Why Did Zack Snyder Like That Barbie Joke About His Justice League?

Summary

• Barbie remains the highest grossing movie of the year.
• Among many other pop culture references, Greta Gerwig's comedy included a joke about Zack Snyder's cut of Justice League.
• The director admittedly liked Barbie and the joke, but his reasoning is pretty dubious.

As 2023 slowly comes to a close, it's high time we take a look at this year's premieres. Even though it's been over four months since its release, Greta Gerwig's Barbie remains the highest-grossing film, with a staggering $1.44 billion at the box office. Funny, somewhat ridiculous, yet profound, this satirical comedy tackled a variety of social issues, including patriarchy, corporate greed, and inequality, and did so in a very entertaining way.

Aside from the intriguing story, Barbie was full of pop culture references, be it the Pink Brick Road or Ken's rapper-esque outfit in the second part of the movie. However, there was one particular Easter egg that caught fans' attention the most. The joke about Zack Snyder's Justice League was used to mock Ken's conspicuous masculinity after he took over Barbieland. As funny as it was to the audience, the director in question seems to have enjoyed it as well – for a very peculiar reason.

The Justice League Joke

When Ken brought patriarchy to Barbieland, the Barbies were apparently hypnotized and fell asleep, becoming subservient puppets to their Kens. Interestingly, the characters seemed happy to serve their men and were very reluctant to listen to Margot Robbie's Barbie when she tried to open their eyes to the issue. When she managed to wake them up, one by one, Alexandra Shipp's Writer Barbie described this strange state of mind as 'a dream where I was really invested in the Zack Snyder cut of Justice League,' poking fun at the movie.

Zack Snyder's Reaction to the Joke

'I thought [Barbie] was great, and I think the joke is pretty good,' the director said in a recent interview.

However, it doesn't appear that Snyder liked the joke because he admitted there was some truth to it. Rather, the director enjoyed it because it tickled his creative ego – he liked being referred to in the biggest premiere of the year.

'The thing that I said to [my wife] Debbie is – the thing that you need to take a second and think about is that your name is so seamlessly sewed together with a pop-culture phenomenon so big it can exist as a joke in a movie about Barbie. That's pretty insane. You just need to step back for a second and go like, 'Whoa, what did we do? What happened? How is that a thing?'' Zack Snyder revealed.

Source: Men's Health.