5. Joker’s Homoerotic Assertion
Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021)
Though Zack Snyder’s work consistently achieves success and popularity, it usually has a distinct style. Zack Snyder’s Justice League is a prime example of how to make a film as Snyder-y as possible, considering audiences first experienced the heavily Warner-revised version before the release of the Snyder Cut. It’s certainly premium Snyder, which is to say that it has both great qualities and a number of truly cringe-worthy moments.
One of Snyder’s added moments comes during the film’s final scene set in the apocalyptic future, when Batman and his merry band of costumed freedom fighters share a heart-to-heart. One of Batman’s associates is none other than his former arch-nemesis the Joker, who spouts some clichéd nonsense about the pair completing each other. Then, for good measure, he asserts that Batman couldn’t kill him as no one would be left to perform a specific and slightly vulgar sex act on the Dark Knight.
It’s clearly written to sound as edgy and unexpected as possible. Unfortunately, it sounds as though it was written by a pubescent boy who finds subtle homophobia the height of comedy. It’s childish, it’s unfunny, and it’s incredibly cringe-worthy.