The Synder Cut of the Justice League has been viewed enough times by now that people have seen quite a few differences from Steppenwolf’s new outfit to Superman’s and it’s fair to say that some people might be wondering why there’s such a big difference. Well, I can’t speak to Steppenwolf’s but it does feel as though Snyder wanted the villain to be more impressive, perhaps more ominous, but with Superman, the effect is kind of impressive but doesn’t really feel like something that was fully necessary. In the comics, the explanation is simple since after fighting with Doomsday the man of steel was severely depleted, but many thought he was dead. This gave rise to the Supermen that would appear not long after his ‘death’, as there were several super-powered beings on par with Superman in some ways that were seen to fight crime in their own ways or to cause more trouble in the form of a cyborg Superman that was later on identified as Henry Henshaw. It’s almost too bad that a ‘Death of Superman’ arc wasn’t developed by DC for the big screen since this might have been kind of interesting to watch. But the black suit that Superman wore in the comics was called the regeneration suit, and it was important as a plot point to help Superman recuperate his powers until he was back at full strength. In the Justice League movie though it’s a bit different, as this is what Zack Snyder had to say via MovieWeb:
“The black suit, you can say that in modern Krypton, when he left, everyone was wearing black suits. So it is sort of linked to, in some ways, the old world. I think it is a more direct relationship to his family. In a lot of ways, the blue suit, to me, represents his kind of place on Earth. The blue suit is his suit of a hero, the suit of his destiny, whereas the black suit is more personal in a lot of ways, more about his family. One is outward, and one is inward, and I think that those things, the expression of that could be – let’s put it this way. It was always my intention with the larger arc of the movies to realize that more completely, but I think you get a sense of it here.”
The way it’s said it almost sounds as though Snyder wanted the black suit to show that Superman had reverted to the black suit to get a feeling of home, hopefully not just as a fashion choice but as a way to explore who he was and where he came from. The black is definitely in keeping with the kind of filming style that Snyder appears to enjoy, but some might even think it looks far more imposing than the blue and red. It could have been that the black suit would be a phase that would eventually give way to the red and blue suit again as Kal-El came to finally accept his place on earth again. In any case, the regenerative properties of the black suit don’t appear to be a big concern unless there’s more to it that we don’t know of at this point. It could be that some stuff is being kept closer to the vest and we’ll only find out about it once we get to watch the movie. As of right now though it does sound as though the big difference between the black and blue suits is that the black is signifying Superman’s connection with his home planet, while the blue signifies that he’s accepted his place back on earth and accepts that this is his home and thereby the place he needs to protect. That’s what it feels like anyway.
The fact that this is a newsworthy part of the movie is enough to make a person shake their head, but then it’s easy to assume that just about anything that people grow interested in, however mundane, is going to draw interest in some way, and since this is Superman everything from his hairstyle to his suit to his motivations are going to be under a microscope. But learning that the suits aren’t going to mean what people might have thought isn’t too surprising since a lot of directors follow their own vision regardless of how much material they have to work with, and it’s easy to be grateful for what they do allow into the movie that remains unchanged since like it or not, some directors tend to go for broke and will try to re-invent the wheel so to speak when it comes to virtually any story. It’s not a bad thing really since creating new and exciting stories is what a director is supposed to do. But with well-established stories that have been around for so long, it’s often a better idea to try and develop what’s there without getting rid of or changing too much.
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