For those wondering about the Hot Dog Truck - it's an easter egg put in by the VFX company that worked on the Smallville fight sequence (MPC), and has since showed up in a bunch of other movies that they worked on (including other Zack Snyder movies). I think it's somewhere in the debris of the Doomsday fight in BvS, and when I was working on Justice League we were going to put it on top of one of the Russian buildings, but the shot that featured it was cut from the theatrical version and I don't know if it was re-added for ZSJL (since the studio shut down at the end of 2019).

I’ve picked up on so many symbolic meanings and parallels in these movies but I’ve NEVER considered the water and fire. What a cool breakdown video. Give us more!

The Hot Dog truck is a scout Darkseid sent eons ago to access Earth's forces, that explains why Steppenwolf came to Earth, it wasn't the boxes.

THANK YOU for pointing out Wayne’s PTSD. Is something so often overlooked.

These movies are so much better when discussing the themes than having to sit through them

The hotdog truck is clearly being driven by the Condiment King. He lived in Smallville during the Kryptonian invasion and narrowly escaped the destruction. He fled to Central City, where his hot dog cart was involved in an automobile accident and he was consequentially struck by lightning. This event sent him into another dimension, in which he became a high-level enforcer in Gotham's mob and a fearsome kingpin in the drug trade. From then on he would do classic Condiment King gags, like constantly spouting off character-appropriate puns such as, "My dogs are hungry!!!" He amassed quite a bit of wealth and outlasted many of his organized criminal contemporaries, until The Joker made all his money flamin' hot and then fed him to his own dogs. All in all, he actually had a pretty good run as a mid-card member of the rouge's gallery, and across two different cinematic franchises (the first being his reign as a villain, and the latter chronologically being his traumatic origin story). This is especially remarkable considering how The Condiment King is typically played as a punchline villain. It just goes to show that, while some older DC media could be considered corny, even a foil like the Condiment King can ketchup with the times. He's the sour cream of the kraut, he's nacho cheesiest nemesis. He will hunt you with honey and humble you with hummus, so you peanut butter beware the Condiment King. These cinematic appearances have marmalade the groundwork to prove he can cut the mustard. The Condiment King would relish the opportunity to get more screentime for himself and his butler, Alfredo. He's full of pesto and vinegar, just think of all the dastardly things he could do. He could put a damsel in distress by tying her up and suspending her over a vat of olive oyl. He could cripple the Navy by turning the oceans to gravy. He could salt Poison Ivy to death, or try to barbeque Au the Jus. He could be a real A1 villain, not just some soyboy. I'm just saying, his presence in the DCEU was confirmed alongside a Batman that straight up murders people, the first Condiment King solo movie should be as gritty as fucking toothpaste. Miso sorry.

An excellent companion piece to "Batman v Superman is Deeper Than You Think Symbolism Philosophy Theology".

Good analysis. Also the comparison of the "blind man healed" for Bruce Wayne/Batman is pretty apt. I didn't notice this until rewatching the Ultimate Edition of BvS, before watching this video, but if you watch the final confrontation we know Batman in his armor has the 'white eyes', very comic accurate but also looking unnatural as a demon or a "blind" person. Later in the fight Superman rips part of his mask and half of Bruce's face gets exposed. Here is where things get more interesting. If you look closely once they are at the bottom of the building, when Superman is beaten and Batman is about to drag him, Bruce's eyes are glowing. He doesn't look like a human- he looks more like an animal when shot with a night vision goggle in deep dark. Moreso now he looks demonic even without the mask on or, to the example earlier, he looks like a blind man. When he grabs the spear the glow of the kryptonite accentuates this to the point where he is stepping on Superman's neck and is about to kill him. But as Superman begs for Martha's life this milky glow starts to disappear and as Bruce becomes confused about him calling this name out, and starting to realize Clark's humanity, his eyes start to look human again (the blind finally sees). It is all done very subtly and gradually so it looks right in context of the light sources and circumstances in that environment, never looking out of place, but it is another example of how careful Snyder was about telling the story as much visually as he was through dialogue.

I love that point about the 4th point of a films birth being the audience perception, the dceu films have meant so much to me and I know my love is deeply subjective. What movies become to us are as important as what they were in their genesis.

Goddamn, you've finally found the words I needed to put those 'elemental' motifs into tangible reasons for why these films spoke so much to me. Those moments of crystalline, pure, baptism-like water accompanied by that ethereal Has Zimmer ambience has always, for me, represented Earth and Superman's connection with it. Not to mention those moments of him bathing in the sun's rays, or drifting in space above the globe. Just magical.

Damn bro this is one of the best DCEU Superman video essays i have ever seen (and i have seen almost all of them over the years lol) Im a massive Snyder DCEU fan and have been a supporter since i saw MoS and it changed my mind completely on how i viewed Superman Well done man Well done 🤘🏻 Just got to the hotdog part 🤣

I feel so damn stupid now....I never really understood where the kryptonite came from and I just kinda forgot about it. I never once understood it was a result of zod partially teraforming earth into krypton.....geez....that makes so much more sense. Thank you!!!

Symbolisms and being able to subjectively decipher meanings in the story presented with the beautiful imagery + score. This is why i love Snyders work.

Excellent video anylsis, I might have some insight on the hotdogg truck, but not sure if it showed up in BvS 🤣

Man of Steel is the definition of a movie that the audience can appreciate more every time they watch it.

Son of the Sun and Knight of the Night makes total sense now.

I just watched M.O.S. again for the first time in a while a week ago and I forgot how beautifully shot it was. BvS (the director’s cut especially) is very under appreciated. Both movies are shot with such grace that you feel like you’re watching a comic book come to life where I can’t say that necessarily for the other company as far as how it looks. Very good video. Hopefully we see more Snyder movies in the DCEU.

Videos like this further emphasize why BvS is my favorite comic book film. I just never stop learning new things. I didnt notice all of the fire and water parallels

So amazing to see many others who were touched by these works of art as I was. I just knew there was something to them that separated them from the pack. Zack was telling a story about the characters themselves in our pop culture history. He was exploring what role they have in our culture as icons themselves. I mean BvS literally asks the question, “must there be a Superman?” Its very meta and it’s not very hidden

I never thought about the fire and water symbolism. Thank you! And I have a vast analysis of Snyder's body of work here on KZfaq.

This video is absolutely brilliant. A sublime and nuanced deconstruction. 11/10 (And fuck yeah, hotdog truck lol)

I love the style Zach Snyder brought. I know some people don't like man of steel but I kind of enjoyed it. This really helped me understand what I loved about his films.🙂

Long Live Snyder's Work

That was a fantastic analysis! I knew there was something with the water and fire but never gave it much thought. And that ending with the Hotdog truck was hilarious!

Great deep dive, Edan. Although I'm really not a big fan of any of these films, this certainly helped me appreciate Snyder's artistic vision for them a little bit more.

0:26 Not gonna lie: this sequence triggered me. If I were in a theatre room so full of a-holes watching a film while recording it with their cells, I would have legit lost my mind and started kicking asses! ... Great essay, though.

Great insight. You’ve touched on things this these films that I’ve never considered. Great work

You can stack as many visual symbolisms as you want but at the end of the day it won't matter if your script doesn't have any meaningful subtext to accompany it.

Immobile water creating ice, the humanity of Clark stopped in time in his forteress of solitude, A frozen moment on earth when he can be introspectiv with his dad, more human that he never was. Damn you gave us one of the best studies I saw on the subject, excellent job master, and ending is so funny haha

This was really fascinating to watch, thanks so much.

the script, narration and editing in this video is amazing. i love how you transition between each movie in the trilogy.

Very well done and interesting viewpoints. I especially loved the analogy with the stars and their constellations.

People are finally liking those movies. I never understood all the hate

This beautiful analysis should be shared worldwide

Excellent essay with plenty of interesting insights. You now have a subscriber. Keep up the good work!

Great video! Well thought out and reasoned. Will be thinking about your analysis on my next rewatch, thank you!

Bro i’m telling you rn, you’re making good content. Just watched your 3 videos and you had a lot of interesting insight on movies I don’t love (the Sequels) and movies I do (the Snyder DC films. Keep grinding dude.

The audio motifs also carry through in many cases with the visuals. Same music when Jor el and the indian kid were swimming.

One hell of a video essay. Well done!

Masterfully crafted video. 👏🏼 👏🏼

Great analysis! Love it!

Fun fact: In the hot dog selling truck from ZSJL, You can see the word Granny Goodness

great editing with the music my guy. you're connecting the visuals with the musical cue that happens in the movie. nicely done

Awesome video essay !!

great job man keep the good work 👍💪

“Through fire… and water…”

This was incredible - thank you!

This is super insightful dude! Always appreciated these movies, now I have more reason to go back.

It’s weird to me for the Snyder movies to get so much hate. I absolutely loved man of steel and saw the extended cut of bvs, and loved it too. I didn’t get what the problem was with either of the movies. And then… Justice League. Man that movie was a mess. I recently finally saw the Snyder cut and once again, loved it. I’d be up for more ‘snyderverse’ movies but that ship has sailed, apart from maybe the Flash movie? While I loved The Batman, I’m kinda bummed we Never got the Affleck movie.

That was a great video and every time I think Zack movies can't get any deeper people like you prove me wrong

hmm you are great the last hotdog part was goosebumps for me and this is the reason, my hope for dc is not dying you are amazing♥

The way I see it, Snyder watching this video would either go "The hell is he talking bout?" or "Yes!!! Someone got it!" with no in-between.

U are a master of the highest order in that u have uncovered the Infamous And elusive Hotdog Truck . I thought I was the only living person to have noticed this random Rouge Hot Dog truck

*"This is a very brilliant study of Snyder's movies. Very informative and well made. Great job man!"* -Critical-RAGE

Wow, man. What a great analysis! Congrats on the video!

The ending of this video is great lmaoo well done man!

No comicbook movies have ever been dissected like Zack Snyder's films. Yet everyone says Zack Snyder is only style over substance. This video proves that Zack not only understands the characters better than others want to give him credit but proves that the audience only sees these characters on a superficial level because Zack films are loaded with subtext and mythology. Zack really was the best thing for DC and was a head of his time.

That was very interesting. The water versus fire analysis was very inciteful. I just don't understand how people can hate these movies.

This is just too good!! Subscribed!

Cool thoughts! Thank you for making this!

the water and fire symbolism reminded me of RRR that i watched in theatre recently. It was first time symbolism was made so apparent in every shot of the movie and it was gorgeous to look at.

20:00 I don't believe that the black suit is thematically tied to Superman losing his human side because Snyder has said in an interview that the black suit is symbolic of humanity by referencing Robert Bly's book "The Red, White and Black."

This is an absolutely fantastic video. I would love to see more like this from Snyder Movies.

Excellent analysis, i hadnt actually noticed the connections but you make a very convincing case.

This deserves more views

nice one the hot dog truck great aye man. i really hope is connected

wow, fantastic analysis! really in-depth, insightful, and eloquently expressed. made me love the trilogy even more.

I loved every minute of this video! Congratulations!

I learned so much from this video. The most important thing I took it from is that "visual symbolism not matter how subtle or heavy handed it is NEVER enough to make a great movie"

People don’t like the snyderverse because they compare it to the original DC characters and stories which in that case, I can understand why it’s hated. The snyderverse wasn’t the best thing to start off DCs first ever cinematic universe with. However, if you look at it as it’s own thing without comparing it to DCs original content, the snyderverse is one of the best sagas to ever exist in my opinion

I've watched several video essays on Zach Snyder's Trilogy/His version of Superman, however this is the first time I've had someone share the water&fire motif. Learning more about MOS over time has only intensified my love for the film, but thanks to you this new perspective just makes the film that much more impressive. Love ZS or hate him, can deny that's the kind of storytelling you hope to inspire others with. Thanks for sharing. Well done! 😁👍

The way you put in the background music, your narration and the script of this video is really good. I thought I watching some big KZfaqr. Soon you'll get there.

A Great video and A Hilarious ending 🤣

Please god 😭💚🧡♥️🤲 Justice League 2 & Justice League 3 by Zack Snyder very soon 🎬🔥🐐

This is great keep up the awesome work

My man! You just won a suscriber! Amazing ending by the way!

HAPPYYYY!!! Batman VS Superman ÚLTIMATE EDITION is my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE MOVIE OF ALL TIMES.. @ZackSnyder is a Genius.. #RestoreTheSnyderVerse #ArmyOfTheDead #BatmanvSuperman

To me man of steel is a truly beautiful else worlds story, not the best idea to try build a universe around it but in its own it’s truly brilliant a masterpiece stand alone

This was very interesting, thanks for pointing out a couple of things I never even noticed :)

Another easter egg that everone missed - At the end of Mos Superman tells Martian Manhunter "You have to convince Washington" since the Martian Manhunter has a multitude of telepathic capabilities, one of which allows him to literally reprogram the mind of a subject into believing whatever he wants them to.

It's not a trilogy bro, the SnyderVerse is beyond a trilogy

Maybe this is an irrelevant detail, but in Christian iconography, "red" and "blue" take on archetypal motifs for Heaven and Earth, which is why both Mary and Jesus are depicted in those colors but in reverse pattern (Earth elevated to Heaven in the case of the Virgin Mother, Heaven descending to Earth in the case of the Christ). And that's without even touching the heavily loaded theological symbolism behind both fire (Pentecost, Hell, etc) and water (Baptism, Flood, etc)... Just thought that was an interesting correspondence between religio-mythic imagery and Snyder's artistic pallet.

You deserve so much more attention dude, you do some really good videos

Excellent analysis. The hot dog truck is great!

I love this trilogy, MOS is probably my favourite comic book movie ever, BvS(ultimate edition) while flawed was still really good and (Zack Snyder’s) Justice League was an amazing team up movie and is on the same level as Infinity War for me.

Just imagine having a director like zack snyder that puts soo much care and details into his movies that they stay on our minds for years and WB just did em dirty...

Holy mother of god. That analysis was brilliant. Great video and editing 👌🏽

So... 20+ mins of Elemental Symbolism only to end with... "...figure out WTF is going on in these movies." I laughed out hard heh.

The black suit is because in the comics it absorbs sun light faster so that he can heal to full strength faster since he came back from the dead . nothin to do with going evil .

What I noticed from each of these movies is that while Zack Snyder can put together a scene, he can't stitch scenes together into something greater than the individual pieces. His scenes don't build on each other. They don't end by setting up the next scene, which is vital for creating a sense of flow and building momentum. Every scene just stands by itself, disconnected from what has come immediately prior or what follows it. This is why the films often feel exhausting to watch.

Really excellent work on a layered series of films.

3 minutes in and I knew exactly what I was getting- a brilliant and mind blowing take. But wow, this is a wonderful video 🙏🏽

Art . Love . Revolution

This movies so deep. That’s probably why not everyone likes it because it’s not for them. IT IS FOR US

This is amazing, I could have never interpreted alll of this in this way.... Thanks for that insight!

This video is Gold please continue making videos

It's all very interesting but the bottom line is , did Man of Steel connect w/ audiences? I'd say solidly NO. It wasn't a complete failure but Snyder's take on the legacy DC characters was very dark, . . especially Superman. Unlike the original film, this Superman movie came & went and had been forgotten.

This is also impossible to comprehend without watching the full director cut of BvS and JL, just to show how bad the studio intervention was with the zach snyder trilogy

very good segment on water and fire sir!

God this was such a good video, exactly what i wanted from a video essay.