After years of waiting, Zack Snyder fans will finally get to see the director’s true vision for DC Universe‘s greatest superhero team when Zack Snyder’s Justice League releases later this month on HBO Max. This is a huge moment for people who were disappointed with the Joss Whedon-directed version of the film. That movie came out back in 2017 to mixed reviews. After all this time and extensive reshoots Snyder has done on his film to make sure it lives up to his own expectations, he would have to give us the full story right…? Right…?
It turns out that The Snyder Cut is set to end on a “massive cliffhanger” that sets up a sequel to the 4-hour film. This would be absolutely fantastic, except Snyder himself has said that Warner Bros has no desire to work on a sequel and that it will likely never happen.
Yes, you read that correctly.
After all of the fan demand for The Snyder Cut of Justice League, the movie is finally happening, but it’s also designed to leave fans hanging and waiting for more that will never come.
This is a massive letdown for fans as it gives a massive middle finger to those who have fought long and hard to get his cut of the film released. Why would Snyder take this project so far just to leave fans hanging?
Speaking at IGN Fan Fest, Snyder said that he did not actually include any of the material for his planned sequels in this new cut of the film. As he explained:
Well, it was meant to be two more movies. It hints, as you would, at a potential other world. I’d plant the seeds as I had wanted to of what would come in the later films.
That’s in there, but as far as those stories that would be to come, if ever that happened, which it does not look like it would, but I think it’s easy to speculate based on that and we can talk about that for quite a while.
With all of Snyder’s reshoots ($70 million worth), you would think he would take time to shoot a new ending to neatly wrap up what he expected to be his final project in the DC Universe. But instead, fans will be treated to his original ending for Justice League, which includes a “massive cliffhanger” that sets up a sequel that will likely never come to exist.
Perhaps even more disappointing is that this cliffhanger is supposed to introduce a major DC Universe hero to the film (although who it could be is still very up in the air). Vanity Fair recently reported that Snyder had “reshot the ending with a hero cameo that will blow hard-core fans’ minds.” Many are speculating that the hero will be Martian Manhunter, as Harry Lennix was planned to reveal his character General Swanwick had been the shape-shifting Martian Manhunter all along.
The other big name being thrown around is Green Lantern, who is another of the most iconic members of the Justice League in the comics. The Green Lantern Corps was teased in the 2017 Justice League theatrical cut in a flashback sequence regarding the Motherboxes, but there was no Green Lantern of Earth introduced in the film. A visual effects artist who worked on that movie claimed, back in 2017, that a post-credits scene for Snyder’s original Justice League film would have brought Green Lanterns Kilowog and Tomar-Re into the picture. This is particularly interesting as both of them were key players in the 2011 Green Lantern film which starred Ryan Reynolds as the titular hero; a film that was not generally considered part of the same canon as Justice League.
When Justice League (2017) was first being promoted, it used the hashtag #UniteTheSeven and by the time the film actually came out, we only ever saw six heroes on the team. Regardless of who this mysterious seventh member of the Justice League is, it will certainly be interesting to see how Warner Bros. decides to play out their next move following the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. If the film is considered successful, could things turn around for Snyder’s vision for a sequel?
Snyder has never really been shy about his plans for sequels to his DC films. We already got a taste of his vision of Justice League 2 back in Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice (2016). The sequel would have been set in the post-apocalyptic setting we saw during Bruce Wayne’s ‘Knightmare‘ dream sequence. We would see our heroes amidst this hellish landscape before journeying to Darkseid‘s homeworld of Apokolips to bring the fight to him and setting up a third film to conclude their battle with Darkseid once and for all. It’s impossible not to give Snyder credit for being ambitious, but if things turn around and any of this were to come to fruition, it would absolutely be an accomplishment.
Those looking for Darkseid will be happy to hear he is going to be included in Zack Snyder’s Justice League after being excluded from the theatrical release back in 2017. Snyder addressed Darkseid’s inclusion at IGN Fan Fast saying:
[Darkseid is] certainly the sequel bad guy, but he definitely is in full effect [in The Snyder Cut]. He’s running the show. He’s there. I don’t want to, again, spoil it but, yeah, he’s definitely there.
Fans only have a few more weeks before we get to see Darkseid, the new hero reveal, and the new cliffhanger ending. Zack Snyder’s Justice League is set to premiere on the HBO Max subscription streaming service on March 18, 2021.
Are you upset that after all of this hype Snyder is giving fans a permanent cliffhanger? Or are you hopeful that this could lead to future Justice League sequels actually happening? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below and be sure to stick around Geek Anything for more Justice League updates!
