Zack Snyder's Justice League has finally been released and brings various changes to what was shown in the theatrical cut. These changes have ranged from large to small, with the largest being the inclusion of a much more expanded backstory for Victor Stone, aka Cyborg (Ray Fisher). However, some of the smaller changes have included dialogue alterations when Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) meets Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) or brief inconsistencies in the theatrical cut.
At the end of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Superman (Henry Cavill) sacrificed himself to destroy Doomsday. His dying scream rang out to the cosmos, alerting dark forces that Earth is now defenseless. Following their first encounter with the film's antagonist, Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds), Batman and the Justice League realized that they didn't stand a chance without Clark and hatched a plan to revive the last son of Krypton. However, the plan couldn't have worked without Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) and the rest of the League infiltrating S.T.A.R. Labs, and it's at that moment that one of the original film's inconsistencies can be found.
In both versions of the film, Barry and Cyborg are tasked with sneaking Clark's body into the lab, with Barry disguised as a soldier. In the theatrical cut, one of the guards swipes Barry's fake ID, and, with the help of Cyborg, his profile comes up with the name Wesley Rowe and a birth date of November 6th, 2010. Assuming the movie takes place in the year it was released, 2017, this puts his age at around seven years old. It was a brief inconsistency discovered by fans that remained in the film even after the home video release.
On the other hand, Zack Snyder's Justice League made a point to fix the small error and change Barry's fake birthday to September 30th, 1997. This made the fictitious Wesley Rowe around 20 years old and made the guard allowing him to pass seem more attentive at his job. From there, the team made it into the crashed Kryptonian ship and successfully revived Superman. Had the same guard in the theatrical cut noticed Barry's incorrect age, it could have jeopardized the entire mission and ended it before it even began.
The error surrounding Barry's incorrect birth date doesn't largely affect the overall narrative of the film. However, once it is pointed out, it becomes harder to ignore when it appears on the screen. The error also brings the potential for more questions in regards to the film's continuity, such as how a supercomputer like Cyborg could make such a simple error as an incorrect birth date when he has been shown hacking into complex databases in seconds.
With both films now available, there may be even more minute alterations between the two versions for viewers to watch out for. Zack Snyder's Justice League offers a unique glimpse into the filmmaking process and how the visions of two separate directors can utilize most of the same footage and create two tonally different experiences. It also serves as a lesson on how important it is to rectify certain inconsistencies in a film, no matter how small.
Zack Snyder's Justice League stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Ray Porter as Darkseid, Ciarán Hinds as Steppenwolf, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon. The film is currently available on HBO Max.