Justice League: The Hidden Meaning Of Cyborg's Snyder Cut Ending
Cyborg is the central character of Zack Snyder's Justice League, and his final send-off is an especially important moment in his character arc.
Cyborg's ending in Zack Snyder's Justice League has a lot of significance for his story in the movie. After years of calls for its release, the once mythical Snyder Cut finally arrived in 2021, achieving the inverse reception of the disappointment of the 2017 theatrical cut of Justice League. Among the countless differences between the two versions of the movie was in the role of Victor Stone a.k.a. Cyborg, played by Ray Fisher.
The reshoots and re-editing Justice League underwent after Zack Snyder's departure restructured the entire movie. No character was more impacted than Fisher's Cyborg, whose role became a secondary one in the theatrical cut. The Snyder Cut presents Victor as he'd been intended from the start as the most central character of the film. One element of his story that has far more meaning than in the theatrical cut of Justice League is the hoodie sweatshirt and sweatpants Victor dons in the movie, and what he does with them in the epilogue.
As a last-ditch effort, Victor's father Silas Stone (Joe Morton) uses a Mother Box to save the life of his dying son. This gives Victor his new metal body and all the technological powers that come with it, but Victor is far from thrilled by his transformation. Whenever he ventures out in public, Victor dons normal clothes to conceal his new body, including a hoodie and sweatpants. However, Victor's relationship with the League and his role in thwarting the plans of Darkseid (Ray Porter) to conquer Earth changes his view of himself. When he stops the Mother Boxes from forming the Unity, Victor declares "I'm not broken, and I'm not alone." While it's a powerful moment on its own, Victor visiting his parent's grave in the Zack Snyder's Justice League epilogue completes it. Paying respects to his mother and father, Victor removes the clothes he's worn throughout the movie before flying into the morning sky. In this moment, Victor no longer holds the anger he once did against his father. More importantly for himself, Victor no longer feels the need to hide who he is from the world. With that need gone, he discards the clothing he once used to conceal himself for good.
Unlike his fellow heroes in the Justice League, Victor views his powers as a curse rather than a gift. Not only did he lose his mother Elinor (Karyn Bryson) in the car wreck that nearly killed him, but from his perspective, he's lost everything that makes him human. This gives added weight to his comment that "I'm always dressed" when Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) tells the League to suit up as they prepare to resurrect Superman (Henry Cavill).
The arc of virtually every hero in Zack Snyder's Justice League plays out differently than it did in the theatrical version. For Cyborg, he's able to take new pride in being the hero and master of technology he is, leaving everything he once hid behind and flying off to protect the world, neither broken nor alone. In contrast to the original cut's sidelining of this poignant story, Zack Snyder's Justice League places this redemptive and hopeful narrative front and center.