Warning: Spoilers Off applies to Moments pages.
No wonder Barry needs friends.
For Zack Snyder's Justice League, see here.
- The whole world has mourned the loss of Superman, so much so that many think the world is now hopeless as a newspaper shows.
- There are huge black banners with Superman's "S" symbol on landmarks throughout the world, on the Tower Bridge in London and on the Notre-Dame of Paris cathedral for instance.
- It gets even worse as it's implied that humanity has only gotten worse after Superman's demise, with crime at a new high. Even before Steppenwolf comes to the picture, humans, as usual, have no problem destroying themselves, as Ares pointed out one century before.
- One scene depicts the police attempting to restrain a racist thug from vandalizing a Middle Eastern woman's store. Another depicts an old man living in the street with a box that has "I Tried" written in its side. Truly a world without Superman is a world without hope.
- Lois contemplating the broken Superman statue in Metropolis, from the battle against Doomsday.
- Lois wakes up, alone in their apartment, stretching her arm in Clark's empty bed side like if he was still there. A clear reminder just how devastated she is after losing him.
- Martha Kent has put the Kent farm for sale.
- To rub it in, one of the newspaper front pages shows the headline, "Did They Return To Their Planet?", with photos underneath of David Bowie, Superman and Prince. Bowie and Prince both died within a few months before and after Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was released.
- The song underscoring the opening manages to make it even worse, "Everybody Knows" by Sigrid:Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
- As shown in the photo above, Henry Allen is serving time in prison for the murder of his wife Nora, which he has been blamed for, and his son Barry comes to visit him at the parlor. Barry is clearly affected; no wonder why he needs friends. Barry also needs to come back at the parlor despite his father's orders not to, feeling like his father is all he has.
- Also Henry practically begging Barry to live his own life and just forget about him, even discouraging his criminal forensics studies because he feels his son's wasting whatever talents he has on a lost cause.
- Victor Stone/Cyborg keeps memorabilia of his football career that ended abruptly with his crippling accident, and he's not happy to live with cybernetics.
- His mother Elinore died in the same car accident that crippled him.
- Victor lives in his father's home, while Dr. Stone keeps his condition secret from the rest of S.T.A.R. Labs. Dr. Stone attempts to comfort Victor and urge him to use his new abilities for good, but Victor, thinking of himself as a monster, doesn't care.
- It's not himself who Victor considers a monster, but his own father for turning him into a freak. All Silas can do is defend himself while Victor feels his humanity is slipping away.
Victor: Don't want people to see the monster?Silas: You're not a monster.Victor: It's weird you think I was talking about me. - Aquaman resents his Parental Abandonment by Queen Atlanna of Atlantis.
- During the discussion about resurrecting Superman, Bruce and Diana get into an argument about the ethics and risks of doing this action, and both of them hit each other's nerve by bringing up their Survivor's Guilt.
- Diana points out that Bruce feels guilty about Superman's death but it isn't his fault and that he should move on and accept that death is death. Batman then asks her if "Steve Trevor told you that?" which leads Diana to shove him forcefully into a tech installation. Batman then calls her out for sitting out for a century and then have the nerve to talk to him about "moving on". The pain on Diana’s face and the guilty realization on his really sell the scene.
- Later, Batman tells Alfred in private that he took a big risk goading her, noting that she could have killed him with her super-strength, but he felt that had to be done to inspire them. Later Diana, on seeing Batman's injuries that come from being casually manhandled by a resurrected and angry Superman, compassionately looks on at the physical sacrifice Batman is undergoing merely to keep up with the rest of the godlike supers on the League, and how even her casual shove to Batman probably hurt him far more than he let on.
Diana: You can't do this forever
Bruce: I can barely do it now.- Coupled with Diana confessing she sees herself equally unfitting for leadership because she not only can't see another Steve Trevor, but also can't bear the burden to be herself the one who lead him to his demise.
- When the League puts Superman in the Genesis Chamber of the Kryptonian ship to revive him, the photo of Pa Kent he was holding in his hands falls into the Chamber's liquid.
- Superman's reunion with Batman is...not a happy one. In fact, it's revealed that even as he died, he saw their team-up as an Enemy Mine. He even accuses Batman of not even giving him the satisfaction of delivering a Heroic Sacrifice, believing he wants to torment him even in death. He also coldly taunts Batman, who notes that the world needs Superman, by pointing out that the world probably doesn't need Batman, and washing away his entire legacy and career as worthless.
- When Steppenwolf attacks Themyscira, the Amazons attempt to hold him off as long as they can while Hippolyta takes the Mother Box and attempts to escape with a few soldiers. Unfortunately, Steppenwolf and the Parademons easily kill the Amazons and catch up to Hippolyta, who is forced to abandon the Mother Box when she tries to help an injured Amazon. Remember how heartbreaking it was in Wonder Woman when only a few German soldiers managed to inflict heavy losses on them? This time, the Parademon invaders outnumber the Germans by a massive margin and inflict even greater casualties.
- Later in the movie, Steppenwolf provokes Wonder Woman into fighting him by telling her his ax is still "wet with the blood" of her sisters.
- Worse is the Fridge Horror; with no male Amazonians, every loss they suffer is permanent. Yet they still sacrifice themselves without hesitation, even with the knowledge that every casualty is one less Amazon the world shall ever know.
- Barry's "cold feet" scene during the rescue in the sewers is super relatable for people who suffer from anxiety disorders or anxiety in general, especially people who suffer from OCD, who have been known to compulsively avoid things that give them anxiety. Much like Barry, they permanate and make up every excuse they can to get out of what they are supposed to do, because they're scared of screwing things up. Lucky for Barry, however, Bruce is there to be a Papa Wolf and reassure him.Flash: Alright, okay, h-here's the thing: um... see, I'm afraid of bugs, and, um... guns and obnoxiously tall people. I can't be here! It's really cool you guys seem ready to do battle and stuff, but, full transparency, I've never done battle! I've just pushed some people and run away!
- It's also one from Batman's point of view, when you consider that he's still blaming himself for the death of Jason Todd, and lord knows what will happen if he lets Barry Allen die.
- Speaking of Jason Todd, this also puts Commissioner Gordon's line of "playing nice with others again" in a much sadder context, as he's most likely referring to how Robin's death cause Batman to become an even bigger shut-in than he already was, and he's just now starting to move on.
