How Justice League 2 Is Set Up By The Snyder Cut

Here's how the forthcoming Snyder cut sets up a Justice League sequel. Such was the dissatisfaction DC fans felt following the release of 2017's Justice League, a dedicated movement was formed to lobby for the release of Zack Snyder's original version. Warner Bros. had already altered Snyder's vision for Justice League after the underwhelming reception afforded to Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, but when the director departed the post-production process due to personal circumstances, Joss Whedon was drafted in, and sweeping changes were made to the Justice League Snyder had filmed.

Fortunately, that campaign was successful and Zack Snyder's Justice League will land on the HBO Max streaming service in 2021, but thanks to numerous leaks, reports and reveals from Snyder himself, fans already have at least some idea of what the Snyder cut will entail. Among the biggest differences Warner Bros. and Whedon made to Snyder's Justice League are a completely different resurrection for Superman, the addition of Darkseid and a far darker tone. Another major alteration is Justice League's transformation from a shared universe film that harks back to previous releases and sets up future sequels to something more self-contained.

With the Snyder cut now officially set to see the light of day, many of those elements will now be reinserted, meaning fans will finally get to see some of the material that was intended to lead into a second Justice League movie.

The Introduction Of Darkseid

The big setup for Justice League 2 in Snyder's story was the reveal of Darkseid as an overarching villain. Batman V Superman begins teasing a larger evil presence lingering in the background and Darkseid's arrival was originally intended to pay off these hints. Instead, the theatrical Justice League omits Darkseid almost entirely and retcons the subject of those early warnings to Steppenwolf, who acted as the sole enemy in the League's first mission. While the Snyder cut keeps Steppenwolf as a main antagonist, his connection to Darkseid would've been much more overt. After the Justice League finally (and brutally) defeat Steppenwolf, his master would arrive via Boom Tube, with Darkseid revealing himself as the DCEU's big bad.

Darkseid's presence in Justice League wouldn't have just been a final sting either; the villain was voiced by Ray Porter and referenced throughout the film. For example, the opening flashback to Steppenwolf's initial invasion of Earth would've shown Darkseid leading the attack, doing battle against the likes of Ares whose role was dramatically cut back for the Whedon scene. Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor reportedly also enjoyed a bigger part in the Justice League Snyder cut, and his ominous jailbird ramblings would portend Darkseid's eventual arrival, as first seen in Batman V Superman.

Darkseid would've then formed the basis of Justice League 2, providing the DC team with a bigger challenge. However, in their post-Batman V Superman shuffle, Warner Bros. evidently decided to cash-out of their shared universe and focus on less interconnected stories. While this approach has arguably been beneficial to the DCEU on the whole, it did leave Snyder's Darkseid setup woefully unfulfilled.

The Knightmare Storyline

Another key DCEU Snyder storyline axed in post-production was Justice League's continuation of the Knightmare material. In Batman V Superman, Bruce Wayne sees an apocalyptic future where Superman is evil and Earth has been pounded into a desolate wasteland, while Barry Allen arrives from the future to send Bruce a warning. These scenes were the first real indications of Snyder's multi-movie plans, but Justice League drops the plot entirely, leaving fans to assume Bruce had just been reading too many comic books before bed, perhaps.

Predictably, the Snyder cut would've continued to develop those Knightmare sequences, which would come to prominence fully in a Justice League sequel. As confirmed by Snyder on his Vero account, his intention for the flashback invasion was to set up the Anti-Life Equation. This cosmic power to dominate entire worlds would've served as both the means and motivation for Darkseid's invasion of Earth. The villain comes to our humble planet in order to finish the Equation and then uses it to subjugate the Earth's population, creating the Knightmare world Bruce Wayne had glimpsed previously. The Anti-Life Equation would essentially act as the DCEU's Infinity Stones, and Justice League would set the math problem up by showing symbols scorched into Earth's ground.

Interestingly, even more Knightmare setup was included in Zack Snyder's original Justice League script, but cut by Warner Bros. before his exit, thereby not even making it into the Snyder cut. With Snyder currently putting finishing touches on his update of Justice League, it's possible these moments could be worked back into the story. Snyder's first draft saw Darkseid kill Lois Lane and featured humans being forcibly turned into Parademons. This would've led directly to Superman falling under Darkseid's influence in Justice League 2 and established how Darkseid keeps his stockpile of soldiers topped up while on Earth.

A Green Lantern Cameo

Green Lantern holds a giant green lantern in DC Comics.

In the 2017 Justice League, a Green Lantern is seen fighting against Steppenwolf's forces in the flashback battle sequence, but this is all the presence the Corps. have in the movie - strange considering how vital the character is to the Justice League in the comics. Neither Hal Jordan nor any other incarnation of the Green Lantern have a major role in the Snyder cut, but the director's Justice League would've likely set the character up for a dramatic arrival in Justice League 2.

According to reports from VFX artists who worked on Justice League, the film's post-credits sequence originally showed Bruce Wayne being visited by a pair of Green Lanterns from elsewhere. This was probably in response to Darkseid's arrival and would neatly set up a Green Lantern being chosen on Earth to aid the fight in Justice League 2, but the scene was replaced by the Lex Luthor Injustice League tease which, incidentally, also amounted to nothing.

Green Lantern was Justice League's elephant in the room in the sense that his absence was purely down to a lack of space in the cast, so an introduction in Justice League 2 would've been almost inevitable. The Green Lantern Corps. are the intergalatic police force of the universe, so to ignore Darkseid's invasion of Earth would be a pretty big administrative oversight on their part. The Green Lantern Corps. played a minor role in both the Snyder and Whedon versions of Justice League, but where the theatrical film used the character as a mere Easter egg, the Snyder cut looked set to tease Hal Jordan's arrival proper.

Will The Snyder Cut Keep Its Justice League 2 Setup?

Zack Snyder responds to Justice League Snyder cut theory

It's clear that the Justice League Snyder cut contained much more sequel setup than the finished film, but whether these scenes will remain intact for the 2021 HBO Max release is another question altogether. Reports suggest that Warner Bros. have no intention of expanding on Snyder's story or deviating from their current DCEU plans, with Zack Snyder's Justice League purely self-contained. This means the Darkseid and Knightmare scenes in the Snyder cut will frustratingly lead to nothing, hinting at a future movie that was scrapped years ago. Consequently, Snyder might be tempted to remove those elements himself, but this risks diluting the story fans have been campaigning to see, leaving the Snyder cut with a catch-22 dilemma.

Assuming that the Snyder cut retains its setup for Justice League 2, the current position is that Warner Bros. won't look to continue those threads. But it's worth remembering that only a few short months ago, the studio looked steadfast against releasing the Snyder cut at all, marking a significant u-turn in policy. It's not unrealistic to imagine an overwhelmingly positive reaction to Zack Snyder's Justice League could prompt Warner Bros. into one day making a sequel that ties up those Darkseid and Knightmare loose ends.

More: Justice League: Everything Snyder Still Needs To Do To Release His Cut