Abandoned Justice League 2 and 3 storyline explained by Zack Snyder

The public finally saw Zack Snyder’s version of Justice League – but, as he says, that was not the end of his vision for the superhero saga. Snyder had a story in his head for a Justice League movie trilogy that would cover the entire team’s war with Darkseid.

The filmmaker has spent most of the years since 2017 Justice League release commenting on what was cut from its four-hour version and what the future story would involve. The Snyder Cut ends with a suspense provoking the next film, simply because it is so he would be ended in 2017.

“The end of the film, where we left it, was what we originally planned,” Deborah Snyder told Polygon.

The director’s best and most recent thoughts on the matter came from the Snyder Cut press tour and an information dump interview for Vanity Fair, where he described the whole story of his trilogy. Although we now have the first part of his vision, it seems unlikely that we will ever see Justice League 2 and 3. But that’s okay, because it has all the pieces that he dropped over the years.

[Ed. note: Potential spoilers for Zack Snyder’s Justice League Parts 2 and 3, should they ever get made]

Image: HBO Max

The easiest way to understand the history of the trilogy is through what Snyder did in Knightmares. The post-apocalyptic visions that Batman had throughout Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice were totally absent from the 2017 theatrical version of Justice League. The visions are back Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and Batman is not the only one who catches them, they also infest Cyborg.

These knights show a terrible future in which much of humanity is in ruins and Superman is evil. Although these were just visions in the films released so far, they would have become a reality in the future Justice League films thanks to the Anti-Life Equation, of which we have a brief explanation in Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

The Anti-Life Equation is a spell used by Darkseid to control the minds of most people on Earth. While Superman would normally be resistant to something like the Anti-Life Equation, Darkseid, according to Snyder’s interview-based narrative, finds a way to get around Superman’s willpower through his greatest weakness: Lois Lane.

Apparently, when Superman left to fight Darkseid, he instructed Bruce Wayne to protect her. During that time, Snyder planned for Lois and Bruce to begin a brief love affair – an idea that was apparently rejected by the studio. Eventually Darkseid would realize that Lois was the key to Superman’s willpower and would come to kill her. As Darkseid arrives, Bruce hesitates at a crucial moment and Lois dies, opening Superman to the powers of Anti-Life, and starting the apocalypse.

Darkseid’s apocalypse would have looked a lot like the last sight of Snyder’s cut. Batman, Cyborg, Flash and the disorganized band of heroes / villains would have ventured through the ruined cities, dodging Superman and trying to figure out how to fix the world. Oh, and the Joker is there now too – although that was not part of the original plan. “The idea with that,” says Deborah Snyder, “was for Zack to be like, ‘Listen, I always wanted to do a scene with Batman and Joker, and this is my last chance to do that. I want to get it now. ‘”

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Although the details are a bit confusing as to what will happen next, eventually Batman and Cyborg would find a way to send Flash back in time to warn Bruce that Darkseid was coming and how to stop him. This scene actually takes place in Batman x Superman, as we see Flash appear and explain that Lois is the key. According to some recently revealed storyboards, the remaining crew may have fought against Lex Luthor’s Legion of Doom, while Deathstroke – who makes a brief appearance on Luthor’s yacht in the film – would have been the main villain of Ben Affleck’s planned Batman film. .

After a bit of time travel antics, Bruce would eventually realize that he needed to sacrifice himself to save Lois and the world – which is what the Joker means when he asks how many realities Batman had “cajones” to die for.

With Lois saved, Superman would never have fallen under the spell of the Anti-Life Equation and he and the rest of the Justice League could take the fight to Darkseid. In the end, Wonder Woman would have led the warriors of Themyscira, Aquaman would have led the Atlanteans and Superman and Flash would have led the people of Earth in a “giant war” against Darkseid.

As an additional rumor, Snyder revealed the reason behind that mysterious “Force Majeure” pregnancy test in Lois Lane’s bedside drawer. It turns out that the test was positive and she and Clark would have a child at the end of the trilogy. Not only that, but he would have called himself Bruce, and the series would have ended with them taking him to see the Batcave and revealing the boy as the new Batman.

Unfortunately, based on everything Snyder has said since the release of his version of Justice Leagueand, of course, everything he said in the years before it was announced, it seems unlikely that we will ever see the final two parts of his Justice League trilogy. So again, we never thought that the Snyder cut would be released, either, so we’ll just have to wait and see.