Zack Snyder's Justice League is a DC dream come true, and there's plenty of things just
for the fans packed into its four-hour runtime. You can focus on the action, drama, and majesty
of the Snyder Cut — leave the Easter egg hunting to us.
"Ready? Okay let's go."
Look, the Justice League is great, but do you really think a mere six heroes can prop
up a four-hour movie? Not even Superman is that powerful. Even with all of the apocalyptic
action unfolding throughout the film's sprawling runtime, the Snyder Cut finds the time to
introduce a few more fan-favorite characters to the DCEU. As rumored, Martian Manhunter
appears in a few big scenes, and Wonder Woman's father, Zeus, and her number one nemesis,
Ares, enjoy some expanded screen time as well.
However, the most exciting hero to show up in the Snyder Cut never gets to wear a supersuit,
show off his powers, or fight Darkseid's minions — not yet, anyway. In the re-cut Justice
League, Ryan Choi may only be Silas Stone's second in command, but comics readers know
him better as the Atom, a hero with the ability to shrink at will.
Ryan, who was created by writer Gail Simone, began his career as the protege of the previous
Atom, Ray Palmer, and took over Palmer's post at Ivy University when the elder professor
went missing. That's how Choi found Palmer's old bio-belt, which is powered by a fragment
of a white dwarf star. From there, it wasn't long before Choi began investigating all the
weirdness that surrounds Ivy Town and its residents.
Despite his powers, Ryan Choi remains an academic at heart, and for all their absurdity, his
best adventures still have their roots in real-world science. So when S.T.A.R. Labs
dubs Choi the head of nanotechnology at the end of Zack Snyder's Justice League, it's
not just a promotion. It's a premonition of things to come.
At one point in Justice League, Aquaman rescues a seemingly doomed fishing boat called The
Cortlandt, and while that ship appears in the original, theatrical cut of the movie,
it takes on added significance with Zack Snyder at the helm.
See, Snyder is a devoted follower of Ayn Rand , creator of the philosophical system known
as Objectivism and author of books like Atlas Shrugged. In fact, an adaptation of Rand's
The Fountainhead is one of Snyder's dream projects, and has been in and out of pre-production
for years.
"Cortlandt" is the name of an ambitious construction project in The Fountainhead designed by the
book's hero, an architect named Howard Roark, and the source of much of the book's drama.
Like all of Rand's protagonists, Roark is a genius who refuses to compromise or submit
to popular ideas, and who champions individualism among all else. Sound familiar?
"It was believed that my work belonged to others to do with as they pleased. That they
had a claim upon me without my consent — that it was my duty to serve them without choice
or reward."
Not only is the story clearly near and dear to Snyder's heart, but the Cortlandt Easter
egg feels eerily prescient given the Snyder Cut's own long, convoluted history. It's only
appropriate that it survived into the final product.
In 1940, when the golden age of comic books was in full swing, venerated DC Comics writer
Gardner Fox and his editor, Sheldon Mayer, had a blockbuster idea: What if some of DC's
most popular heroes came together and formed their own team?
A little while later, the Justice Society of America debuted in the pages of All-Star
Comics #3, with a roster featuring the Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Dr. Fate, the Sandman,
Hour-Man, the Spectre, and the Atom. Superhero comics would never be the same.
Then, a few decades later, Gardner did it again. In the late '50s, DC found great success
revamping its dormant superhero properties by adding sci-fi twists to established heroes
like Flash and Green Lantern, ushering in the Silver Age of comics. As part of this
revival, editor Julie Schwartz asked Gardner to revitalize the Justice Society, albeit
with a new name: the Justice League. Gardner obliged, putting Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman,
Aquaman, Flash, and Martian Manhunter on the same team for the first time. The Justice
League made its debut in The Brave and the Bold #28, and it's been with us ever since.
Zack Snyder's Justice League pays tribute to the man who created the Justice League
in Barry Allen's brand new introduction sequence, which is extra-fitting, given that Gardner
created the Golden Age Flash, too. Look carefully during the scene in which Barry saves a woman
from a speeding truck in downtown Central City, and you'll see an advertisement for
the Gard'ner Fox produce company painted on the vehicle's side.
Oh, and in case you missed it: The young woman who Barry saves from almost certain death
is none other than Iris West, aunt to Kid Flash Wally West and Barry's future wife.
No, she doesn't get much to do in Justice League, but if Ezra Miller's long-gestating
solo Flash film ever gets off the ground, she's expected to play a big role.
Darkseid. The Anti-Monitor. The Crime Syndicate of America. Over the years, the Justice League
has faced off against all kinds of heavy hitters on their mission to ward off evil. Their first
foe, however, was a little quirkier. Introduced alongside the League itself in Brave and the
Bold #28, Starro is a purple, starfish-shaped alien parasite that can create its own clones,
and attaches to the faces of its victims, robbing them of their free will.
Between Steppenwolf's attacks, Darkseid's looming threats, and those pesky Mother Boxes
to track down, Justice League doesn't really have the time to give Starro its moment to
shine, but Zack Snyder's Justice League manages to sneak a little cameo in there anyway, albeit
in a modernized and very DCEU-esque way.
When Steppenwolf comes after the Atlanteans, he discovers the location of their long-hidden
Mother Box by attaching a crawling, purple device to an Atlantean warrior's forehead.
It's not quite the same thing, but for longtime DC fans, the homage is still pretty obvious.
Before mankind knew it was called a Mother Box, they gave it another name. As the Snyder
Cut reveals, Nazi forces found the Mother Box that humanity had pledged to hide forever
in the final years of World War II.
Soon afterward, the device was taken into American custody and it was given a new, albeit
temporary, name: 6-1982. Eventually, 6-1982 made its way from the Department of Defense
archives to S.T.A.R. Labs, where Silas Stone used it in a last-ditch effort to save his
son following a horrific accident.
As you may already be aware, 6-1982 isn't a random string of numbers. It's a direct
reference to Cyborg's original origin story.
In June of 1982 — or, you guessed it, 6-1982 — DC Comics published the first issue of
Tales of the New Teen Titans, a four-issue miniseries that delved into the history of
DC's New Teen Titans team, which was, at the time, one of the hottest books on the shelves.
Naturally, this first issue was all about Cyborg, and his story follows the same major
beats as the adaptation seen in Zack Snyder's Justice League, although there a few major
differences: the accident that cripples Victor is caused by an extra-dimensional entity,
not a car crash, his super-intellect is the result of experiments his parents conducted
before his accident, and there isn't a Mother Box to be found. Still, if you've seen the
Snyder Cut, you know basically how the storyline of Tales of the New Teen Titans #1 unfolds,
at least in general terms.
In the original theatrical cut of Justice League, the Parademons' subterranean nest
is located underneath Braxton Island, which sits in the river that separates Gotham City
from Metropolis. In Zack Snyder's Justice League, it's called Stryker's Island. Why
is that important? Well, for a couple of reasons: First, Stryker's Island is also the location
where Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice's climactic showdown against Doomsday takes
place.
Second, Stryker's Island has a long and storied history in DC Comics, in which it's the site
of one of the country's biggest metahuman prisons. Located off the coast of Metropolis,
Stryker's Island penitentiary is basically Superman's equivalent of the Batman rogues'
gallery that is Arkham Asylum: It's where all of the Man of Steel's most fearsome foes
are kept, at least when they're not out on the streets causing havoc.
Also like Arkham, Stryker's Island has appeared in quite a few DC media adaptations. It's
been featured in Superman: The Animated Series, Smallville, and Supergirl, among others.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is full of treats for fans of Jack Kirby's Fourth World, the
legendary comic book artist's biggest contribution to DC's canon.
Not only does Steppenwolf finally get his due, but his boss, Darkseid, plays a major
role in the movie. So does Darkseid's torture-loving second in command, Desaad.
If you're paying attention, you can also catch another one of Darkseid's lieutenants, the
villainous Granny Goodness, standing next to the space warlord during the movie's big
climax.
Unfortunately, Granny doesn't get any lines during the film, but that doesn't mean that
she's not a big deal.
In New Gods lore, Granny Goodness is the person in charge of raising Apokolips' children into
fearsome warriors. Don't be fooled by her name, though. While Granny talks like a kind,
caring old grandmother, her child-rearing methods involve torture and brainwashing,
and her "orphanages" are really prisons from which escape is almost impossible.
In other words, it's no surprise to find Granny by Darkseid's side. Through her countless
despicable deeds in the pages of DC Comics over the years, she's more than earned it.
Zack Snyder killed off the DCEU's version of Jimmy Olsen in the opening scenes of Batman
v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, but thankfully, there are more than enough versions of Superman's
pal to go around.
One even appears in Zack Snyder's Justice League, if you know where to look. Remember
Jerry, the cop who Lois Lane befriends during her daily vigil at Metropolis' ruined Superman
monument? Well, he's played by none other than actor Marc McClure, who portrayed the
Daily Planet's star photographer in all of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, as
well as its Helen Slater-led spinoff, Supergirl.
Oddly enough, McClure also had a cameo in the theatrical cut of Justice League, but
it was a slightly different one. In that version of the movie, you can see McClure as a police
officer at Iron Heights penitentiary, where Barry Allen goes to visit his incarcerated
father.
As McClure explains, Justice League producer, comic book writer, and DC executive Geoff
Johns, who started his career as an assistant to Superman: The Movie director Richard Donner,
called McClure back to the studio during reshoots after his first cameo was cut, ensuring that
the one-time Jimmy Olsen still appeared on the big screen.
S.T.A.R. Labs isn't the only place where a future superhero is lurking in Zack Snyder's
Justice League. The Gotham City Police Department is hiding one, too. He only appears in a single
scene, but as in the theatrical cut of Justice League, that's GCPD detective Crispus Allen
briefing the Commissioner on the Parademon sightings around the city.
Allen made his comic book debut in Detective Comics #742, and went on to become one of
the primary leads of Gotham Central, a police procedural set in the DC universe's most corrupt
city. Later, Crispus Allen was killed at the hands of a dirty cop named Jim Corrigan.
That wasn't the end for Allen, though. After his demise, the slain police officer became
host to the Spectre, a supernatural entity who metes out divine justice, typically with
an ironic twist. However, the Spectre needs a human host to keep him grounded — and,
for better or worse, noble-minded Crispus was the perfect man for the job.
Despite rumors, neither Hal Jordan nor Ryan Reynolds, who played the Green Lantern of
sector 2814 in the widely panned 2011 Green Lantern movie, make a surprise cameo in Zack
Snyder's Justice League. There is a Green Lantern in the movie, though.
As in Justice League's theatrical cut, one of the space cops shows up in the big Lord
of the Rings-esque flashback scene, which shows Darkseid's first invasion of Earth.
Unlike the theatrical cut, however, this is more than a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo.
This time, we can see the Green Lantern's face. We know exactly who he is.
As it turns out, the Snyder Cut's Green Lantern is none other than Yalan Gur, one of Sector
2814's previous protectors. According to 1991's Green Lantern #19, Gur was once one of the
most skilled Lanterns in the entire Green Lantern Corps, and only became more formidable
once his bosses, the Guardians of the Universe, removed his Power Ring's weakness against
the color yellow. Unfortunately, all of that power went straight to Yalan Gur's head. With
his newfound strength, Gur headed straight to Earth and enslaved China.
In response, the Guardians gave Yalan Gur a new weakness, wood, which allowed his subjects
to beat him with clubs. In the comics, this led to Gur's demise, although we know that
the Snyder Cut has a different fate in store for him: death at the hands of Darkseid.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is superior to Justice League's theatrical release in practically
every way, but the original version of the film did have some pretty fun Easter eggs.
Well, good news: The very best of them survived the transition, and they appear in the Snyder
Cut too.
First off, while telling Bruce Wayne all about his skills, including the languages he knows,
Barry Allen mentions that he's fluent in sign language — a very specific kind of sign
language.
"My special skills include viola, web design... fluent in sign language... gorilla sign language"
This might come off as a silly line for a wacky character, but that's actually a pretty
useful skill for the Scarlet Speedster to have. As Flash fans know, the speedster's
rogues' gallery contains a few different simian foes, including the fearsome Gorilla Grodd.
Next, as Bruce, Barry, and Diana gawk at the Bat-signal from an airport tarmac, you can
catch a glimpse of the Ace Chemicals plant in the background. That's where the Joker
fell into the vat of goop that transformed him into the Clown Prince of Crime, and where
he took his therapist, Harleen Quinzel, to make her into Harley Quinn.
It also exploded in spectacular fashion in Birds of Prey, if you're curious about where
the events of the Snyder Cut happen to fall in the DCEU timeline.
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