Unite The 7 Best Moments From ‘Justice League’

Justice League has come and gone, and as far as both reviews and box office go, it was something of a dud.

Still, there were those who loved it — including ComicBook.com’s own Brandon Davis — so it is worth taking another look at Zack Snyder’s (likely) final DC Comics movie now that the movie has come to digital streaming services and will be available on DVD and Blu-ray in just a few weeks.

The film has been a lightning rod for controversy, from a long-delayed Rotten Tomatoes score that some fans cried foul over to a still-ongoing campaign to convince Warner Bros. they should release a Zack Snyder director’s cut of the film on home video.

With a 40% rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a lethargic box office run that earned less than Logan and Despicable Me 3, this movie is bound to be like Man of Steel, where even its upwards-of-75% audience score won’t prevent it from becoming a punching bag for those who did not enjoy it.

So what were the best, most memorable moments from Justice League? Read on…!

“Some old dude who’s not going anywhere”

This is the smallest, least epic moment on the list — but Billy Crudup’s Henry Allen was pitch-perfect, and the interplay between him and Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen some of the most believable chemistry onscreen.

Each of them want nothing but the best for the other, and the way each is willing to sacrifice himself for the other’s well-being ties into so many themes in the film — from the parent/child relationships that dominate so much of it to the recurring notion fo sacrifice which is a necessary part of the film’s discussion given Superman’s death and resurrection.

This scene will presumably set the stage for the events of Flashpoint, the planned title of The Flash’s solo movie, and Crudup’s heartbreaking reference to himself as “some old dude who’s not going anywhere,” juxtaposed with the joy he and Barry share at the film’s end when Barry gets his acceptance letter, is some of the most emotionally honest stuff in the “Snyderverse.”

It also marked the best of a number of these speeches from the start of the film, in which characters said things like “seeing the engine of the world, when it still ran,” setting a tone of hopelessness following the loss of the Man of Steel.

When Barry met Bruce

Ezra Miller’s Flash is an undeniable high point of the film, and his first scene, in which he joins the League after the bare minimum of prodding from Bruce Wayne, set the tone for what was to come.

The scene’s humor worked for a few reasons: juxtaposing Miller’s neurotic, flaky Barry Allen with the stoic, gruff Bruce Wayne of Ben Affleck; the way Barry eventually got excited when he realized what Bruce was there for; and the fact that after Aquaman’s rejection and then a few dire scenes in between, Barry’s acceptance of Batman’s invitation is immediate and enthusiastic. It subverted the expectations that the movie had set up to that point, and it worked really well.

“He’s more human than I am”

In Justice League, when pressed by Alfred as to why it was so important to resurrect Superman, Batman gives a variety of answers that fail to pass muster with his father figure. One of them, finally, connects. The answer?

“He’s more human than I am,” Batman says. “He lived in this world, fell in love, had a job, despite all that power.”

“The world needs Superman,” Bruce adds. “The team needs Clark.”

That fundamental part of most modern interpretations of Superman had never really made it to the big screen before Snyder: the idea that Batman is the real guy, and Bruce Wayne is the mask he wears in the daytime. Superman, meanwhile, is a costume that Clark Kent puts on.

The Heroes Park Battle

Whether or not you are tired of superheroes fighting one another instead of the bad guys at this point (I know I am), the Heroes Park battle, in which a newly-revived and disoriented Superman fights the Justice League single-handed.

There are some odd moments of editing, and that cringy “tell me — do you bleed?” joke, but the action and artistry of the scene itself is top-shelf.

If you buy a copy of the movie, there is a featurette on the making of the Heroes Park battle, which shows off how much organization, choreography, and planning went into the long and grueling shoot — and how much the cast had to goof off between takes to keep things getting too serious.

The Williams theme

There are few more recognizable pieces of music in cinema — let alone superhero cinema — than John Williams’s theme from Superman: The Movie.

While Superman’s entrance into the final battle with Steppenwolf may have been epic on its own, Elfman’s decision to incorporate elements of the Williams theme into the big moment where Superman pounds the villain was so note-perfect that it is something I once said on the Emerald City Video podcast which I hoped the film would include.

It wasn’t alone, of course; Elfman’s own theme from 1989’s Batman was sampled throughout some of the Dark Knight’s scenes, as well, creating a kind of cool Frankenstein of epic superhero movie music.

The shirt-rip

The “shirt rip” by Clark Kent at the end of the movie fulfills a long-held promise of DC’s cinematic universe: after three films and a long journey, Zack Snyder provided fans with a more familiar, traditional version of Superman.

This simple bit of iconography says so much: somehow they got Clark Kent “back to life” in spite of an open-casket funeral in Kansas, and a more recognizable version of Superman, more in tune with humanity and less like a looming god.

Deathstroke and Luthor

The sequence centers on Deathstroke, who boards a boat and cruises out into Metropolis Harbor (?) to meet up with a man on a yacht. That man, as it turns out, is Lex Luthor, recently sprung from the supermax prison he found himself in at the end of Batman v Superman.

As most fans have either seen or read by now, the scene unfolds with Lex pitching Deathstroke on forming a “league of our own” to combat the gathering of heroes at the center of the film.

It was an epic scene, featuring a great-looking Deathstroke and setting the stage for the next few DC movies — and it even featured a wink and a nod to Richard Donner’s Superman: The Movie in Lex Luthor’s wardrobe.

What’s not to like?

Justice League

Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy.

Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

Justice League is currently available for download on digital platforms like iTunes, Amazon, and Vudu. The DVD and Blu-ray will be available in stores on March 13.

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