What Was The Reborn Superman Looking At In Justice League?

Cast your mind back to Justice League and remember the scene where the amnesiac, resurrected Superman flees to Heroes Park in Metropolis. Before his Superfriends find him and attempt to calm him down, he stands in front of the monument erected to honor those that died during his battle with Zod in Man of Steel.

There’s a curious moment that might have left some viewers confused, however. In one shot, the Last Son of Krypton’s staring at something on the ground that’s left unseen. Only a long distance shot is used to show that Kal-El’s looking at some sort of display as part of Heroes Park, leaving us in the dark as to what’s caught his eye.

Until now, that is. One eagle-eyed fan who must have Superman’s X-Ray vision has finally worked out what’s happening here. It seems the hero’s looking at the graffiti surrounding the ‘S’ emblem engraved on the ground that reads “If you seek his monument, look around you.” If you remember, this was first seen as a tribute to Superman after his death at the end of Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.

It’s bizarre that this was never clarified in the movie itself. Surely we would only have needed a quick shot to establish that the confused Clark’s staring at the symbol that’s vaguely jogging his memory. Maybe it’s not a completely necessary scene, but keeping the moment in which he looks at the graffiti but not revealing what it is comes across as sloppy editing.

Going by Henry Cavill’s normal upper lip here, this was clearly part of Zack Snyder’s original footage. That likely means there was more to the scene which was cut when the film was reformatted under replacement director Joss Whedon. No doubt the shot that explained what Superman was looking at was a victim of the mandated 2 hour runtime that was imposed on the film by Warner Bros.

One day we might get the fabled Snyder cut to discover how Justice League was initially envisioned, but the most recent chatter on the subject sadly points to it not being in the works at the moment. In the meantime, then, it’s up to the fans to continue putting the pieces of the puzzle together.