Zack Snyder’s Justice League ends with a solid 30 minutes devoted to the future of a franchise that is not going to happen. The post-credit scene from the 2017 version – in which Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) recruits Deathstroke (played by Joe Manganiello) for his Legion of Doom – is now part of the run. Then viewers get a new Knightmare series featuring Jared Leto’s Joker (as a nod to David Ayer’s Suicide Squad). Dan Martian Manhunter shows up to say ‘They call me Martian Manhunter’ before flying away. That’s quite a lot!
Unfortunately, Snyder’s annoyance is unlikely to bear fruit: As WarnerMedia Studios CEO Ann Sarnoff told Variety on Monday, there is no plan to prosecute the four-hour film. ‘With [the release of Justice League on HBO Max] comes the completion of his trilogy. We are very glad we did, but we are very excited about the plans we are planning for all the multidimensional DC characters currently being developed. ”
But at least one person saw potential in the now infamous Luthor-Deathstroke-to-credit scene: Stephen Colbert. Hoping to get a little more life out of the Justice League 2, the TV host released his own “Colbert track” of the scene late last night, which allowed him to play out how it all is could went if only there would be more time. More time in the four-hour film. Four o’clock.
What begins as an interrogation of Deathstroke’s entire deal explodes into a history lesson in acquiring superhero IP over the years. Dumb? Yes. Amusing? Yes. Bound to generate a subset of Snyder Cut fans? Almost certainly. But to quote a rule that the Joker does not say in Justice League: We live in a society.