Snyder Cut End Explained: Justice League Epilogue’s Comos and Plagues

Zack Snyder’s long awaited Justice League cut ends up HBO max Thursday, bring the director’s original vision for the DC superheroes to the power service. The film appears more than three years later Joss Whedon’s play in 2017 fans disappointed and a massive, intense fan campaign demands the release of the Snyder Cut.

It’s also four hours long, so you better sit comfortably with lots of snacks before diving into the epic adventure of Batman and the business. I can save you some time by telling you that there are no middle or post-credit scenes, as we expected in superhero movies. Instead, the last 20 minutes act as an epilogue.

Let’s see what happens at the end of the movie and see what it can mean for the movie future of the DC extended universe. Be warned, full of SPOILERS hide ahead like a creepy clown.

Ag-ha-ha-ha.

Scene 1: Deja vu on Lex’s lovely yacht

This scene may seem familiar when you see the play. After Steppenwolf is prevented from bringing Darkseid and the armies of the planet Apokolips to Earth, our heroes return to their lives and they generally find happy endings. However, a guard at Arkham Asylum discovers that a bald man replaces Lex Luthor (who at the end of Batman v Superman), which gives the supervillain a chance to escape.

We find Lex (Jesse Eisenberg) on ​​a yacht where he joins Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke (Joe Manganiello). The mercenary has a grudge against Batman – it looks like the bat was responsible for Deathstroke losing an eye – and Lex reveals that the Caped Crusader’s real name is Bruce Wayne, so Deathstroke can kill the hero.

What does it mean?

This one is pretty simple: the battle of Batman and Deathstroke is about to become more personal. Alfred needs to take better care. Lex also says he needs to do ‘more important things’ – possibly linked to the fact that he knows Darkseid is coming. What a crook.

The scene is also linked to the scrapped Ben Affleck solo Batman movie, which would feature Deathstroke as the main villain. It’s a bit strange to get a reference to a canceled project (which has since been replaced by the Robert Pattinson Movie), but this plot thread can be picked up somewhere.

A shorter, worse version of this scene played during Whedon’s theatrical release – Lex suggests that he and Deathstroke form a ‘league of our own’ to counter the Justice League. The new one sends Deathstroke on a more focused, Batman-killing path rather than just joining a team of bad guys (or running a female baseball team).

However, there is still no explanation that Lex suddenly dresses like the Gene Hackman version of the character.

Scene 2: A Journey to the Post-Apocalypse

The last scene jumps into a dark, yucky future (which Snyder previously teased in BvS) in which Darkseid’s forces destroyed the earth. However, there is still hope – Batman, Cyborg, the Atlantic Mera, a mohawked Deathstroke (it looks like he and Bats buried the battle ax) and Flash formed a resistance group.

And there’s one more person: Joker (Jared Leto), who has an extremely creepy laugh that sounds like a cracking door. There is a great deal of tension between him and the Dark Knight, as he taunts Bats about the loved ones he has lost – his parents and his ‘adopted son’. When Batman Joker warns to be careful, the clown adds a little more dramatic spice.

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

Joker also wonders about the number of alternative timelines in which Batman caused the world to be destroyed because he did not have ‘the cojones’ to die for himself. The clown gives Batman a Joker playing card which means a ceasefire between them. If Bats wants to renew their beef, he just has to tear the card.

Batman says that Harley Quinn (sometimes the Joker’s girlfriend) died in his arms, but begged Batman to give the Joker a slow death when he kills him. Batman also drops the F-bomb here, as this post-apocalyptic scene about death and revenge had to be extra hardcore.

Their plans, threats, and blasphemy seem to be haunted by the arrival of Superman (back in his red and blue costume), whose eyes glow a sinister red as he prepares to turn on his laser. Hope someone has a bunch of kryptonite on hand (they have not).

Bruce wakes up from this apparent nightmare in his sweet path on the shore in the current, pre-apocalyptic world and finds Martian Manhunter (Harry Lennix) outside. The alien hero warns Bruce that Darkseid will be looking for the Anti-Life comparison again, and he almost offers to join the Justice League.

What does it mean?

Lots to unpack here, but it definitely looks like a setup for some great sequels (I love see realities where the bad guys won). The Joker scene was the only new one shot for the Snyder Cut – all the others were already existing material.

“After realizing that there would be no more Zack Snyder DC movies, my biggest regret was that there was no Batman / Joker confrontation scene,” the director said in production notes. “They both went through a series of movies and never ran into each other. It didn’t make sense to me. So, I thought maybe I could fix it.”

The dark future scene implies that Darkseid returned to Earth in his hunt for the Anti-Life equation, a mathematical formula that would enable him to dominate all life and take it over. You can remember the allusions to this about an hour and 40 minutes earlier in the film, when the Kryptonian ship Cyborg warned to activate the Mother Box.

At that point, we got a glimpse of a reality in which a dead Wonder Woman is burned at a funeral fire, Aquaman is bumped by Darkseid and Superman cradles a charred corpse, with Darkseid threatening over him.

We get confirmation that Lois Lane was the corpse, and that Superman devastated her death emotionally so that the great malicious could dominate her will. Lois seems to have been killed by Darkseid’s Omega Beam laser eye movement, which leaves Supes with him – he should actually just hit Darkseid in the sun. We also do not know what role Batman played in Lois’ death.

The situation is very similar to the situation seen in the Injustice Games, in which Superman becomes a ruthless dictator after Joker deceives him into killing a pregnant Lois and inflating Metropolis.

This epilogue also links to two moments in BvS: the Flash’s warning, where future Flash uses its powers to leap back through time and warns Bruce to fear Superman, and the “Knightmare” series, in which Bruce dreams of a dark future in which Superman went bad. The events seen in the Knightmare presumably take place after the JL scene, as Batman is alone, captured and eventually killed by Superman.

It’s not clear why Superman is wearing his red and blue suit again in the dark future – the moody black outfit he wore after getting up would surely have been a better option? In the comics, Superman wore a black suit specifically designed to absorb more solar radiation. return of the death. If this is the case in the movies, he did not need it during the dark future events. It also serves as a visual distinction between the Snyder Cut and theatrical versions of Justice League.

In the years since the theater version has filled fans with disappointment, Snyder has done the same. confirm some plot details surrounding the Knightmare future. Flash uses a Cosmic Treadmill – a time machine 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 is too far back in the timeline (since Bruce has not met Flash yet).

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

It’s unclear why Joker is needed to undo this crazy future or how Harley died, but it’s entirely plausible that this version of Batman would end the clown as soon as he can – he’s never had a major problem in the timeline to kill.

The “adopted boy” line refers to Robin’s death to Joker. You may remember seeing a graphic Robin costume in BvS – it was the Dick Grayson version of the character. In the comics, Joker Jason Todd killed (the second Robin).

Since there are no plans for more DC movies directed by Snyder, it is possible that this plot line will never continue or it will appear in next year’s Flash movie. It will see Affleck as Batman again, with Michael Keaton’s Batman Return to the version of the character from the Tim Burton series and Pattinson plays an entirely new one in Matt Reeves’ The Batman. We can also see Martian Manhunter appear in The Flash.

My brain is sleepy now; too much time travel and alternative realities. Wake me up when Flash is off.