Directors who aren’t also actors making cameos in their own movies is hardly a new phenomenon, with Alfred Hitchcock famous for his incredibly brief onscreen appearances, so much so that it became a running gag throughout his work. On the other side of the coin, M. Night Shyamalan has regularly had a penchant for inserting himself into self-indulgent and dialogue-heavy scenes that make it perfectly clear he should stick to the other side of the camera.
Zack Snyder, meanwhile, hasn’t been known for recurring cameos, but he did reveal that he voiced a henchman during Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice‘s Knightmare sequence after fans recognized his voice. The filmmaker has gone one step further with HBO Max’s Justice League, though, after eagle-eyed viewers spotted his most brazen background showing yet, as you can see below.
Given that Amy Adams wasn’t involved in any of the additional footage shot for Justice League, Snyder’s cameo seems to have been filmed during his first stint at the helm of the production before he initially departed in May 2017, less than two months after cameras had started rolling. It happens roughly fifteen minutes into the four-hour DCEU extravaganza, but there’s so much going on in virtually every frame that you’d be forgiven for not picking up on his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it guest spot.
Snyder has always been fond of dropping a ton of Easter Eggs and background references into his work, and Justice League is certainly no different, but it’s rare for the director to use himself as one of them. It’s certainly a lot more substantial than his participation in Batman v Superman, although it might also be his last DCEU appearance, unless Warner Bros. change their minds about resurrecting the SnyderVerse.