It is public news at this point that the original version of Justice League was quite bloated and had to be cut down to size for theaters. The stripping resulted in several deleted scenes, one of which has now been revealed to have featured a Watchmen easter egg.
Posting on Reddit earlier today, user “BeenTryin” shared an image from director Zack Snyder that shows Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) wearing a “Black Freighter” t-shirt. For those unaware, “Tales of the Black Freighter” was a magazine read by two side characters in the Watchmen graphic novel. The separate storyline was also part of the live-action adaptation Watchmen movie, also helmed by Snyder.
Watchmen, a classic read, already delved into gritty atmospheres. The Black Freighter went darker, narrating a hellish phantom ship that is captained by an undead demonic figure and collects souls of evil men lost on the seas.
Justice League was heavily criticized by the audience and the expensive project ended up as a disaster for the studio. However, it was reported last month that the top brass at Warner Bros. basically washed their hands off the movie, knowing that it would fail. The final version, after several different cuts, was an utter mess, half-baked, and nowhere near the levels of satisfaction that fans were seeking when purchasing their tickets.
