According to one DCEU creative, Zack Snyder's Justice League sequel would have featured a major Flash villain from the comics.
After an exit from the franchise and a new regime being installed to head up Warner Bros.' super-powered efforts, Snyder's vision for the Justice League will likely never come to fruition.
The director has made it clear that he had plans for the DC's team of a-list heroes going forward, previously mentioning an Avengers: Endgame-esque story that would have centered on "the fall of Earth, when Superman succumbs to [the] Anti-Life [equation]."
While names like Darkseid and even Lex Luthor were planned to be some of the primary villains going forward in the SnyderVerse, there would have also been some surprises in store according to the Man of Steel filmmaker.
Canceled Justice League Sequel Villain Revealed
DC storyboard artist Jay Olivia revealed who would have played the primary antagonist in a potential sequel to Zack Snyder's Justice League film.
Speaking with Inverse, Olivia pulled the curtain back on a Flashpoint movie that was in the works from the director that would have acted as a pseudo-Justice League sequel.
He said that the Flash movies would have been intrinsically important to the future of the SnyderVerse, with "[The Flash] laying the groundwork for [the] big baddy of the DC Universe," Eobard Thawne (aka Professor Zoom or Reverse-Flash:
“Rick’s movie was laying the groundwork for Zoom as the big baddy of the DC Universe.”
The DC creative added that it would have been revealed that Reverse-Flash had "come from the future to basically f*ck with Barry [Allen]," and audiences would have seen him "pulling the strings" and influencing the rest of the Justice League:
“It was Professor Zoom pulling the strings because he had come from the future to basically f*ck with Barry. In the Flash movies, Zoom would be the villain in the background. But also in the ancillary other films, you would see some of the influences of Zoom on the rest of the Justice League.”
This all would have culminated in a Flashpoint movie where Snyder would have "reboot[ed] the universe and introduce[ed] a new cast:"
“At the ending of Zack’s Darkseid quadrilogy, or whatever, we would end up with a 'Justice League Unlimited' version of the Snyder-Verse. And then you flip it. You do 'Flashpoint Paradox.' Everybody who’s friends are now enemies, and it’s a world that you don’t want to live in. You can reboot the universe and introduce a new cast that way. Because after 10 years, the actors need to go onto something else.”
Olivia - who worked on the Flashpoint Paradox animated film - added that on the animated version, he wanted to "capture the grimness of the comic" and was excited about "adapting this as if it was a Marvel live-action film:"
“I wanted to really capture the grimness of the comic, but also lay the groundwork for adapting this as if it was a Marvel live-action film. I just thought that would’ve been fantastic. Can you imagine Jason Momoa fighting Gal Gadot and then having that love story?”
It is hard not to remember "all of the missed opportunities," Olivia lamented, calling the whole experience "so exciting" but "sad" that it never came together:
“All of the missed opportunities. Being a part of it was so exciting, and then having to shift gears and pivot. It’s kind of sad. I would’ve loved to have seen it get to this point.”
Zack Snyder's Flashpoint Film
This is not the first time a DCEU Flashpoint film has been brought up.
Even after Zack Snyder left the franchise, a Multiversal culmination for this super-powered universe was something the Warner Bros. executive team reportedly wanted (albeit eventually turning into a Crisis on Infinite Earths movie).
The plan - at least according to reports - was to "do like the four or five partners" and then "do a Flashpoint kind of reboot, where you can bring in a new cast afterward" (via GamesRadar).
It would have been interesting to see Professor Zoom/Reverse Flash be the one behind everything all along.
Snyder had set up Darkseid and the Anti-Life Equation as what the universe seemed to be hurtling toward. But looking at these quotes, it seems all that was some sort of narrative facade with Zoom being the true big bad of the franchise.
The character was previously rumored to appear in this year's The Flash film, although he never did pop up.
Maybe, at one point, that Zoom appearance was real, with the character first being introduced in Barry Allen's first solo adventure and setting up a long future going forward.
Zack Snyder's entire DCEU catalog can be streamed now on Max.
