Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a film that fans had to wait a long time for.
After suffering through two hours of one of the biggest downgrades since Mass Effect Andromeda, the Snyder Cut not only got the world’s most expensive shave out of our head, but it also improved the characters in several ways.
There’s a scene in the film that I think perfectly encapsulates how powerful the league actually are as individuals and though Superman and Wonder Woman are often seen as the only people who actually do anything in the team, Zack Snyder showed us that every hero had their own purpose.
Nowhere was this seen more than in Barry Allen’s The Flash, who time travelled in the movie during its climax.
To me, it’s an absolutely perfect scene and it’s completely mind-boggling that Warner Bros actually wanted to cut it from the movie because they didn’t understand it.
I’m not even kidding, one of the best scenes in the DCEU and Warner Brothers thought it was a good idea to get rid of it because they didn’t get what was happening. Well, let me explain.
I’m gonna be going through why I think the scene is perfect and how it not only teases how powerful Flash is but why it also sets up events for the future that will have massive ramifications.
What Made This Scene Perfect?
Now the scene completely took me by surprise when I was first watching it because I thought I knew exactly how the movie was going to go. Though we were promised a completely different version to 2017’s Justice League I was expecting the bare bones of the story to be there and that we would see pretty much the events play out in the same way even though the acting, takes, cinematography and well…everything would be better.
However, my jaw dropped to the floor when I realised that the League were actually gonna lose.
Unable to separate the Mother Boxes we got a scene which completely changed what I thought was going to be a predictable ending and it took things in a new direction.
At this point the unity was complete and the world was about to be terraformed into an apocalypse-like planet which would render it a complete wasteland. This vision had been predicted by Cyborg when the league were about to resurrect Superman and for a split-second, I actually believed that this would set up the Knightmare scenario.
However, something happened, Flash who had been knocked out of action stood up and he raised his hand defiantly to stop the incoming wave. This is something that the characters symbolically did throughout the movie and just before the car hit Victor Stone and his mother he raised his hand up which was mirrored when his father died too.
It’s very much a gesture put in place by Snyder to show the heroes defiantly attempting to stop what is about to happen. However, whereas Victor failed, the Flash was able to tap into the speed force at this moment and completely change the events of history.
Flash hurled himself at super speed and then uttered the following words
“You’ve gotta go faster than the speed of light Barry, you’ve gotta break the rule.”
Huge character Development
Whereas in Josstice League Flash had been used to escort a Russian Family out of the area, but here he was a god, able to control time, destiny and fate. As the character rushed towards the unity I got goosebumps to see him race back in time as the world rebuilt itself around him. This was an absolutely outstanding moment that took him from being a secondary speedster character to one of the best of the best.
Watching the scene I think it’s incredible how as he races back to the source the ground re-materialises at his feet as he places them down.
Now what makes this even more emotional is that the words of Barry’s father play out as he goes back. Throughout the film, Barry believed that he wasn’t really living up to his father’s expectations. Rather than watching him rot away in a jail cell, Henry Allen wanted Barry to go out there and make something of himself. This clearly weighed in on Barry too but this moment proved just how important he was and why he would never be a disappointment. It was very much important for not only the world but also the character’s view of himself.
Music and Effects
Now as he finally got towards the centre of the explosion, the music really started to ramp up and it made it an absolutely breathtaking scene to watch.
I absolutely love the attention to detail at this moment and you can even see the molecules reform around the characters who seconds before had been atomised by the Mother Boxes.
As Flash gets closer to where Cyborg was we can start to see the character coming back together and this includes his skeleton reforming under his skin as the flesh and muscle layers over the top of it.
Something else that really hits home about it is just how realistic the CGI is. To my eye at least it’s impossible to tell whether this is a model or if it’s actually the actor himself and then they’ve applied the effects over the top of it.
Either way, it makes for an incredible moment and it connects Flash to another overlooked character.
Cyborg Connection
That is of course Cyborg. Earlier in the movie, we saw as he was in complete command of every computer on Earth and that the character was a god on the Internet like your homeboy Kevin Spoilers.
Much in the same way that Cyborg could control the stock market with a wave of his finger, flash could also control time in the same manner and it very much brought two of the most underrated characters together and showed just how powerful they were.
Cyborg, of course, goes on to defeat Darkseid and after seeing the league united in front of him he decides to halt the invasion which of course wouldn’t be possible without Flash.
Realising Barry’s Power
Now because of this moment, we know that Barry is one of the most important characters in the DC Universe and realistically he’s the only person that can stop the Knightmare scenario that we see play out at the end of the movie.
A version of Barry of course visited Bruce in the cave during the events of Batman V Superman and him carrying this action out in the finale lets us know why it’s so important that he’s there in the Epilogue.
How this Affects the DCEU
Now, this course, of course, has massive repercussions for the future of the DCEU and we know that this immense power, of course, made Barry wonder what else he could change. In the Flashpoint comic book, Barry travelled back in time to save his mother from being murdered but this broke the timeline and he ended up in an alternate universe with a different version of Batman.
Judging from what we know of the upcoming Flash movie, both Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck will be playing the Dark Knight and this is likely because Barry was tempted by this power to go and change more than just the events of the Steppenwolf fight. His father was of course in jail and the words he told him rattled through his head as he ran so it just makes so much sense that he would go back and try and change things to benefit his old dad.
This is why the scene is so perfect to me.
Why I Love It
Not only is it a beautiful piece of cinema that has amazing music, CGI and also cinematography but it also propels a person who was cast to the side in the theatrical to the level of being a god. Barry breaking his rules in order to save us all also carries forth the lessons that his dad tried to impart to him as well as the temptation that having such a gift would cause. If you could change one thing for the better surely you would try and do it in every instance and I think that this is one of the defining moments in Barry Allen’s life that will have massive ramifications.
That’s why it’s perfect for me.
It explains the questions left in the air by the Knightmare scene in Batman V Superman and it also sets up a future in the DCEU in which Barry will be one of the most important characters. It’s a complete redemption of a failed vision and if we’re reaching, it very much could metaphorically symbolise Snyder himself returning to fix the film.
Yes, I said it’s a reach.
Either way, I think everything in this moment is incredible and for me, it’s one of the standout scenes in the entire saga.
This scene is perfect for me and I hope that you’ve enjoyed me talking about it as much as I have.
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