WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Zack Snyder's Justice League, now streaming on HBO Max.
Nearly four years after the release of 2017's Justice League, director Zack Snyder's cut of the film has finally been released on HBO Max. Zack Snyder's Justice League encompasses the director's true vision for the ensemble film and it features nearly all of the footage that was shot for it. While some scenes appeared in the theatrical cut of the movie, they are given new context and plenty more depth in the Snyder Cut -- and some of them include Easter eggs and nods to the comics.
Such is the case with the scene where Bruce Wayne and Barry Allen meet for the first time -- a scene that includes a subtle tease to classic Flash villain Gorilla Grodd.
In Zack Snyder's Justice League, Bruce Wayne starts putting a team of superheroes together but he has trouble getting anyone to join. After Diana Prince finally decides to help him, Bruce pays a visit to Central City, where he finds Barry Allen in his makeshift warehouse/home. Once the two are face to face, Bruce confronts Barry about the footage he has of him using his metahuman abilities. He asks the young man what his special skills are but, at first, Barry denies he can do anything remarkable, instead enumerating skills like viola, web design and sign language -- or, more precisely, "gorilla sign language."
The "gorilla" specification is no accident -- it's a tease to the Flash's iconic enemy, Gorilla Grodd.
Now, it's important to note that this mention of "gorilla sign language" appeared in the theatrical version of the film. However, at the time, there was no way to know if that line was part of Snyder's footage or if it was the result of the movie's extensive reshoots. Now we know that it was indeed a line from the Snyder Cut, which means the director always intended for his version of Justice League to feature this nod to Gorilla Grodd.
Gorilla Grodd first appeared in 1959's The Flash #106 by John Broome and Carmine Infantino. The character is a gorilla who, at one point in time, was exposed to a meteor that granted him super-intelligence and special abilities including telepathy. Ever since his debut, Grodd has been an iconic member of the Flash's rogues gallery. The supervillain even made his live-action debut on The CW series The Flash, where he clashed with the Scarlet Speedster before the two became uneasy allies.
The revelation that Zack Snyder's Justice League's version of Barry Allen is fluent in gorilla sign language hints that perhaps he and Grodd have crossed paths before in one way or another. After all, while Barry has yet to battle supervillains in Justice League, he has already been active as the Flash for some time.
At the time Snyder was originally shooting the film, there were already plans in motion for the rest of the DC Extended Universe -- plans that eventually changed. Therefore, it's unclear if this tease was meant to setup Gorilla Grodd's appearance in a version of The Flash film that no longer exists. However, a Flash film starring Ezra Miller is currently in development, and while we don't know the full details of the movie just yet, it's always possible that it will feature the big-screen debut of Gorilla Grodd.
Zack Snyder's Justice League may have only featured a tease to the character, but hopefully it will be paid off further down the line.
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.