With the long-awaited release ofZack Snyder’s Justice Leagueon HBO Max, DC fans are finally able to see the original director’s vision for the movie. Neither Snyder nor Warner Bros. seems interested in restoring the SnyderVerse branch of the DCEU since that ship sailed four years ago, so Snyder has been opening up in interviews about what his initial plans for theJustice Leaguesequels were.
After revealing that his secondJustice Leaguemovie would’ve been a feature-length version of the “Knightmare” sequence fromBatman v Superman, Snyder has revealed in a new interview with Esquire that the third one would’verefocused the story on Henry Cavill’s Superman. Effectively, Snyder’sJustice League 3would’ve been a true sequel toMan of Steel. Throughout his arc in Snyder’s DCEU, Superman “would have gone from this kind of berserker Superman to a benevolent Superman.”
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According to Snyder, by the thirdJustice Leaguemovie, Wonder Woman would’ve beencrowned the queen of Themysciraand Batman would’ve made the ultimate sacrifice. Following Batman’s death, Superman would take over the responsibilities of leading the League. Furthermore, Wonder Woman would lead the armies of Themyscira, Aquaman would lead the armies of Atlantis, and Supes would lead humanity in the final stand against Darkseid.
The threequel would’ve focused so heavily on Clark Kent that it would’ve been more of aSupermansolo movie than an ensembleJustice Leagueteam-up. Snyder explained, “The final movie [Justice League 3] was going to bevery much a Superman movie… to just bookend the whole thing.” If Snyder had been able to complete his vision for the larger DCEU, then Superman would’ve ended up with “the hugest arc of everybody, because he goes from, like, the main villain to, like, the main hero.” Traditionally, Superman doesn’t change much over the course of his stories because he’s usually a perfect symbol of good, so he doesn’t need to change. Snyder’s DCEU would’ve subverted this.
While Snyder’s plans for theJustice Leaguetrilogy are certainly ambitious, it sadly doesn’t look as though any of it will ever make it to the screen. Snyder himself has said that he’snot interested in making any more DC moviesafter releasing his director’s cut ofJustice Leagueand Warner Bros. is doing its own thing with the DCEU these days. Cavill’s days in the role of Superman are numbered, too, as Warner Bros. recently announceda separate Superman rebootto be written by Ta-Nehisi Coates and produced by J. J. Abrams.
All four glorious hours ofZack Snyder’s Justice Leagueare available to watch on HBO Max now. The new cut has been praised for exemplifying the director’s vision and improving the characterization of the iconic heroes, although the runtime has understandably rubbed some critics the wrong way.
