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The highly anticipated Zack Snyder's Justice League came out on HBO Max earlier this month, and it was pretty freaking cool. Sometimes you’ve just got to do it twice, and DC decided it was game to do so in this instance. One aspect that people have been particularly thrilled about is the super villains in the Snyder Cut. Zack Snyder seems to agree, as he appears to be way too excited talking about the “space knight” Steppenwolf and his unmissable “horn shine.”
In an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, Zack Snyder couldn't stop, wouldn't stop talking about Steppenwolf and his cool, uber-shiny armor. The directors said he just had to comment on the shiny horns pretty much everyday the villain was shooting on set. Here's how Snyder put it:
I’d get a shot back, and go, ‘Holy shit, the horn shine is insane!’ That was literally a thing I said almost everyday. The other conversation we always had was about his axe: He’s always sticking his axe in the ground whenever he gets mad. We decided that’s what he would do as part of his mood. Whenever he needed to emote, he’d just stick his axe in pretty much anything: steel, concrete, whatever. That was fun. He’s a space knight in his weird armor just stomping heads.
We can’t really blame Zack Snyder for admiring the art that is Steppenwolf’s appearance. His armor is made up of intricate spikes of seemingly all different sizes that appear to change color occasionally - but the dominant feature is definitely the oversized headpiece that seems to have a mesmerizing “horn shine.”
After geeking out about his armored horns, Zack Snyder talked about another hot topic on set: Steppenwolf’s big ol’ axe. The villain used his axe in a way that displayed when he was angry, rather than just wearing that emotion on his face. It acts as a kind of character tick, which makes the character a little more relatable with how humans are with their emotions.
Steppenwolf’s axe handling doesn’t seem to be the only piece of him that is connected to his emotions, though. Apparently the idea behind the armor was that we would get a slight change in the appearance as the villain’s mood shifted. It would seem that the alien technology behind the armor connects the protective gear to the villain, making it kind of like a second skin, which is super cool.
If you haven’t seen Zack Snyder's Justice League yet, the only way you can watch it is on HBO Max, where it's streaming exclusively (you can sign up for the service with this link). If you didn’t like the first attempt back in 2017 and are concerned about DC getting another chance at it - don’t be. Zack Snyder more than makes up for the original flop, maybe even just with how cool Steppenwolf turned out.
