Awesome / Zack Snyder's Justice League

"I don't care how many demons he's fought in how many hells. He's never fought us. Not us UNITED."

"The short version of my review is simple: ZSJL exceeds whatever lofty expectations fans had for the project, it overcomes the objections and complaints of naysayers, and it delivers the Justice League movie everybody always hoped for. It’s more emotionally resonant, more exciting, more meaningful, and smarter than even someone like me — a longtime fan of Snyder’s work and of his particular vision for the DCEU — thought it would be (and trust me, we already had high hopes)."

— Mark Hughes, Forbes: "Zack Snyder’s Justice League Is The Ultimate DC Superhero Movie"

All spoilers are unmarked, as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

This version of Justice League showcases more than enough awesome moments to justify the efforts to have it see the light of day. In a nutshell, it contains way more of them than the truncated 2017 film, and with better special effects at that.

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Previews:

• Darkseid appears for the first time in a live-action film.
  • He means business when leading an invasion of Earth in ancient times, jumping from a ship straight to the ground. No wonder an alliance of basically everyone on Earth plus the gods of Olympus is needed against him and his forces. And according to Zack Snyder, he's still a "baby" at this stage.
  • The reveal of Darkseid's modern-day appearance among his court in Apokolips, surrounded by DeSaad and Granny Goodness, complete with Glowing Eyes of Doom, armies of Parademons around him, a cathedral-like palace and columns of fire outside.
  • Him using his trademark Omega Beam.
  • His stare down with the Justice League after they kill Steppenwolf.
• Superman's first meeting with Alfred. First of all, we see the liquid in Alfred's cup ripple. And then, the man himself lands in front of Alfred, finally wearing the black and grey suit. This leaves the latter stunned.
  Superman: I'm assuming you're Alfred.
• Superman and Steppenwolf leaping at each other.
• Batman blocking Parademon blasters with his gauntlets.
  • On top of that, the machine-guns on his Batmobile, which once decimated criminals, is now used to take down Parademons.
• Flash entering the Speed Force. At one point, he runs over thin air, and a bridge forms beneath his feet.
• Despite his slightly weary tone of voice, Bruce Wayne/Batman's speech is still inspiring for the nascent Justice League.
  "I don't care how many demons he's fought in how many hells. He's never fought us. Not us united."
• A sneak peek shows extra footage of Steppenwolf fighting the Amazons. Not only does he shrug off a torso full of spears and arrows, but when a group of horsewomen try to tether him down, he just grabs four ropes at once and slams the Amazons into each other, horses and all.
• The moment we thought we'd never see: the DCEU's Batman and Joker finally sharing scenes together. The only thing that came close before that was Batman landing on the roof of Joker's and Harley's car in Suicide Squad.
• Ares goes up against Darkseid without a hint of fear and manages to shatter the New God's halberd. The Amazons were right to hide from him.
• The Amazons respond to Steppenwolf's invasion in a way that would make Leonidas and his Spartans proud.
  Steppenwolf: I have come to enlighten you to the great darkness. I will bathe in your fear!
  Hippolyta: Daughters of Themyscira, show him your fear!
  Amazons: WE HAVE NO FEAR!

Film:

Terror vs Wonder

Wonder Woman's introductory scene in the film is far longer and includes several more scenes showing off her Action Heroine skills. The best part is that it is a straight up Curb-Stomp Battle where they never even get a single hit in on her.

• The moment she breaks into the room with the hostages leads to a scene where Diana realizes that she only has 15 seconds to defeat a bunch of mooks and throw the bomb away. Her first action is to nonchalantly dodge three bullets from a machine gun. She then tosses him and three other mooks all over the room, even simply kicking some against the wall like soccer balls, and they don't get a chance to even attack her.
• She follows this up by blocking several bullets from a machine gun with her vambraces, and then using Super-Speed to trip him up and toss him against another wall.
• She steals another terrorist's gun and throws it right at another one's head, and hits him perfectly.
• Her best moment comes when she blocks fire from a machine gun...with one vambrace.
• With less than ten seconds left before detonation, she does more than jump up to the roof and throw the bomb. She flies up into the air with the bomb, and then throws it for good measure.
• She once again deflects fire from the lead terrorist's machine gun. Only one person gets hit with a bullet. Herself. It does absolutely nothing to her.
• Finally, we get to see the effects of Wonder Woman's vambrace-clashing power against a mere mortal. The guy is completely obliterated, with the only physical sign that he ever existed was the hat he was wearing. And there are no civilian casualties.

Invasion of Themyscira

The entire sequence at Themyscira with Steppenwolf (in his much more nightmarish design) stealing the first Mother Box. Both the heroic Amazons and the villainous Steppenwolf have much more screentime to show off some major badassery.

• For the Amazons, they live up to their Badass Boast above when they all gang up on Steppenwolf, physically holding him back from grabbing the Mother Box. This culminates in the Amazon Queen Hippolyta using impressive acrobatics to kill a parademon that fatally injures one of her soldiers played by Eleanor Matsuura, before escaping the shrine.
• For Steppenwolf, he survives when the shrine falls into the ocean. While the Amazons are trying to stall and stop him, firing arrows at him all the way, he No Sells them all, with his armor capturing all the arrows without him even needing to concentrate on them. And when he's finally obtained the Mother Box, with Hippolyta defiantly shooting an arrow at him, he doesn't just deflect it. He catches it, and breaks it in his hand. Steppenwolf is not a joke character this time, and he makes it known to these hardened warrior women.

Invasion of Earth

• The gathering of Earth's defenders: armies of Men from several different cultures, Zeus, Ares and Artemis of the Old Gods, Atlanteans, Amazons, and one Green Lantern at least as tall as the aforementioned Gods.
• The Green Lantern from ancient times who stands against Darkseid's army. He rushes in to take on the Dark One by himself, only to have the hand that wears his ring get hacked off. Deprived of his only superpower and likely bleeding out from his open wrist, the Green Lantern immediately tries fighting back with absolutely no sign of fear, shock, pain or fatigue. Despite his efforts costing his very life, this nameless warrior embodied the indomitable valour that the Green Lantern Corps pride themselves on. One can only hope he was given the highest of posthumous honours.
• Queen Hippolyta commanding the charge of Earth's alliance with a majestic "AMAZOOOON!" while drawing her sword. She is the Champion of Earth in that moment.
• The Gods earning their names by leading Earth's forces into battle and fighting fiercely against Darkseid.
• Darkseid gets beaten by the collaborative efforts of the Old Gods and Atlan: first, Artemis shoots two arrows one after the other into his chest to keep him from snagging the masterless Green Lantern ring, then a shockwave from Atlan distracts him enough for Zeus to blast him with a charged lightning bolt. Ares finishes the combo with a vertical swing of his axe that breaks through Darkseid's staff and deals a mortal blow to his shoulder. The cherry on top is a Spartan-style kick, rapidly followed by Ares beheading two nearby parademons.
  • Despite the massive blood loss and his impending coma, Darkseid is still raring for a fight, not blacking out until the parademons get him onto his ship. His resistance to pain is so great he never even clenches his eyes when he's tasting blade.
• Zeus separates the Unity with his lightning.
• Artemis needs only one arrow to destroy one of the retreating ships.

The Speedster of Central City

Barry's saving Iris during a car crash showcases his superspeed and intelligence.

• For starters, his sneakers are blown apart the second he starts running.
• A single finger makes the glass door first shift like a liquid, then shatter so Barry can zip through.
• Skidding to a stop that cracks the pavement beneath him, Barry has the time to stroke Iris' hair while she's still in the middle of being launched from her car (and snag a hotdog for below), then he tenderly shifts her arms to wrap around her chest and nudges her slowly down to the point he can set her down without being injured by the fall or his own speed. All of this care proves Barry understands exactly how mindful he has to be when going that fast.
• And before the door's glass hits the pavement, Barry is back in the pet store, playing around with the dogs and feeding them the hotdog he swiped earlier. He casually whips up an alibi to the bewildered store owner of going for the animals and having a snack just in case something crazy happens in this city like a responsible future employee would.
  Barry: I mean, oh my gosh? Right? ...I start on Monday?

Battle on Stryker's Island

• Batman taking on the parademons, hand-to-hand, and beating the crap out of them. Now we understand how that particular one had gained the upper hand, taking Bruce by surprise while he was distracted. Even then, Bruce turned it around, finishing him with a well-placed roundhouse kick.
  • His gauntlets modelled after Wonder Woman's braces deserve a two-fold mention: one for Alfred who successfully designed gauntlets capable of dissipating energy blasts, and one for Batman whose reflexes help him parry Parademon shots before he gets into the Knightcrawler. They even temporarily save Batman from Superman's heat vision before Lois calms him down.
• That one Parademon that gets away in the theatrical version is crushed by the Knightcrawler's leg here.
  Batman: My turn. (Opens fire on the demons and Steppenwolf)
• Flash protects the captives from falling debris. He zips around them, punching the pieces to dust so fast he's practically a force field while the civilians watch in awe. Sure, he misses the last one, but Cyborg's got it covered.
  • He earlier avoids every shot from a Parademon in almost comical fashion before sending it through a wall with just a supercharged finger-tap.
• One Parademon that tries to blindside Wonder Woman after she's saved Flash from getting taken away is impaled and reeled in by a familiar grappling hook. Cue Batman standing calmly on top of his damaged Knightcrawler.

The Crew at Warpower

The entirety of the Final Battle, which has the Leaguers be overall more useful in defeating Steppenwolf and show off more synergy as a team than the 2017 version.

• Batman uses the Flying Fox to punch a massive hole through the dome's defenses and enters a literal hellhole to bring down the tower and the dome, giving the team a chance to follow the next part of the plan. His first attempt doesn't work, but Batman turns it around, says he "just has to knock a little louder" and blows open an even bigger hole in the dome for the Fox to slip through. The tower's easy pickings from there.
• The Flying Fox is brought down, but Batman is undeterred and obliterates the first wave of Parademons sent to kill him with the Batmobile's weapons.
• After a frantic sequence with Batman unloading hundreds of bullets, missiles and doing his best to remove as many Parademons as possible and clear a clean road for his team - bringing down an entire water tower in the process and impaling a Parademon with the Batmobile - Batman is finally overwhelmed... and we hear a familiar leitmotif start as Wonder Woman shows off this movie's rating and eviscerates the two Parademons harassing Batman in slow-mo. She is soon followed by the rest of the team, with the movie's money shot shown above happening.
• Aquaman is shown standing in the Batmobile's chassis but then is taken away by three parademons in a short aerial sequence, where he successfully fights them off, is helped by Cyborg carrying him around, and then impales and uses a Parademon's body as a surf board to demolish an entire derelict building. Awesomeness incarnate.
• Cyborg, to not be outdone himself, brings down an entire city block over the Parademons chasing him with his arms' energy weapons.
• Wonder Woman keeps slashing and dicing any unfortunate Parademon that gets in her way, and Batman finally opens a path into the tower's interior by unloading the Batmobile's entire missile cache. The car is also finally destroyed by the Parademons' energy cannons, but his trademark agility is shown when he escapes the exploding Batmobile with an eject seat, killing the Parademons shooting at him with the chassis, then taking down another Parademon to soften his fall, and attaching a bomb to other.
• Aquaman impales two Parademons with his Quindent, and kills another by smashing him into a wall.
• Batman quickly learns how to operate the Parademons's weapons system, and starts shooting Parademons left and right never missing a single shot. He even helps Diana by killing four Parademons surrounding her, and she looks up to him in the tower with a look that can only be described as pure awe.
• Aquaman and Cyborg quickly make their way to Steppenwolf, the former pounding his Quindent's base to get Steppenwolf's attention and then giving him a cheeky little wave, and unleash a combo of the Quindent energy wave and Cyborg's weapons system, sending the previously-unstoppable Steppenwolf flying back. Wonder Woman shortly joins them in time for Round Two.
• Diana and Arthur charge at Steppenwolf, giving Cyborg an opening to the Unity. The battle is frantic and desperate because while the New God is superior physically to both Aquaman and Wondie together, the two heroes will stop at nothing to give Cyborg some room to operate, clashing their weapons against Steppenwolf, collapsing the bridge that holds the three of them, and using the Lasso of Truth to prevent him from attacking Victor.
• All of this seems for naught when in quick succession, Steppenwolf buries both his attackers under the rubble of the bridge, Flash is on the verge of overloading with electric energy, and Cyborg is left at the New God's mercy when he can't handle the Unity's defenses. He prepares his axe to strike the defenseless kid...
  • And then, in less than a fraction of a second, a black blur stands in the way and a loud clang is heard. It's the last son of Krypton himself, SUPERMAN! Steppenwolf can only stare in disbelief as his axe is completely useless against the Kryptonian, which is then frozen and shattered into tiny pieces. There is also the fact that Superman didn't even use the full extent of his ice breath; rather, one tiny blow was all it took to destroy Steppenwolf's weapon.
    Superman: Not. Impressed.
• Superman quickly kicks the intergalactic conqueror who can do nothing except growl as the Man of Steel unleashes his heat vision upon him and then punches him into the ground. Our heroes get their second wind with Kal-El's return and quickly join him for the beatdown. Diana uses her bracelets and Arthur his Quindent to leave Steppenwolf at Clark's mercy, quickly knocking him into submission and cutting off Steppenwolf's right horn with his heat vision. All the while set to the powerful and epic score "Superman Rising", the opening notes of which add a John Williams-like fanfare to Hans Zimmer's Superman theme for extra awesomeness.

At the Speed of Force

What follows, however, is quite simply the most epic moment of the entire movie.

• As Superman pounds Steppenwolf over and over with shockwaves that can be felt through the entire tower, Batman can only watch in awe, with the rest of the leaguers shortly joining. This also means that Batman made short work of the rest of the Parademon army all by himself.
• The entire situation goes awry, however, when Barry is hit by the tower defenses and is left with a horrible injury that prevents him from running. The only thing keeping the parademon sniper from scoring a second fatal hit is Batman rushing to Barry's rescue. Then Darkseid appears to watch Steppenwolf's work through a Boom Tube. And then the Unity is completed.
  • How does Batman react to his impending demise? By leaping straight towards it, consequences be damned.
• Our heroes are quickly vaporized by the energy wave. They lost! And Barry can only watch as the shockwave engulfs the entire planet...
• With the energy he stored from his multiple runs, Barry no sells this energy wave. He phases through it, and contemplates on what to do. He heals the injury, and quickly realizes that he must break his one rule - he needs to go beyond, no, far beyond the speed of light and reverse what has happened, not caring about what happens to himself afterward.
  Barry: OK. Just gotta go faster than the speed of light - far beyond the speed of light! You gotta break the rule, Barry, and you gotta do it now!
  • Something that can't be communicated through text in the above quote is the sense of absolute, tear-wrenching panic in Barry's voice as he psychs himself up to break his rule. He knows that he only has seconds to force himself to run faster than he's ever run before, and even for someone with his powers, he's terrified that he won't be able to do it in time along with the possible consequences of what could happen even if he succeeds.
• Barry starts to run through the barren wasteland and the void of space. Electricity surges through his body, as he rallies himself up for the colossal task at hand. Each step he takes, decimated land reforms, shattered buildings rebuilt, pavement repaved, dead allies resurrected. The sound of his footsteps like the beating of a stunned heart regaining its pulse. Time becomes clay to be molded as he gives his all, just to give the world one last chance. He has earned the right to be called "The Flash".
• The dialogue. The music (the aptly named "At the Speed of Force" by Junkie XL). The atmosphere. The visual effects. Everything about this scene is epic.
  • At the start of the movie, Barry was an aimless youth who was metaphorically running around in circles, with even his father telling him to move forward and live up to his true potential. Barry repeats Henry's words as he reverses time.
  The Flash: Dad. Whatever happens now. I just want you to know. Your kid was one of them, Dad. One of the best of the best.
  • This is a far cry from the theatrical cut, where Superman is shown to be keeping pace with Barry in multiple scenes. Here, however, he really has earned the nickname of the fastest man alive.
  • Barry spent the entirety of these two movies being the comic relief, the tag-along kid, and was outshone by other heroes in his task or found himself unable to do much of help. Despite how much he wished to be a hero, he couldn't simply keep up with gods, demigods, and aliens. It's in this single moment, after the end of everything, that Barry rises to the challenge, and proves his worth as a member of the League. This is the stuff legends are made of.
  The Flash: Make your own future. Make your own past. It's. All. Right. Now!
• Barry's efforts pay off as he manages to reverse time to possibly nanoseconds before all hell literally breaks loose. His allies resurrected and the world restored, he gives Cyborg enough charge to enter the Unity.
• A short scene follows as the Motherboxes try to prey on Cyborg's fears by recreating his family on the virtual landscape, promising him a return to how things were. A loving family, a living mom, and dad. And Victor as a whole human being. But Victor is undeterred. As he breaks the Unity, he calls Superman for help to separate the Motherboxes. After a short struggle, they manage the impossible. And the world is saved.
  The Unity, in the form of Victor's family: We have been waiting for you, Victor. My broken boy. You don't have to be alone anymore. We'll be together again. We can put it back, Vic. Make you whole again.
  Cyborg: I'm not broken. And I'm not alone.

Victory

• Steppenwolf, furious at his failure, roars and starts to march towards the rejoined Batman, Superman, and Cyborg. He stops as Aquaman impales him with his trident and holds him up, Superman punches his body toward the portal to Apokolips, and Wonder Woman finally decapitates him before his head and body fall before Darkseid's feet.
  • This is made even better by the fact that men (Batman, Cyborg, and Flash), an Amazon with the blood of the Old Gods (Wonder Woman), Atlanteans (Aquaman), and a heroic alien ally (Green Lantern prior, Superman present) recreate the alliance from five thousand years ago, fighting back Apokolips' forces and defeating the would-be-conqueror. Diana deals the killing blow, rewarding the film time Steppenwolf spent antagonizing her.
• As Steppenwolf's decapitated body lands in Apokolips at Darkseid's feet, the Justice League look at him, standing tall and proud. The message is clear: "You want us, we'll be waiting. And we won't go easy on you." For a villainous moment, Darkseid's response to this defiance is pretty much "Challenge accepted."
• Undeterred over Steppenwolf's failures and the destruction of the Mother Boxes, Darkseid decides to do things the "old fashioned" ways; a full-scale invasion on Earth. The Justice League's victory only delays the inevitable as Darkseid will stop at nothing to claim his ultimate prize.
  Darkseid: Anti-Life is found, DeSaad, and we will stop at nothing to possess it! Ready the armada. We will use the old ways.
• With Darkseid's invasion thwarted for now, the Justice League stand proudly over the cooling tower, watching the sunrise in triumph. From anyone's perspective, its like watching a Pantheon of Gods.
• Bruce Wayne gets back Superman's home after the bank took possession of it. How? He bought the bank and saw to it that Kal-El got the house back.

The Knightmare

• The fact that Mera, of all characters, is part of what's left of the Justice League, having essentially replaced her beloved Arthur as Aquaman. She has lost the love of her life and could have either given up or gone to The Dark Side like Clark did when he lost Lois. Instead, she stayed true to her ideals and still resolves to free Earth from the Apokoliptians. And, hell, she is going to make Darkseid pay.
  Mera: Let him come. Let the bastard come. I'll stab [Arthur's trident] through his heart for what he did to Arthur. I want to make him pay!
• Batman and the Joker finally have an interaction in the DCEU, which was never given a chance to happen before. And it's truly worthy of the two legendary foes' usual dynamic.
  • Even after hearing the Joker torment him about the deaths of his parents, Robin and Lois Lane, Batman manages to grab his attention just by saying Harley's name.
  • In a small sort of way, the fact that Harley's last words to Batman were a plea for him to kill the Joker slowly and painfully. Considering everything he's done, both to her and others, it's safe to say he deserves to be killed slowly and painfully. Moreover, it really shows how much Harley's become her own person since their break-up.

Miscellaneous

• Mera's fight with Steppenwolf is dramatically more violent. Mera has the power to manipulate water. So what does she do with this power? She opens another air bubble around herself and Steppenwolf, and then starts ripping out Steppenwolf's blood from his body!
  (Mera creates an air bubble around herself and Steppenwolf)
  Steppenwolf: You can't escape.
  Mera: I'm not trying to.
  • While it ultimately fails because Steppenwolf throws her aside, it nonetheless disturbs Steppenwolf enough that he's left where he is shaking his head frightened at what just happened. Apparently, this was so shocking to him that he ignores the Mother Box for the moment specifically to kill her.
• Cyborg gets to prove his Technopathy chops more often.
  • Practicing with his flight mode culminates in him shooting straight into the sky with the first smile since his accident. Then his flight mask assembles over his face.
  • In cyberspace, Victor calmly looks up at the thousands of nuclear missiles, a digital image of the entire world's nuclear arsenal which he could activate with just a thought... and waves them away. He then uses his hacking abilities to help a Struggling Single Mother.
  • The Flying Fox, a prototype troop carrier that neither the best minds at Wayne Aerospace nor Alfred nor Bruce can get into the air. Cyborg succeeds in just a couple of minutes.
  Cyborg: It wanted to fly. Flight is its nature.
  Bruce: Yours too.
• The revelation that there is another benevolent alien on Earth before the arrival of Superman. After Martha leaves Lois' apartment, her eyes glows red and reverts to her true self, J'onn J'onzz, the Martian Manhunter, before reverting back to his civilian disguise as Calvin Swanwick.
  • After Steppenwolf's defeat, J'onn decides he can no longer sit at the sidelines anymore and offers to help Batman, officially becoming the seventh member of the League.
• The moment where the League decide to resurrect Superman. As they are musing on the Mother Box's reconstructive properties, the audience can faintly hear horns that played when Superman was born on Krypton. Barry then proposes the idea, the horns grow louder and bombastic. Then Cyborg activates a hologram of the man himself, and Hans Zimmer's iconic theme reaches its peak as the hologram takes flight, while the League watch in awe. The sound barrier breaking can also be heard along this sight! What makes this scene more significant is that every time Superman is mentioned, it's always in a sombre way, with the music fitting this mood. Now, this is the first time that the mere mention of Superman inspires optimism and hope.
  • There's the dialogue between the gathered heroes as they reach this collective "Eureka!" Moment:
    Cyborg: Burn down a house, the particles still exist. Particles of house become particles of smoke.
    Wonder Woman: Anybody with a match can turn a house to smoke.
    Aquaman: But a Mother Box...
    Batman: turns smoke back into a house.
    Flash: ...I know we're all thinking the same thing right now. Who's gonna say it? I'm not gonna say it.
    (Cyborg shows the holographic image of Superman taking flight)
• Darkseid's first appearance in the present. Having discovered that the Anti-Life Equation is on Earth, Steppenwolf goes to inform DeSaad who goes on to make an ominous chant. As the interface of DeSaad disappears, Steppenwolf watches his Parademons all bow down to one knee. The interface then transforms into the God of Evil himself, towering over the already huge Steppenwolf, who could only retract his armor and bow down in fear. Combined with the sinister theme, it is as if Satan himself is making himself known, just to show how terrifying Darkseid really is.
  Darkseid:I have turned one hundred thousand worlds to dust looking for Anti-Life; looking for those who robbed me of my glory. I will stride across their bones and bask in the glow of Anti-Life, and all of existence shall be mine!
• Superman's resurrection remains the same, with one alteration. Unlike the original version, the Mother Box touches the water too early. However, as mentioned by Barry earlier what would happened to time if he runs close to the speed of light, time begins to slowly rewind, allowing him to jumpstart the Box. Even Barry is astonished as to what he just did.
• Silas Stone takes the last Mother Box before Steppenwolf can reach it and locks himself with it inside a laser testing room when he realizes he won't make it out in time. He maintains a calm face as Cyborg and Steppenwolf watch him blast the Mother Box with so much energy that he is vaporized in the process.
  • Too bad the Mother Box wasn't destroyed... Except that wasn't Silas' intent. He learned in an earlier scene how it absorbs high concentrations of heat that show up on thermal scanners. The laser superheated the Box's core to the point where the League can track it with one of Bruce's satellites.
    Batman: Your father sacrificed himself to mark that box.
• Clark's return as Superman, which echoes his first time putting on the suit and taking flight, only this time he's reassured by both fathers instead of just one. What really sells this scene is that for the first time since Man of Steel, we hear an awesomely bombastic (but sadly unreleased) remix of "Flight", and it is glorious.
• It's a small moment, but when Steppenwolf tries to get the last Motherbox from STAR Labs while threatening the nearby bystanders, Ryan Choi immediately takes a protective stance between them and Steppenwolf despite clearly being very outmatched. He's not The Atom yet, but he shows here that he's just as much a hero as the rest of the Justice League.
  • Keep in mind Ryan was the one who developed the electron laser that Silas used to superheat the Motherbox, giving the League a way to pinpoint Steppenwolf's location. An unsung hero if there ever was one.

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