Guardians Of Justice's References Secretly Revealed Its Biggest Twist

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Careful! This article contains major spoilers for Guardians of Justice.

Guardians Of Justice pulls off a very interesting little trick by using its references as foreshadowing for major plot twists. A chaotic fever dream of a show, the 7-episode series is a superhero parody that sometimes feels like a big collection of pop culture references held together with string and duct tape. Created by Castlevania's Adi Shankar, Guardians of Justice is a confusing story but it makes an interesting comment on intertextuality.

Intertextuality is a term from film studies that refers to the way one story's meaning can be shaped by others. It was used widely by film critics in the 2010s to discuss the wave of nostalgia-fuelled movies and TV shows which were packed full of overt references to older media. One of the best examples is Stranger Things with its many references to 1980s pop culture, including frequent homages to creators like Stephen King, John Carpenter, and Stephen Spielberg, among others. The result is that highly intertextual works like Stranger Things have added meaning for viewers familiar with the works being referenced. Guardians Of Justice takes this concept and turns it up to eleven, with a bizarre story that arguably relies on its references to make sense.

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One Guardians Of Justice character, Awesome Man, is a reference to the DC character Shazam, but his exact superpowers aren’t much elaborated on during the show. In the final episode, however, he’s the focus of a huge plot twist which will be a complete surprise to anyone who doesn’t know anything about Shazam, but will be very easy to see coming for anyone who does. Shazam’s superpower is that he’s