Funny / Zack Snyder's Justice League

Some alliances have rocky beginnings.

Barry: Wonder Woman! What do you think, man? You think she'd ever go for a younger guy?

Victor: She's 5,000 years old, Barry. Every guy's a younger guy.

Just because it's Zack Snyder at the helm and not anyone from the Marvel Cinematic Universe this time, doesn't mean there won't be some moments from the director's cut of Justice League that will make you snicker.

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Spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

Previews

• In the Bad Future, Batman meets up with the Joker, and the latter starts his line with "We live in a society...", while gazing at the now-destroyed Gotham City. Anyone with at least a passing knowledge of Memetic Mutations can't help but chuckle at this glorious example of Ascended Meme (the meme originated at the time of The Dark Knight and gained renewed traction with Joker). That line doesn't appear in the actual film.

The Film

• The opening scene in Iceland where Bruce is finding Arthur
  • Despite the subtexts of the conversation, it was hilarious that Bruce already identified Arthur in his mind but wasn't about to show it to Arthur or the villagers. Bruce was Trolling both Arthur and the villagers. Case in point is when Bruce said "can't leave until we've spoken" looking straight at Arthur when saying that.
  • Bruce communicates in English, forcing Arthur to translate to Icelandic. When the mayor and Arthur tell Bruce to get out, Bruce responds in Icelandic to Arthur replying "I don't think so". Then he tilts his head as if to let Arthur know "What are you going to do now"?
  • Arthur promptly slams Bruce against the wall. Bruce simply flashes a large wad of money.
  • Arthur just looks at the money which is promptly snatched by a kid running by, and Rolls his eyes in disgust as he puts Bruce down.

• After Bruce returns from Iceland, Alfred asks him if they could check a more tourist-friendly location for metahumans. Preferably Jamaica or Fiji.
  • Plus this bit of snark at Bruce's inability to persuade Arthur or Diana:
  "So the draft stands at 0-2? Maybe a man who broods in a cave isn't cut out to be a recruiter?"
• Wonder Woman's response to the terrorist ranting about his group's motivations is to exasperatedly interrupt him with a stern "Boring!" Her facial expression when she says it also screams "for Athena's sake, I don't give a rat's ass about your stupid manifesto."
  • Overlapping with Heartwarming is the end of that whole scene. Wonder Woman has just obliterated a terrorist leader to the point where not even a strand of his DNA will ever be found. She then switches from merciless warrior to warm and chipper babysitter without missing a beat, her choice of words making it seem like everything the hostages witnessed was nothing more than a harmless performance.
• When government officials question Silas what is in a box, he bluntly answers "I don't know." and when doubted, adds "That's why I'm studying it."
• An ID sketch artist showing Silas a person of interest by exasperatedly slamming a cartoonish drawing of Batman on a glass door.
• Every conversation that Steppenwolf has with Desaad has similar energy to that of Orson Krennic and Darth Vader with the latter being transparently and hilariously disdainful of everything the former does. You can tell that every time Desaad gets called up he's clearly thinking "ugh, this asshole". Considering Steppenwolf has to conquer tens of thousands of worlds and report back to Desaad at least once per day, you can't exactly blame him for being curt.
  • When the Justice League returns Steppenwolf's corpse to Apokolips, Desaad turns to Darkseid and basically says "I told you so". Darkseid's only reply is basically "Yeah, you did. Oh well."
• Barry Allen's introductory scene, which plays out like an indie romantic comedy (a strong suit for his actor). He's late for a job interview at a dog daycare business and at least one of the dogs takes an instant dislike of him. He's also clearly distracted by the pretty girl who just walked out (Iris West) and thought it would be a good idea to keep his resume in his pocket, which by the time it reaches his potential employer is crumpled past the point of legibility.
  • The opening shot of a truck heading towards Central City includes a road sign that says "Reduce Speed Ahead".
  • Barry rescuing Iris, which leads to the pair having a Meet Cute moment that not even an exploding car could disturb (luckily, nobody seems to have been hurt or killed).
  • So it seems like Barry's going to crash and burn with this employer, but while he rescues Iris, Barry swipes a stray sausage from the hot dog stand that the truck which collided with her car knocked over. The scene ends with Barry offering the sausage as a treat to the dogs in the playpen, stating he always brings treats to keep dogs at ease.
  • The extreme close-up of a stray sesame seed.
• Alfred shows Diana the latest part of Batman's inventory - gauntlets that can withstand plasma blasts. Diana snarks that Alfred should try making a lasso next. In black, of course.
  • Even funnier is that anyone who has read Batman's Golden Age comics would know that a lasso was one of his earliest gadgets. This is what you get when you hire Alfred Pennyworth to do the job of Lucius Fox.
• Alfred offers to make Diana a cup of tea, but Diana politely declines because she wants to make her own tea. The Amazing Amazon then demonstrates she doesn't know the first thing about making tea, as Alfred has to micro-manage her every movement. Wonder Woman can slay gods and mutant aliens, but fails at mixing leaves with hot water.
  • Or less that Diana doesn't know how to make tea, more that Alfred is very fussy about how tea is to properly be made, and Diana is just too polite to argue with him.
  • When Bruce finally brings all of the Justice League to the Batcave, he introduces his valet/father figure thusly, "Everyone, this is Alfred. I work for him."
  • Then when the rest of the Justice League meets in the Batcave, Alfred reacts uniquely to each of the team members. He already knows and greets Diana in friendly manner, He tries to say something to Victor - who just coldly walks by not even giving him a look^note keep in mind he's in mourning of his father, leaving Alfred bumbling until Barry does a mini-dance/wave very enthusiastically and Alfred tries to copy it. Arthur walks by saying "It's badass, Alfred". Alfred's just giddy in stiches. He turns to Bruce again to say he'll put on the tea, then mumbles they don't have enough teacups.
  • When Superman arrives at Wayne Lake later (after the team left), Alfred gets anxious once again, though he regains his composure a few seconds later.
• Amidst Technobabble, Ryan Choi quips to Silas Stone that "the hottest thing on Earth" is how he described himself to his prom date. She dumped him anyway.
• Barry chats with Victor about Diana, wondering if she'd be into younger guys. Victor bluntly says that at her age, every guy is a younger guy.
  • While Barry and Victor are digging up Clark's body, Arthur and Diana (whose powersets include super strength) sit there watching and not helping.
• The Justice League's first official mission involves going underground, only to have to go up some stairs. What's especially funny is that these people whose powers range from flight to Super-Speed to just being able to leap across great distances all just laboriously climb the stairs a la Ghostbusters.
  • When they reach the unstable gap in the bridge, Flash asks if either Diana or Bruce have a plan, then after the plan is laid out (likely just to get him to shut up). Flash speed forces to the other side of the bridge. Diana rolls her eyes in disbelief.
  • Cyborg says to Batman that he thought Batman wasn't real.
    Batman: I'm real when it's useful.
  • And when Cyborg and the Flash are tasked with rescuing the hostages, all Flash really ends up doing is zapping around everyone, politely asking them to pick up the pace. He was actually more heroic in the widely-loathed theatrical cut in that sequence! ^note Though to be fair, while he saves people by moving them around with his speed in the theatrical cut, said cut doesn't account for the physics of moving normal people at such a speed — it would hurt them. ZSJL does, showcasing it with the extreme care with which Barry saves Iris West. And Barry does still get to be heroic when he saves them all from falling debris.
• Barry disguises himself as military personnel. He asks Arthur which hat he should wear. Arther dismisses option A on sight. When Barry tries on option B, Arthur asks to see option A again.
• When handing his ID to the guard, the Flash has a moment he regrets what he says to the guard:
  Guard: "ID"
  The Flash: ID! [hands ID to guard, then salutes] Aye! Aye!
  [turns away and mutters] Aye? AYE?
• Diana suggests they should get dressed (into their armors) to the others. Cyborg? "I'm always dressed".
• Flash tries slamming into a crazed Clark while tapped into the Speed Force. Instead of overwhelming Clark, Flash is instead propelled back by his own momentum. Unstoppable force meets immovable object, anyone? He probably should have surrendered.
  • Pictured on the page: Flash tries one more assault upon Clark, just as Aquaman pounces on the Kryptonian from behind. Clark dodges both of them, leading to Flash slamming into Aquaman with enough force to embed both of them in cement. Arthur makes it clear he blames Barry for this by pointing the finger at him.
    Flash: I'm so sorry.
• After losing the third Mother Box to Steppenwolf, Batman asks Cyborg if he can trace it using one of the Dark Knight's satellites.
  Flash: You have a satellite?!
  Batman: I have six.
  • Also serves as a Call-Back to Man of Steel. When Superman and Zod took their fight to outer space, they ended up destroying a satellite that had the Wayne Industries logo on it. This means that either Batman now actually has five or that was the seventh one that got obliterated. Or he's replaced that one.
• While the clash between Darkseid and the Olympians is serious enough, it's pretty easy to be reminded of a certain other superhero film when Ares slams his battle-axe into Darkseid's shoulder, missing his head by mere inches.
  • On that note, the shot of Superman no-selling the full force of Steppenwolf's axe could be seen as the answer to a long-running debate over whether Superman is stronger than Thanos when he has all of the Infinity Stones.
• When Barry runs off to gather the necessary charge to get Victor into the unity, his blue trail can very briefly be seen going into a dead end at the power plant, before backing out immediately. It's not like the poor guy has a map of an abandoned russian town!
• When Aquaman faces off against Steppenwolf again at the Final Battle, he has a cheeky little smirk and waves at him with his fingers in an almost beckoning motion, asking, "Remember me?" Aquaman takes Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu? to a fabulous new level.
• When the Justice League proudly stand shoulder-to-shoulder, Barry keeps glancing from side to side with a cocky smile, clearly thinking "I saved the guys that saved the world!".
• When Barry returns to his father with news of getting a "real" job, the man is almost jumping with joy, which Barry has to calm him down by mentioning "[He'll] get maced again."
  • Then the Flash gleefully runs through Central City with his arms flung out and a blissful smile. By far his goofiest moment.
• Arkham Asylum is a dark and foreboding place teeming with the worst sorts of criminals. In order to improve its image, somebody decided to change its name to the less stigmatizing "Arkham Home for the Emotionally Troubled", without altering anything else.
• As hopeless as the Knightmare looks, the situation brings some snicker as well, courtesy of the Joker:
  • After Deathstroke's introductory scene reveals he wants Batman dead for unexplained reasons, the story suddenly Gilligan Cuts to the Knightmare future, where not only is Batman still alive but Deathstroke has joined his resistance. They even share a mutual disdain for working with the Joker.
    Deathstroke: Still think it was a good idea bringing him along?
    Batman: (Joker laughing maniacally in the background) What do you think?
  • The exchange between Batman and Joker, now that they have to put their legendary enmity aside.
    Batman: Be very careful about the next thing you'll say!
    Joker: (reminds Batman of the people he failed to save)
    Batman: That's not very careful.
  • When Superman catches up to the Resistance, they stand their ground and prepare to fight. The Flash takes a running stance, Cyborg pulls out all of his firepower, Mera readies her trident and the Joker...laughs at how fucked they all are.
• The final scene, where Bruce is paid a visit by Martian Manhunter. After everything the Caped Crusader has been through, it's clear from his Dull Surprise that meeting another extraterrestrial has now become far too commonplace in his life, and he knows it.

Meta

• When a preview of Steppenwolf beating up a group of Amazons with their own horses was released, David F. Sandberg naturally had to make some commentary via Twitter (where his username is ponysmasher).
• The unexpected leak of the film via people trying to watch — of all films — Tom & Jerry on HBO Max. Naturally, all sorts of jokes sprung up, like "#ReleaseTheHannaBarberaCut" or this montage, mixed with Ralph Breaks the Internet.
• For viewers who have grown tired of tacked-on quips that can feel out of place (like what Joss Whedon did with the previous Justice League), seeing all of these humorous moments - done by a director with a reputation for having no self-awareness - being intertwined into the story without distracting from the moments of intensity can come across as laughably ironic.

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