Zack Snyder’s Justice League ends with a solid 30 minutes dedicated to the future of a franchise that will not happen. The 2017 post-credits scene – in which Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) enlists Deathstroke (played by Joe Manganiello) for his Legion of Doom – is now part of the runtime. Next, viewers receive a new Knightmare sequel starring Joker’s Joker (as a tribute to David Ayer Suicide squad) Then Martian Manhunter appears to say “They call me Martian Manhunter” before flying away. It’s all too much!
Unfortunately, Snyder’s provocation is unlikely to return: as WarnerMedia Studios CEO Ann Sarnoff told Variety on Monday, there are no plans to sequence the four-hour film. “With [the release of Justice League on HBO Max] comes the conclusion of his trilogy. We are very happy to have done this, but we are very excited about the plans we have for all the multidimensional DC characters that are being developed right now. “
But at least one person saw potential in the now infamous scene after the credits for Luthor-Deathstroke: Stephen Colbert. Hoping to squeeze out a little more life than Justice League 2, the late-night TV host launched his own “Colbert cut” of the scene, allowing him to represent how everything it could would have gone if there was more time. More time in a four-hour cut of the film. Four o’clock.
What begins as an interrogation of the entire Deathstroke business explodes into a history lesson in acquiring superhero IP over the years. Dumb? yea. Funny? yea. Do you want to rock a subsection of Snyder Cut fans? Almost certainly. But, to quote a phrase that the Joker makes no say in Justice League: We live in a society.