Even though he doesn't join the fray until more than midway through Zack Snyder's Justice
League on HBO Max, Superman's big return is one of the movie's most pivotal scenes. However,
it's not nearly as important as what comes after the hero's resurrection. After the Justice
League uses one of the Mother Boxes to resurrect Clark, he wakes up disoriented and tears through
the team at Heroes Park until Lois Lane calms him down.
Afterwards, he heads to the farm with Lois in order to come to terms with his return
from the dead, before heading to his ship to pick out a suit to wear into battle. As
he walks through his ship, Clark hears the voices of his fathers — Jor-El and Jonathan
Kent — offering him advice and urging him to show the world love and mercy. As they
speak, the ship offers Clark an array of suits to choose from, including his classic red
and blue number, but he ultimately settles on the black one.
On the surface, Superman's decision to don a black suit feels ominous . After all, the
color black is most often associated with death and mourning, but in Clark's case, the
choice is all about rebirth and embracing his Kryptonian heritage — something both
of his father's have urged him to do.
The most important part of this pivotal scene isn't the black suit itself, it's Superman's
reason for choosing it. Snyder's decision to have Jonathan and Jor-El's words overlap
to create one cohesive message for their son is crucial to the emotional impact of the
moment. Even though his fathers are two very different men, their messages say the same
thing: We love you, we're proud of you, you have to stay strong, and you can't lose yourself.
At one point, Jor-El says,
"All the hopes and dreams of Krypton live in you now."
Meanwhile, Jonathan urges Clark to show the world his true self. He explains,
"You're gonna have to make a choice. [...] A choice of whether to stand proud in front
of the human race or not. [...] You need to show them who you are."
Ever since he was a child, Clark has been hiding part of himself. He's either Clark
Kent, the wholesome son of Martha and Jonathan, or he's Kal-El , an alien among humans whose
powers make it impossible for him to ever be seen as anything other than Superman. But
the truth is, Clark is both of these people at once.
By choosing the black suit, a suit rooted in his Kryptonian heritage, Clark is finally
taking a step toward embracing his history as he fights to save humanity even though
he's already made the ultimate sacrifice once.
In the comics, Superman wears the black suit, also known as the recovery suit, after his
resurrection because it will help him physically heal. But in the film, he doesn't need to
recharge his powers after returning from the dead, as evidenced by the way he absolutely
destroys the Justice League at Heroes Park. In fact, Snyder never makes any mention of
the black suit possessing any special abilities or attributes at all.
For Clark, the black suit is more of a metaphor than anything else. In an extensive interview
with I Minutemen , Snyder delved into the meaning behind Superman's decision not to
immediately return to his famous red and blue outfit.
The director explained,
"The black suit, you can say that in modern Krypton, when he left, everyone was wearing
black suits. So it is sort of linked to, in some ways, the old world. I think it's a more
direct relationship to his family. In a lot of ways, the blue suit, to me, represents
his place on Earth. The blue suit is his suit of a hero, the suit of his destiny, whereas
the black suit is more personal in a lot of ways, more about his family. One is outward,
and one is inward."
A big part of the original vision of the Justice League trilogy would have been tied to Superman's
character arc as he slowly became the stalwart hero fans know from the comics, and left behind
the more conflicted man he is in the modern day films. During an interview with ComicBook
Debate, Snyder explained his thought process behind putting Superman in the black suit,
and where he wanted to take the character in subsequent films.
The director said,
"Superman had to, at every step, sort of level up and learn something, and be something different.
What I had planned was that the final step for Superman, [was] his real return, or his
real coming into what I would consider the classic Superman. We don't really get it in
this movie, the classic Superman."
Instead, fans are given a raw version of Superman who heads into battle even though he's still
reeling from being brought back from the dead. In the end, the black suit scene is about
showing Clark at his most vulnerable moment deciding that he's not going to hide who he
really is from the world anymore. While he understands the comfort his red and blue suit
brings to the people of Earth, at this point in his story, he knows he can't go back to
who he was before his death. All he can do now is move forward in a way that honors his
family, and for now at least that means rocking the very Kryptonian black suit.
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