When you visit the set of a massive blockbuster that still has 16 months before it reaches movie theaters, the last thing you expect to see is footage. But that's exactly what Zack Snyder treated us to when a group of journalists visited the London set of next year's Justice League movie. We saw a finished scene -- well, a mostly finished scene -- that showed us exactly how two crucial Justice League members would meet.
The following contains massive spoilers for Justice League! Do not read any further if you do not want to know any details.
The scene in question shows how Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) recruits Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) for his mission. As we learned, at the end of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Superman's death has inspired Batman to band together the metahumans and prepare for a larger threat that the Dark Knight can sense is coming. The scene that Zack Snyder shows us plays out as such:
Barry is returning home to his apartment. He has chains and a padlock on his front door, suggesting it's in a bad neighborhood. As he comes in, he flips a switch on an electrical breaker, powering up the apartment's lights, as well as a bank of monitors that seem to be tuned into various news and entertainment programs. As the lights come on around the apartment, we see that Bruce Wayne has been sitting in a chair, waiting for Barry to return home."Barry Allen? Bruce Wayne," Ben Affleck purrs.Barry seems stunned, and wonders how Bruce -- who he clearly doesn't know yet -- can justify breaking into a stranger's home. Bruce doesn't answer. Instead, he shows Barry a printout form the security footage seen in Lex Luthor's metahuman video... the scene of Barry stopping a robbery at a convenience store. Barry denies that it's him in the photograph, but it's too late, as Bruce has spotted the Flash suit that Barry keeps on a mannequin in the apartment.Bruce is admiring the craftsmanship of the suit. He recognizes the fibers, and comments that it's material NASA uses to protect spaceships from burning up as they re-enter Earth's atmosphere. Barry, talking quickly, is still trying to deny that he's any type of superhero. He tells Bruce that he does competitive dance. Intense competitive dance. It's a good laugh line.Finally, fed up with Barry Allen's lines of misdirection, Bruce Wayne reaches behind his back and throws a Batarang as hard as he can at Barry's head. At this moment, everything slows down... except for Barry. He's able to step out of the path of the sharp Batarang (we can still see Bruce, going though his throwing motion in super slow motion as Barry moves at normal speed), and he reaches out and plucks the weapon out of the air with his index finger and thumb.At this point, everything returns to normal speed. Barry spins to look at Bruce. "You're Batman?"Bruce tells Barry that he's building a team, but before Wayne can finish his proper pitch, the speedster blurts, "I'm in!" When Wayne wonders why the Flash is so eager to commit, Barry Allen sheepishly confesses, "I need friends." He then quips to Batman, "Can I keep this?" And the scene ends.
The scene tells us a number of very important things about Justice League. Obviously, it will be Bruce Wayne making the rounds to convince the metahumans that they need to join him in this fight against the mounting threat of Steppenwolf. Batman already has Wonder Woman on his side, but with Superman in a shallow grave, the Caped Crusader is going to need help. But the scene also shows us how quickly the recruitment process may take, which is refreshing because it suggests that Justice League won't have to waste an hour following Batman around as he tries to convince people we KNOW are going to join him anyway to sign on the dotted line.
The scene also tells us that this version of Barry, at the time that we are meeting him, is a loner in need of friends. That's a direct contrast to Team Flash on The CW. No Iris (yet). No teammates from S.T.A.R. Labs. Barry needs friends. And he's going to get them. Super Friends, even. We can't wait.
