The Avengers Vs Zack Snyder’s Justice League

A Recipe of Success and Failure

The Avengers (2012) and Zack Snyder’s Justice League (2021): two superhero team-up movies from two different franchises with two different outcomes but they have a lot in common than you think.

The Similarities

1. Both villains have horned helmets: Loki and Steppenwolf
2. Both villains attack certain places which draw in more heroes to the fight.
3. Both the villains arrive via portals
4. Both are after ‘Cubes from Space’ hidden on earth: Tesseract and Mother Boxes
5. Both have an alien army: Chitauri and Parademons
6. Both recruit heroes that see themselves as a monster: Hulk and Cyborg
7. Both these heroes are a product of science experiment gone south: Hulk and Cyborg (again)
8. Both these heroes are important to track down the space cubes: Hulk as Dr Bruce Banner and Cyborg
9. Both these characters lose control of their powers at a certain point: Hulk and Cyborg (duh)
10. Two of these heroes are war veterans: Captain America who fought in World War 2 and Wonder Woman who fought in World War 1
11. Two heroes are non-power billionaires with gadgets: Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark
12. Two heroes are basically gods: Thor from the Norse mythology and Wonder Woman is Zeus’ daughter
13. Two heroes are from remote scientifically advanced civilizations: Thor from Asgard and Aquaman from Atlantis
14. Two heroines are introduced fighting some gang members: Black Widow and Wonder Woman
15. One of their heroes goes off the deep end and they have to fight him: Hulk and Superman
16. The overpowered hero comes to his senses and easily defeats the villain: Hulk smashing Loki and Superman pummeling Steppenwolf
17. The two powerhouses of the heroes go to some fields to gather their thoughts: Thor and Superman
18. Non-powered heroes stands on the ledge and shoots the bad guys: Hawkeye and Batman
19. The billionaire hero teases the creation of the new headquarters for the team at the end of the movie: The Avengers Tower and Hall of Justice
20. The end of the movie teases a space warlord as the main villain: Thanos and Darkseid
21. Even the dialogues, Dr Bruce Banner’s “I’m always angry” to Cyborg’s “I’m always dressed.”

That being said, they are not so similar because their difference in their impacts is huge. While MCU went on to complete its 3 phases as the most successful franchise DCEU fans are stuck on Twitter trending hashtags under any post they can find to stop the studios from rebooting their Snyderverse.

So, what exactly went different?

Apart from the loads of money and critical acclaim The Avengers made in the cinemas to Zack Snyder’s Justice League being released on HBO Max, there are other important issues that fly under the radar.

The Build Up

The Avengers (2012) had a build-up starting in 2003’s Edward Norton starring The Incredible Hulk movie where Robert Downey Jr appeared at the end to talk about the Avengers initiative with General Ross. From that point, almost every Avenger appeared on screen before featuring in the first live-action Avengers movie. Captain America, Hulk, and Thor had debuted in their solo movies while Iron Man was two movies in with Black Widow appearing in the second one. Even the main antagonist of The Avengers, Loki, had already debuted as an antagonist in Thor.

The idea of Batman trying to take down Superman was good but the story, execution, the direction was exceptionally bad. Wonder Woman’s entire plot in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice involved her trying to get a photograph back even though it is a digital copy. Remember how they introduced Aquaman and Flash in BVS; Dawn of Justice? Oh yes, by video clips. YIKES.

The Disconnect With the Comic Book Roles

The Avengers sets a specific role for each character in the movie just like their comic book counterparts. Captain America is the leader, Iron Man is the brain, Thor and Hulk are the muscle of the team. They smoothly assume their comic book roles as the story progresses. While in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Batman assumes the role of the leader but so does Wonder Woman and Cyborg. Everyone is the muscle of the team. Steppenwolf gets his ass handed to him by Wonder Woman, Cyborg and Aquaman alone at separate occasions.

The Broken Characters from the Start

This can be a topic of discussion in itself but let’s talk about the big two from each franchise:

Robert Downey Jr doesn’t just play the role of Iron Man; he lives the character Tony Stark. He was so convincing as Tony Stark that they remodeled the comic book character to match his face. Chris Evans literally embodies the essence of the character of Captain America: someone who can stand up to bullies and ‘can do this all day long.’

Batman is introduced as a trigger-happy murderer who shoots people to death for stealing a green rock but somehow he has spared a serial killer like Joker who roams around the streets in his purple Lamborghini. Superman is no longer a symbol of hope and optimism; instead he is one push away from killing people. He even squashes a terrorist against the walls in the beginning of BVS.

Oh, and remember Lex Luthor? A jacked super-smart billionaire with bald head, he now looks like a nerd that made fun of Man of Steel.

Scenes Vs Moments

Remember the iconic pose where Avengers stand back to back while facing the alien army as the Avengers theme plays in the background?

This is not just a scene but a ‘moment’. How, you ask?

A big revelation in the movie is when Captain America finds out that S.H.I.E.L.D. is making weapons from alien technology which is followed by an arguments and inputs by every member in the Avengers. You feel the tension brewing between them. This scene is a “LOW POINT” anddefines the Avengers and gives them something to overcome. Now, coming back to the iconic pose, up until the now, the Avengers didn’t work together and in fact, they didn’t even like each other. This moment means so much because they have to set aside their minor differences to achieve the greater good while answering the big question.

In Zack Snyder’s Justice League, almost everyone is on the same page to stop Steppenwolf together apart from Aquaman who agrees to it after a minute of pep-talk. In fact they are a step ahead then Steppenwolf as they already know everything about him, his plan and even have the Mother Box. There is no “LOW POINT” instead we jump from one scene to another.

The Big Question

Every good movie puts the protagonist in a moral dilemma where they have to answer the big question; the better the question, the better the movie and better the answer, the sweeter the ending. After finding out about S.H.I.E.L.D.’s plan to build weapons, the big question for the Avengers is: Should humans be able to protect themselves or should they rely on the heroes in costumes? The only question one can come up for ZSJL is: Should they resurrect Superman? There is not much of a resistance to the idea apart from minor disagreements from heroes, who still do it anyway.

The Chemistry

Who doesn’t like some party banter and interactions between their favorite superheroes? In fact, the whole purpose of the superhero team-up is to bring various characters together to create a unique dynamic between each of them: How would one superhero react to another? Pick any two members of Avengers from the movie and you will find interesting dialogue and memorable interactions between them. Be it Hulk punching Thor, Tony Stark’s and Steve Roger’s iconic standoff, Loki eyeing up Banner, etc.

Now, let’s talk about ZSJL. Remember any memorable interaction between Batman and Cyborg? How about Steppenwolf and Batman? Maybe Wonder Woman and Flash? None.

The Verdict

To put it in simple words, if the motto of The Avengers (2012) was, “We work together, we win together” then Zack Snyder’s Justice League’s motto would be, “Superman, go kill him.”