Zack Snyder lays out dark vision for Superman and the Justice League

Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a four-hour re-up of 2017’s Justice League, is officially out on HBO Max, and it’s getting a really good response. Is it so good that Warner Bros. might #RestoreTheSnyderverse, as some fans are urging online? Anything is possible…

If you watched Zack Snyder’s Justice League, you know it has a lot of dangling plot threads. In fact, it’s almost like Snyder is daring Warner Bros. not to let him make more movies in this world, as was the original plan before the theatrical version of Justice League underperformed and the studio pivoted to making lighter, brighter superhero films like Aquaman and Shazam! Snyder is even giving hope to his fans on social media, encouraging them to watch the movie and share it with others. If the numbers are good enough, who’s to say Warner Bros. won’t reconsider its position?

And if that happens, Snyder has plans for what he’d do with Superman, Batman and the rest of the Justice League. Speaking to Esquire, he explained that he saw his vision playing out over two more Justice League movies, with the final film revolving around Superman.

Caution: SPOILERS for the end of Zack Snyder’s Justice League (and beyond) below

Zack Snyder’s Justice League ends with Bruce Wayne having a nightmarish vision of what happens to the world after Superman joins forces with Darkseid. How could such a thing come to be? Talking to Deadline and Vanity Fair, Snyder explained that that at some point in the future of his DCEU, Lois Lane would have died. He asks Batman to protect her while he’s elsewhere battling Darkseid’s forces, but it doesn’t work out. “For whatever reason, Batman fails [to protect Lois],” the director said. Darkseid knows to target Lois because Lex Luthor tips him off that killing her will destroy the Man of Steel, and indeed it does.

So Superman joins Darkseid and lays waste to Earth, which is what we’re seeing at the end of the Snyder Cut. The Flash and Batman are then forced to go back in time to prevent Lois from dying, but Batman has to sacrifice himself in the process. With Batman dead and Superman restored, there is another epic battle to save Earth and defeat Darkseid once and for all.

Snyder also had plans for an epilogue: “Twenty years later, on the anniversary of [Batman’s] death, [Superman and Lois] take young Bruce Kent down to the Batcave and they say, ‘Your Uncle Bruce would’ve been proud if you did this.’”

So basically, Snyder wanted to take Superman from hero to villain and back again. “Superman would have gone from this kind of berserker Superman to a benevolent Superman,” he said. “Superman has the hugest arc of everybody because he goes from like the main villain to like the main hero.”

"And that struck me as just really cool and fun and like a really interesting trajectory for him. Because I think traditionally, Superman is one of those characters that people don’t see as changing a lot. You know what I mean? He’s kind of a rock that everyone props against and I just thought, how cool would it be to make our Superman the character that goes on the most incredible journey."

And that’s that. Is this something you want to see play out onscreen, or is it time to retire the SnyderVerse?

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h/t SyFy Wire