With Warner Bros.' Justice League preparing for its home release, fans are already pawing over possible Easter eggs everybody may have missed. Now, one eagle-eyed viewer has spotted an homage to The Dark Knight Returns hiding in plain sight.
Looking back over the history of DC stories, the epic The Dark Knight Returns is held as one of the best Batman tales out there. From Frank Miller's gritty story to the grisly artwork, what more could readers want? Unfortunately, Zack Snyder's Justice League movie was bogged down with a lackluster storyline and some even worse CGI graphics, leaving viewers wanting a great deal more. However, that hasn't stopped Snyder hiding a neat nod to the 1986 graphic novel under our noses.
More: Justice League Easter Eggs & Secrets You Completely Missed
Taking to Twitter, superfan Film Junkee asked the Twitterverse if anyone spotted the moment that Ezra Miller's Flash tripped and was struck by lightning? Doing a side-by-side, Film Junkee posed that it was an homage to one panel from The Dark Knight Returns when a battered Superman is also struck by lightning:
Lurking out there on the internet, and keeping up with what fandom is talking about, it didn't take Zack Snyder himself long to reply and confirm that this is the case. While it is just a small throwaway moment, it at least shows how invested in the comic book lore of the characters that Snyder is.
Justice League is hardly the first live-action outing to find some influences from Miller's work. Christopher Nolan saw the novel as his main influence for The Dark Knight Rises, Snyder based his older Bruce Wayne from Batman V Superman off Miller's version, and Joel Schumacher even once pitched a film adaptation to Warner Bros. (thankfully it never came to fruition). While Ben Affleck's older, damaged Batman is clearly a pastiche of TDKR's version, the Superman/Flash/lightning Easter egg is a clever way to include other members of the team in a more subtle way.
However, Snyder can chuck in as many The Dark Knight Returns, Batman 1989 or Nolvanverse Easter eggs as he wants, but it still won't redeem most people's feelings toward Justice League. While the DCEU may be down but not out just yet, here's hoping that a possible sequel can pick up the pace to redeem a disappointing first outing for the League. Who knows though, maybe audiences can expect to see more The Dark Knight Returns in Easter eggs in the likes of Justice League 2 or Matt Reeve's The Batman? Either way, it still continues to be one of the seminal Batman storylines and influences his big screen outings.
More: Darkseid’s Justice League Appearance Was to Set Up Zack Snyder’s Sequel
Source: Film Junkee
