Snyder Cut ending explained: the taunts and cameos of the Justice League epilogue

Zack Snyder’s highly anticipated Justice League cut landed on HBO Max Thursday, bringing the director’s original vision for DC superheroes at streaming service. The movie comes more than three years later Joss Whedon Theatrical Court 2017 disappointed fans and caused a massive and intense fan campaign demanding the release of the Snyder Cut.

It is also four hours long, so you’d better be seated comfortably with plenty of snacks before diving into the epic adventure of Batman and company. I can save you a bit of time by telling you that there are no in-between or post-credits scenes, as we’ve 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 movie and reflect on what it might mean for him. future of the DC Extended Universe. Be careful, full SPOILERS lurk like a creepy clown.

Ah-ha-ha-ha.

Scene 1: Deja vu on Lex’s lovely yacht

This scene may look familiar if you were to watch 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 generally have happy endings. However, a guard at Arkham Asylum discovers that a bald guy has taken the place of Lex Luthor (who was arrested at the end of Batman v superman), giving the supervillain a chance to escape.

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

What does that mean?

This one’s pretty straightforward – Batman and Deathstroke’s battle is about to get more personal. Alfred better be careful. Lex also says that he has “more important things” to do, possibly related to the fact that he knows Darkseid is coming. What a rascal.

The scene is also tied to Ben Affleck’s scrapped solo Batman movie, which would have featured Deathstroke as the main villain. It’s a bit strange to get a reference to a canceled project (which has since been superseded by the Robert Pattinson film), but this plot thread could be picked up somewhere along the line.

A shorter and worse version of this scene played during the credits of Whedon’s stage version: Lex suggests that he and Deathstroke form a “league of their own” to counter the Justice League. The new one sends Deathstroke on a path more focused on assassinating Batman rather than simply having him join a team of baddies (or managing a girls’ baseball team).

However, there is still no explanation for Lex suddenly dressing up as the Gene Hackman version of the character.

Scene 2: A trip to the post-apokolips

The final scene jumps into a dark and disgusting future (which Snyder previously teased in BvS) in which Darkseid’s forces have laid waste to Earth. However, there is still hope: Batman, Cyborg, the Atlantean Mera, a mohawked Deathstroke (it seems that he and Bats buried the ax) and Flash have formed a resistance group.

And there’s one more person: Joker (Jared Leto), who has an excellently creepy laugh that sounds like a squeaky door. There is a ball 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 warns Joker to be careful, the clown adds a bit more dramatic flavor.

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

Joker also wonders about the number of alternate timelines in which Batman has let the world be destroyed because he lacks “the balls” to die himself. The clown gives Batman a Joker card signifying a truce between them. If Bats wants to renew his meat, he only needs to break the card.

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

His plans, threats, and profanity appear to be moot with the arrival of Superman (back in his red and blue suit), whose eyes glow sinister red as he prepares to turn on his laser. I hope someone has a chunk of kryptonite handy (they don’t).

Bruce awakens from this seeming nightmare on his sweet lakeside flat in the present pre-apocalyptic world and finds Martian Manhunter (Harry Lennix) outside. The alien hero warns Bruce that Darkseid will return in search of the Anti-Life Equation, and practically offers to join the Justice League.

What does that mean?

There’s a lot to unpack here, but it sure looks like a setup for some awesome sequels (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 realizing that there would be no more Zack Snyder DC movies, my most regret was that there was no confrontational scene between Batman and Joker,” the director said in the production notes. “They both went through a series of movies 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 life, and took over. You may remember allusions to this around an hour and 40 minutes earlier in the movie, when the Kryptonian ship warned Cyborg not to activate the Mother Box.

At that point, we glimpse a reality where a dead Wonder Woman was being burned on a funeral pyre, Aquaman had been impaled by Darkseid, and Superman cradled a charred corpse, with Darkseid looming over him.

We received confirmation that Lois Lane was the corpse, and her death left Superman emotionally devastated enough for the big baddie to master his will. It sure looks like Lois was also killed by the eye movement of Darkseid’s Omega Beam laser, which makes Supes bond with him more unpleasantly – it really should hit Darkseid against the sun. We also don’t know what role Batman played in Lois’s death.

The situation is quite similar to what is seen in the Injustice games, in which Superman becomes a ruthless dictator after the Joker tricks him into killing a pregnant Lois and blowing up Metropolis.

This epilogue also ties into two moments in BvS: the Flash warning, where the future Flash uses his powers to go back in time and warns Bruce to fear Superman, and the “Knightmare” sequence, in which Bruce dreams. with a dark future in which Superman. it has gone wrong. The events seen in Knightmare presumably take place after the JL scene, as Batman is alone, captured, and ultimately killed by Superman.

It is unclear why Superman is wearing his red and blue suit again in the dark future; surely the moody black suit he wore after resurrecting would have been a better option. In the comics, Superman wore a black suit specifically designed to help him absorb more solar radiation after coming back from the dead. If that’s the case in the movies, you didn’t need it at the time of dark future events. It also acts as a visual differentiator between the Snyder Cut and the theatrical versions of Justice League.

In the years since the stage version filled fans with disappointment, Snyder has confirmed some plot details about the future of Knightmare. The 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 stepped back too far in the timeline (since Bruce had not met the Flash at the time).

The scene at the end of Justice League likely takes place before the Flash returns, and the team is likely preparing for his time travel. Flash also appears 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 shitty future or how Harley died, but it’s completely believable that this version of Batman would take down the clown as soon as he can; you have no major problem with killing at any point in the timeline.

The “foster son” line alludes to Robin’s death at the hands of the Joker. You may remember seeing a graffiti Robin costume on BvS; it was intended to be 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 movies directed by Snyder, this plot may never continue. or It will take place in next year’s Flash movie. You will see Affleck as Batman again, along with Michael Keaton’s Batman Returns to Tim Burton and Pattinson’s version of the character from the show playing an entirely new one in Matt Reeves’ The Batman. We could also see Martian Manhunter appear in The Flash.

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