Zack Snyder's Justice League has a lot going on in its four-hour runtime, so it's not surprising if
you miss a few things while watching it. These lines go by quickly, but they're surprisingly
loaded with meaning. Here are some of the key quotes from Zack Snyder's Justice League.
"I've come to enlighten you to the great darkness. I will bathe in your fear."
Most people would be intimidated by the sight of a phalanx of battle-hardened Amazonian warriors,
but that's not the case for Steppenwolf. When Darkseid's lieutenant breaches the
stronghold on Themyscira, he doesn't cower in fear. He taunts Hippolyta and
her soldiers before unleashing a horde of parademons on the vigilant defenders.
A few minutes later, Steppenwolf repeats himself.
"The great darkness begins."
If you're a longtime DC Comics fan, your ears probably perked up immediately.
Published in 1982, "The Great Darkness Saga" was a five-part storyline that
started in Legion of Superheroes #290. The story pits a team called the Legion — a
group of 30th-century youths who have modeled themselves after present-day
superheroes like Superman — against a mysterious villain called the Master.
In one of the all-time greatest reveals in superhero comics,
the Legion eventually learns that the Master is none other than Darkseid,
who has been waiting for 1,000 years for the opportunity to strike.
To this day, The Great Darkness Saga is still considered the very best
Legion of Superheroes tale and one of Darkseid's most memorable appearances.
It's only fitting that it gets a nod in Darkseid's feature film debut.
"Wonder Woman. What do you think, man? You think she'd ever go for a younger guy?"
Barry Allen's offhand, casually pervy quip to Cyborg isn't all that notable on its own,
although Cyborg's reply is one of the Snyder Cut's more memorable jokes.
"She's 5,000 years old, Barry. Every guy's a younger guy."
Surprisingly, this little exchange marks a big moment in the history of the DCEU:
It's the very first time in any of these movies that Diana is actually called Wonder
Woman on-screen. Seriously. She doesn't get called by her superhero nickname in Batman
v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, the Justice League theatrical cut, or in either of her solo films.
In the comics, of course, Diana has been going by Wonder Woman since her mother bestowed the
title on her in her debut story, which appeared in 1941's All-Star Comics #8. In her next appearance,
1942’s Sensation Comics #1, shortly after landing in man's world, Diana causes a big
scene as she outruns cars, beats up muggers, and deflects bullets with her magic bracelets.
This attracts the attention of an agent named Al Kale, who signs Diana up for a stage show.
It's a hit, and the newspapers soon dub her "Wonder Woman" publicly.
Diana's partnership with Kale ends just a few pages later, when Diana quits the show and Kale
tries to run off with the profits. Still, by that point, she's stuck with the name.
"Suppose we start with your name."
"Wonder Woman!"
"Sure."
"...and I'm happy to discuss with you, in any way you like, why you sent a Boy Wonder
to do man's job."
There's a very good reason why we don't see Batman's trusty sidekick,
Robin, in Zack Snyder's Justice League: He's been dead for years.
Before the Snyder Cut, however, all we had were oblique hints to that effect, like the Robin
suit memorial in the Batcave and comments from Snyder during promotional interviews.
Now, thanks to Batman's heated exchange with the Joker, Robin's death at the
hands of the Clown Prince of Crime is explicitly Snyderverse canon.
Of course, Joker killing Robin isn't exactly a new idea. It's been done a number of times,
including in Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns, which was a huge influence for
Zack Snyder's Justice League. The most notable example, however, occurs in the '80s storyline
"A Death in the Family," which somehow ends up being even more morose than Snyder's take.
In Batman #427, the second installment of the story, the Joker beats Jason Todd's Robin
with a crowbar, then blows up a building with Robin still inside. That's a huge cliffhanger,
but it gets even worse. Rather than letting writer Jim Starlin decide Robin's fate,
DC Comics set up a 1-900 number hotline which readers could call to decide whether
Robin lived or died. Death won by a paltry 72 votes, sealing the Boy Wonder's fate.
"You have the blood of the old gods in you."
Steppenwolf's half-taunting, half-admiring observation during his first real showdown with
Wonder Woman begs a question: If Zeus, Ares, and the rest are the "old" gods, who are the new ones?
Well, comic readers already know the answer. See, Darkseid, Steppenwolf,
DeSaad, and the rest made their debut in the Fourth World Saga,
which introduced the New Gods to DC Continuity — courtesy of master comic book artist Jack Kirby.
The Fourth World is Jack Kirby at his biggest and most imaginative,
and tells the story of a cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil. On one side are the
residents of the planet New Genesis, which is led by Highfather and his adopted son,
Orion. On the other, you have the forces of Darkseid, who resides on the planet Apokolips.
Kirby never really got to finish the story, which was maybe more ambitious than entirely coherent.
Still, many of the New Gods characters became fixtures of DC's canon,
so it's nice to see Steppenwolf pay subtle tribute to the story that started it all.
"Ship's all yours now, kid. You're the boss.
Ryan Choi, director of nanotechnology. That's your thing."
Ryan Choi spends most of Zack Snyder's Justice League playing
second fiddle to S.T.A.R. Labs director Silas Stone,
but the end of the movie sets him up for much bigger — or should we say smaller? — things.
In light of Silas' sacrifice, Ryan gets a much-deserved promotion, but as this line hints,
that's only the beginning for the scientist. See, in the comics, Ryan Choi is better known as the
Atom, a superhero with the power to change size at will (hence the whole "nanotechnology" thing).
Choi is actually the fourth superhero to take on the mantle of the Atom, following the Golden Age's
Al Pratt, Ray Palmer, and former Suicide Squad recruit Adam Cray. He's also inexorably tied to
the Atom's legacy. In the comics, Choi takes over Ray Palmer's position at Ivy University
after the superhero goes missing, leading him to Palmer's old "bio-belt," which harnesses the
power of a miniature white dwarf star in order to give its wearer size-changing abilities.
The words that echo through Clark Kent's head as he reclaims his superhero identity
are a throwback to Man of Steel, during which Russell Crowe's Jor-El
delivers a heartfelt speech to his son while Superman flies for the first time.
It's more than that, though. It's also a reference to All-Star Superman by Grant
Morrison and Frank Quitely, one of the very best Superman comics ever published.
Published in 2006, All-Star Superman is a streamlined, continuity-free take on the Man
of Steel that aims to tell timeless Superman stories revolving around a simple concept.
Thanks to Lex Luthor's machinations, Superman's powers become overcharged by solar radiation.
He's never been more powerful. He's also dying, with only a year left to live.
Superman spends his remaining time on Earth doing what he always does:
working to make it a better place. Still, even the Man of Steel has limits. Eventually,
solar radiation poisoning catches up with Superman, and he begins to pass.
That's when he encounters a memory of his father, Jor-El, who delivers these same poignant words.
They're not much, but they're enough. Superman rallies and foils Luthor's schemes,
then literally ventures into the center of the sun, which he keeps burning for all of eternity.
Jor-El's speech is already a perfect summation of Superman's entire deal, but it becomes even
more poignant given its placement in Zack Snyder's Justice League. As in the comic,
it comes at the moment when Superman, treading the line between life and death, re-dedicates
himself to his original mission and truly becomes the savior he was always meant to be.
As a tribute to one of the most popular Superman stories ever told, it couldn't be better.
"I hate Atlanteans as much as you Amazons do."
Zack Snyder's Justice League establishes a long-standing
rivalry between the Atlanteans and the Amazons. While it never quite pays off,
it does give Wonder Woman and Aquaman a bit of history together. As she explains in the movie,
the two peoples once even went to war with each other.
The idea of a long-standing rivalry between Atlantis and Themyscira has come up a number
of times. The Atlantean-Amazonian war is one of the centerpieces of DC's big Flashpoint event,
in which Barry Allen creates an alternate timeline by traveling to the past to save his mother.
In that version of the timeline, a war begins when Wonder Woman's mother,
Hippolyta, is assassinated on Wonder Woman and Aquaman's wedding day, sparking a conflict
that sees the Amazons conquer Britain while the Atlanteans sink most of Western Europe.
As in Zack Snyder's Justice League, however, the two sides ultimately reach an understanding,
putting their differences aside to stop an unhinged Thomas Wayne,
who serves as this reality's Batman. It's not quite the same as in the movie,
but at the very least, you can see where Zack Snyder got the idea.
"Who have you ever loved?"
While we'll never get to see Zack Snyder's proposed Justice League sequels,
we know the basic outline of what they were going to be about thanks
largely to the dialogue in the Snyder Cut's extended epilogue.
It all begins when Mera snaps at Batman after he tries to console her about Aquaman's death — and,
to be fair, it's kind of inappropriate. After all,
losing loved ones is kind of Batman's whole thing. As the Joker explains,
"He knows exactly what it's like to lose someone he loves. You know, like a father.
Like a mother... Like an adopted son."
There's one person who's very conspicuous in her absence on the Joker's list, though:
Lois Lane. Yep, that's right.
As Zack Snyder explained, in his Justice League follow-ups,
we were going to learn that Bruce Wayne had fallen for Superman's girlfriend,
making her death in the Knightmare timeline all the more tragic to the Dark Knight.
"I'll never love anybody the way that I love your son."
Making it even worse? Her death, which caused Superman to break bad, is Batman's fault.
"How many alternate timelines do you destroy the world because,
frankly, you don't have the cojones to die yourself?"
Ironically, however, this line also hints at how Batman was going to save things.
This is just an alternate timeline; in Snyder's planned trilogy,
the main one would be saved after Cyborg used the Mother Boxes to send Flash back in time,
making sure that Batman died instead of Lois and keeping Superman on the side of good.
Basically, Snyder's whole Justice League trilogy is here in this one scene.
It's just hidden in the dialogue.
"How'd you get the house back from the bank?"
"I bought the bank. Congratulations, by the way."
Batman and Superman have spent most of their time in the DCEU as enemies. Their first
clash was so epic it lasted for an entire movie. Their second, while much shorter,
came right after Superman had been resurrected, and his mind was still on the fritz. However,
by the end of Zack Snyder's Justice League, the two are not just colleagues, but friends.
Still, when Bruce slaps Clark on the back and congratulates him, it's not immediately clear why.
It's not for coming back to life — Bruce and the rest of the Justice League did that. It's not for
getting the family farm back, either; Bruce did that, too. It could be because of his engagement
to Lois Lane, but the more likely answer lies in a few small details you might've missed.
Earlier in the movie, you can spot a pregnancy test in Lois Lane's drawer. When this scene
begins, Lois carries a bassinet into the Kents' farmhouse. Between those two clues, the
conclusion is obvious: Lois Lane is pregnant, and a super-baby is on the way. Well, kind of super.
As Snyder has explained, his original plan was for Lois and Clark's baby to be powerless, although
he'd later take after his uncle Bruce's example and strap on a cowl to become Gotham's new Batman.
The Snyder Cut's most memorable line isn't
actually in the movie. It only appears in one of the trailers.
"We live in a society where honor is a distant memory."
If you're not perpetually online, you may not have known what all the fuss was about.
For the rest of us, though, it was a moment to remember.
While that phrase originated as a line on the classic sitcom Seinfeld, it became associated
with the Joker thanks to memes surrounding 2019's Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix. As time has gone
on, it's become even more popular. Given that the Snyder Cut is basically a four-hour piece of fan
service anyway, people went rabid when it looked like it was going to make its way into the movie.
While the line didn't make the final cut, Zack Snyder still talked to the press about it,
and he says the meme-ification of the Snyder Cut was an ad-lib,
so that buzzworthy trailer moment was basically Jared Leto's fault.
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