Explanation of the end of Snyder Cut: cameos and provocations from the Justice League epilogue

The long-awaited version of Zack Snyder from the Justice League landed on HBO Max Thursday, bringing the original vision of the director for the DC superheroes for the streaming service. The film arrives more than three years later Joss Whedon’s theatrical cut of 2017 disappointed fans and sparked a massive and intense fan campaign demanding the launch of the Snyder Cut.

It’s also four hours long, so you’d better sit comfortably with plenty of snacks before diving into Batman’s and his company’s epic adventure. I can save a little time by saying that there are no scenes in the middle or after the credits, as we have been conditioned to expect in superhero movies. Instead, the last 20 minutes act as an epilogue.

Let’s take a look at what happens at the end of the film and reflect on what it might mean for the future of DC Extended Universe. Be warned, complete SPOILERS lurk ahead like a scary clown.

Ah-ha-ha-ha.

Scene 1: Deja vu on Lex’s lovely yacht

This scene may look familiar if you see the theatrical cut. After stopping Steppenwolf from bringing Darkseid and the armies of the planet Apokolips to Earth, our heroes return to their lives and usually get happy endings. However, an Arkham Asylum guard discovers that a bald guy took Lex Luthor’s place (who was arrested at the end of Batman x Superman), giving the supervillain a chance to escape.

We met Lex (Jesse Eisenberg) on ​​a yacht, where he joined Slade Wilson, also known as Deathstroke (Joe Manganiello). The mercenary has a grudge against Batman – it looks like Bat was responsible for the loss of an eye from the Death Strike – and Lex reveals that the Cape Crusader’s real name is Bruce Wayne, so Death Strike can kill the hero.

What does that mean?

This one is pretty straightforward: the battle of Batman and Deathstroke is about to become more personal. Alfred had better be careful. Lex also says he has “more important things” to do – possibly linked to the fact that he knows that Darkseid is coming. What a rascal.

The scene is also linked to Batman’s Ben Affleck solo film, which would feature Deathstroke as the main villain. It is a little strange to get a reference to a canceled project (which has already been replaced by Robert Pattinson film), but that plot topic can be resumed at some point in the line.

A shorter and worse version of this scene depicted during the credits of the theatrical version of Whedon – Lex suggests that he and Deathstroke form a “league of their own” to fight the Justice League. The new one sends Deathstroke on a more focused, Batman-killer path, instead of just getting him to join a team of villains (or run a female-only baseball team).

There is still no explanation for Lex to suddenly dress up as the Gene Hackman version of the character, however.

Scene 2: a trip to the post-Apokolips

The final scene jumps into a dark and disgusting future (which Snyder previously provoked in BvS) in which Darkseid’s forces devastated the Earth. However, there is still hope – Batman, Cyborg, the Atlantean Mera, a Mohawk Deathstroke (it looks like he and Bats buried the hatchet) and Flash formed a resistance group.

And there is one more person: Joker (Jared Leto), who has an excellent and scary laugh that sounds like a creaking door. There is a ball of tension between him and the Dark Knight, while he mocks Bats about the loved ones he has lost – his parents and his “adopted son”. When Batman warns Joker to be careful, the clown adds a little more dramatic spice.

“You need me, to help you undo this world you created by letting it die,” he says. “Poor Lois, how she suffered so much.”

Joker also wonders about the number of alternative timelines in which Batman allowed the world to be destroyed because he did not have “cojones” to die for. The clown gives Batman a Joker playing card that signifies a truce between them. If Bats wants to renew his meat, he just needs to rip the card.

Batman counters by revealing that Harley Quinn (sometimes the Joker’s girlfriend) died in his arms, but begged Batman to give the Joker a slow death when he killed him. Batman also throws the F bomb here, because this post-apocalyptic scene about death and revenge needed to be extremely hardcore.

His plans, threats and profanity seem to be discussed with the arrival of Superman (back in his red and blue suit), whose eyes shine a sinister red as he prepares to put on his laser. I hope someone has a piece of kryptonite on hand (they don’t).

Bruce wakes up from this apparent nightmare on his sweet lake by the lake in today’s pre-apocalyptic world and finds Martian Manhunter (Harry Lennix) outside. The alien hero warns Bruce that Darkseid will be back in search of the Anti-Life Equation, and practically offers to join the Justice League.

What does that mean?

A lot to unpack here, but it sure looks like a setup for some impressive sequences (I love seeing realities where the bad guys won). The Joker scene was the just a new one filmed for the Snyder cut – everything else was pre-existing footage.

“After I realized that there would be no more Zack Snyder DC films, my biggest regret was that there was no Batman / Joker showdown scene,” said the director in production notes. “The two went through a series of films and never met. It didn’t make sense to me. So I thought maybe I could remedy that.”

The dark future scene implies that Darkseid returned to Earth in his search for the Anti-Life Equation, a mathematical formula that would allow him to dominate all of life, and took over. You must remember allusions to this about an hour and 40 minutes earlier in the film, when the Kryptonian spacecraft warned Cyborg against the activation of the parent box.

At that point, we caught a glimpse of a reality in which a dead Wonder Woman was being burned on a funeral pyre, Aquaman had been impaled by Darkseid and Superman was cradling a charred corpse, with Darkseid hovering over him.

We received confirmation that Lois Lane was the corpse, and his death left Superman emotionally devastated enough for the great villain to dominate his will. It sure looks like Lois was killed by Darkseid’s Omega Beam laser eye movement too, which makes Supes joining him extremely unpleasant – he really should just punch Darkseid in the sun. We also don’t know what role Batman played in Lois’s death.

The situation is very similar to the view in the games of Injustice, in which Superman becomes a relentless dictator after Joker deceives him to kill a pregnant Lois and blow up Metropolis.

This epilogue is also related to two moments in BvS: the Flash warning, where the future Flash uses its powers to go back in time and warns Bruce to fear Superman, and the “Knightmare” sequence, in which Bruce dreams of a dark future which Superman was bad at. The events seen in Knightmare presumably take place after the JL scene, since Batman is alone, is captured and finally murdered by Superman.

It is not clear why Superman is wearing his red and blue suit again in the dark future – surely the temperamental black outfit he wore after being resurrected would have been a better option? In the comics, Superman wore a black suit designed specifically to help him absorb more solar radiation after returning in dead. If that’s the case in the movies, he didn’t need it at the time of the dark future events. It also acts as a visual differentiator between the Snyder Cut and the theatrical versions of the Justice League.

In the years since the theatrical version has filled fans with disappointment, Snyder has confirmed some details of the plot about the future of Knightmare. Flash used a Cosmic Treadmill – a time machine that he activates with his powers – to travel back in an effort to avoid the dark future. When he sees BvS Bruce, he realizes that he has gone too far in the timeline (since Bruce had not met Flash at that point).

The scene at the end of Justice League presumably takes place before Flash returns, and the team is probably preparing for its journey through time. Flash also appears to be wearing the armor of the Justice League epilogue when he warns BvS Bruce.

It is not clear why the Joker is needed to undo this horrible future or how Harley died, but it is totally believable that this version of Batman would end the clown as soon as he could – he has no problem killing anywhere in the line. time.

The “adopted son” line alludes to Robin’s death at the hands of Joker. You may remember seeing a Robin costume graffiti on BvS – that was Dick Grayson’s version of the character. In the comics, Joker killed Jason Todd (the second Robin).

Since there are no plans for more DC films led by Snyder, it is possible that this plot will never continue or it will be shown in next year’s Flash movie. Will see Affleck as Batman again, along with Michael Keaton’s Batman returning for the version of the character from the series Tim Burton and Pattinson playing a completely new one in Matt Reeves’ Batman. We can also see Martian Manhunter appear in Flash.

My brain is sleepy now; many time travel and alternative realities. Wake me up when the Flash is out.