HBO Max is currently serving as one of the hotspots for movie fans, now that it’s hosting the long-awaited premiere of Zack Snyder’s Justice League . This was preceded by director Zack Snyder and his cast of DC actors hyping this release for most of the past year and, now that it’s arrived, chatter is running rampant about how it turned out compared to its predecessor.
As he did in the weeks and months leading up to this premiere, Snyder continues to be an open book in regard to what his future plans would have been had he moved forward with the DCEU after Justice League . Some of this includes a potentially full-blown introduction for the New Gods , while other smaller stories would have explored characters like the newly-introduced Atom .
Moving along this same path, Snyder’s most recent interview revealed what would have become of certain popular DCEU characters in the aftermath of his first major team-up movie.
SNYDER TALKS JUSTICE LEAGUE SEQUELS
In a chat with Esquire , director Zack Snyder revealed some of the details of the DCEU story he was hoping to explore in future Justice League movies if he had continued with the canon franchise.
He started by explaining how “the final movie was going to be very much a Superman movie,” concluding the story with the character he used to help bring things to life in the first place:
“Yeah, well I had just assumed that the final movie was going to be very much a Superman movie. Like the final chapter was going to be a large percentage of Superman to just bookend the whole thing. Because if Batman died, it would have very much fallen on Superman to be the de facto leader. By the way, at that point, Wonder Woman would have been made queen of the Themyscira and she would be leading the warriors of Themyscira into battle against Darkseid herself. And Arthur would be leading the armies of Atlantians. And Superman basically is going to be the head of the Justice League and the Armies of Men. And so Superman would have gone from this kind of berserker Superman to a benevolent Superman.”
Specifically, Snyder described Superman as having “the hugest arc of everybody because he goes from like the main villain to like the main hero,” which he was incredibly excited to put to screen due to it being so different from his run in the comics:
“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.”
On top of the Superman action, Snyder touched on different plot points which would have brought the deaths of Jason Momoa's Aquaman, Amy Adams' Lois Lane, and even Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn down the road. While no specific reference to the plot was given with these deaths, Snyder was adamant that they “were going to shoot those” for the future sequels:
“No, we were going to shoot those. And they would have had elements of what Cyborg sees.”
WHAT PATH WAS THE DCEU GOING TO TAKE?
As is usually the case with Zack Snyder, there is no lack of ideas for where this controversial franchise could have gone if he had stuck around for more.
When discussing three different death scenes for the unrealized Justice League sequel, it seems almost astounding that the deaths of both Jason Momoa's Aquaman and Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn were planned out for this confusing story. Considering that one is a core member of the team of heroes and the other is one of the series' most iconic villains, it's certainly hard to imagine how the story would go on without both of them.
It's unclear whether this would have been another Knightmare sequence or something that really happened in the plot, but no matter what the case may be, Snyder keeps up his track record of bold and unexpected decisions.
As for the story for the Man of Steel, that seems to make a little more sense due to Henry Cavill's Kryptonian being the iconic figure that he is in comic history . As the first hero introduced in the DCEU, Superman is clearly a key player in the story no matter how many times he's been killed and brought back to life.
With Cavill's future in the DCEU still very much uncertain , it's a mystery as to whether or not fans will ever see what was truly meant for his version of the Man of Steel. However, assuming Snyder keeps up his pattern of revealing what his plans would have brought, it seems likely that all will reveal itself in the not-too-distant future.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is now available to stream on HBO Max.
