 and 9. Wan probably took some creative liberties from Snyder's especially since WB gave Wan free reigns to do whatever he wanted. That is why Mera looks completely different, doesn't have an accent (Whedon was probably just bad reshoots) and her father is alive when she mentioned in the Snyder version Arthur's mother raised her. Arthur also seems to hate his mother a lot more than in Aquaman. Likewise we see Stepphenwolf bring atlantians to the surface and they breath fine (Not to mention they don't have advanced technology). If you want an answer that could possibly fit together is that the atlantians in Aquaman still do that 'dolphin' talk but it is 'translated' for the audience. However to put in simply Aquaman diverged a lot from Snyder's vision of Atlantis which would've been much more barbaric and desolate and there wasn't the other kingdoms

10. Yeah I definitely think Darkseid can travel between universes

11. My personal takes are two things. A. Clark Kent is still dead to the public and Clark goes by Jordan Ellis or B. Perry announces that Clark was under witness protection or undercover. Chances are Perry knew Clark was Superman based on his reaction to Lois in BvS. As for Smallville imo everyone probably knew Clark was Superman given what he did as a kid

12. Maybe but given that Choi is already the new head of STAR they're probably going to skip him or make him an old mentor like Hank in Ant-Man

13. My guess is it has something to do with Flash time traveling that affects him. Also a bit of a stretch but I think it is possible that Martian Manhunter is from another dimension which I think some comics have J'onn from another dimension

14. Didn't think about that. He could've been visiting a crime lab or doing person experiments

I sincerely hope that WB lets Zack to continue his vision. Even people who hated the other dceu movies enjoyed this. At the very least I hope Zack gets to make a JLII and JLIII. I would also like for DC to continue to explore the mystical elements of the DCEU. I'd love for them to make a Constantine reboot with Matt Ryan back as John.

[Somecrazyaussie]

5. How did J’onn J’onnz deduce Batman’s identity as Bruce Wayne? Is that even a secret anymore? I guess as a government official, he’d have enough resources to figure it out, but we’re assuming that he and Lex Luthor (and possibly Amanda Waller) are the only ones to have figured it out in that way.

Most likely telepathy.

[Powerboy]

Saw it over the course of the last two nights.

In some ways, it's not fair to compare it to the theatrical release. I'm pretty sure it was the WB that ruled it had to be cut to two hours and had to be lightened up. So there's no way it could have gotten as in-depth on the backgrounds as this did.

That said, there was zero reason to film additional scenes. Snyder said he used nothing from the theatrical version and hasn't even seen it. So some of those jokes that lightened things up were Snyder all along. They were the jokes that worked with the drama and situation.

The logical explanations, the backgrounds and the lack of humor that was not believable to the situation were the highlights.

Unfortunately, Superman is still single-handedly the Justice League at 99% power. If anything, it's a little worse in this version.

I loved the scene where voice-overs are having Jor-El and Jonathan Kent talking to him about how this is finally the moment he will truly become an inspiration to humanity, the hope that will lead them into the light- and then he puts on the black suit that looks cool but sort of undercuts the whole speech. I thought it was ironic that, in the possible future where he's a minion of Darkseid, he's wearing the bright red and blue. Mind you, it's a minor quibble.

I thought the part that really undercut the movie was really the advertising for what had been intended as the next movie with Lois's death and Superman as a servant of Darkseid. Maybe that's the part that angered test audiences and made the WB panic and decide they had to veer away from this dark, depressing stuff. But if I just dismiss the epilogue as a direction that will probably never be taken now, it's a far superior version of the movie.

I saw this review on youtube. Shapiro is not my favorite person but he has some excellent observations about the Snyder Cut.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h6VobYuio4

[CosmiComic]

I don't feel like contributing to Ben Shapiro in any way

I can understand Superman being too powerful couls turn people off. What bothered me more was the Snyder Cut is 4 hours long and still we got no more of him! He's Superman, the leader of the Justice League.

I did think it was weird the evil Superman in the epilogue wears the red and blue

What did you think about the muted color palette?

[Powerboy]

I don't feel like contributing to Ben Shapiro in any way

I can understand Superman being too powerful couls turn people off. What bothered me more was the Snyder Cut is 4 hours long and still we got no more of him! He's Superman, the leader of the Justice League.

I did think it was weird the evil Superman in the epilogue wears the red and blue

What did you think about the muted color palette?

To be honest, I was so happy to see all the back stories, especially Cyborg's, that I mostly brushed it off. I thought it might have been a cool trick, sort of Wizard of Oz, to suddenly go bright colors at a certain point, say, the instant Superman showed up and blocked the axe. Then, after the voice-over by Cyborg's father, suddenly drop back to the muted colors for the rest of the epilogue. Even some scenes could have switched it up.

As Shapiro pointed out, you can pause on any shot in Snyder's version and it could be a scene from a graphic novel while Whedon's scenes just come across as those of a television director. You also get the gravitas of situations having consequences. Gods fight. People die. It cannot be avoided. As opposed to the Marvel movies where, largely, there are no realistic consequences.

And, yes, we really didn't lose much of Superman's presence and it was not significantly different setting aside the mustache and the lack of saving civilians which was thrown in because of the feeling that the previous two movies lacked much feeling of Superman overtly caring about civilians.

[CosmiComic]

To be honest, I was so happy to see all the back stories, especially Cyborg's, that I mostly brushed it off. I thought it might have been a cool trick, sort of Wizard of Oz, to suddenly go bright colors at a certain point, say, the instant Superman showed up and blocked the axe. Then, after the voice-over by Cyborg's father, suddenly drop back to the muted colors for the rest of the epilogue. Even some scenes could have switched it up.

As Shapiro pointed out, you can pause on any shot in Snyder's version and it could be a scene from a graphic novel while Whedon's scenes just come across as those of a television director. You also get the gravitas of situations having consequences. Gods fight. People die. It cannot be avoided. As opposed to the Marvel movies where, largely, there are no realistic consequences.

And, yes, we really didn't lose much of Superman's presence and it was not significantly different setting aside the mustache and the lack of saving civilians which was thrown in because of the feeling that the previous two movies lacked much feeling of Superman overtly caring about civilians.

I think Marvel movies do have some consequences, but that's another discussion.

I just wished we saw more of Superman interacting with the league. 3 movies in and he still barely has a character IMO.

I do think it looks like a graphic novel. But I got tired of the lack of color by about an hour