One thing many noticed was the prominence of "Excaliber" on the billboard of the cinema in the opening scene. Although many mistook this to mean that was the film the Wayne's were seeing, the billboard actually says Excalibur was coming soon. The Wayne's walk past a poster for the actual film they saw, true to the books, a Zorro film. I don't recall which, I believe The Mark of Zorro. Any who, Snyder has mentioned his affinity for the film (1981's Excalibur), and on last Friday, my second viewing, I actually started noticing nods and homages he'd thrown in. Well, one specifically, where he actually mirrors one of the final scenes of Excalibur. Now, spoilers here, but [BLACKOUT]Superman and Doomsday's death scene actually plays out very similar to Arthur and his son Mordred's deaths. In Excalibur, Arthur approaches his son, for their final confrontation, and Mordred shoves his lance through his father. Although Superman is the one shoving the spear through Doomsday, it is after Doomsday stabs Superman that we see the real homage. In Excalibur, after Mordred lances him, Arthur literally pulls himself further along the lance, so that he can get close enough to plunge his sword into his son's chest, and they both die. Nasty scene, although very cheesy looking back at it today. Does not hold up. Well, in BvS, on my second viewing I noticed that, although they are both already skewered, Superman does pulls an Arthur, and actually pulls himself further onto Doomsday's bone spike, so that he can plunge the spear deeper into Doomsday to finish him off. It's not as obvious, or as drawn out as Arthur's act in Excalibur, that probably would have solidified the R rating, but it's definitely there, and a definite homage to the scene. You can find the Excalibur scene in question on YouTube, but it's fairly bloody, and involves explicit impaling, so it's probably a bit beyond the scope of allowable linking on the Hype.[/BLACKOUT] Considering Snyder's expressed fondness for the film, and the aforementioned homage in the climax of BvS, I thought we could discuss other nods anyone might have caught, as well as general Arthurian references and parallels. I imagine there will be more moving forward with the JL films, what with the whole Knights of the Round Table parallels the JLA often touches on in the books and cartoons. What did you guys catch?
They were watching "The MaSk of Zorro" and not the MaRk, I think. Ah, don't mind me, I confused the **** out of the two movies haha. And wow, I have not seen that film or known about that story so I didn't know that's why Snyder chose to homage that movie and it's awesome to know he did that in the death scene too! I don't think I caught anything that parallels another film or classic, and even if I did I don't remember now, so unfortunately I won't be able to contribute but I'm glad I learned something new about the film today, so thanks for that!
I definitely noticed the reference in the final confrontation. I though it was shocking subtle for Snyder, haha.
I've only seen BvS once so far and I got the homage, but unfortunately saw no other parallel with Arthurian legend in the film. This disappoints me greatly, as managing to sneak in a reference to 'Elseworlds: Kal' in my undergraduate dissertation remains one of the proudest moments of my academic career t:.
I wouldn't be surprised if the nod was a bit more apparent in the full cut, ad edited down for "intensity."
Great catch. I always thought that the "now playing - Zorro/coming next - Excalibur" was meant as a nod to the sequel, the Justice League, which does have whole knights of the Round Table thing going on and "Mark of Zorro" obviously being the one that has to do with BvS - Batman dressing up while fighting crime and even branding people with his symbol... but you're right, it mirrors the scene perfectly. I wonder if there's any other nod of this sort in the film...?
