Justice League: The Snyder Cut Puts Atlanteans In The History Lesson

Darkseid isn't the only newcomer to Zack Snyder's cut of Justice League; King Atlan and his army of Atlanteans are also coming to face him. The highly anticipated Snyder Cut intends to fix all of the flaws that made the theatrical version of Justice League such a controversial movie, and it's bringing plenty of surprises with it. One of the many upgrades that the Snyder Cut trailer revealed is the heightened presence of the Atlanteans in the historical battle for the Mother Boxes, dubbed the "History Lesson" that Wonder Woman gives to Bruce Wayne before their battle with Steppenwolf.

This sequence is one of the moments from the theatrical cut of Justice League that received the lightest criticism. It marked the first appearance of a Green Lantern in the form of Yalan Gur, an early wielder of the green power ring who promptly died in battle. It also showed some of the Olympian gods - Zeus, Artemis, and Ares - in all their glory. However, the sequence still lacked a major part of Zack Snyder's original vision, namely, the legendary villain Darkseid as the intergalactic pillager who invades Earth in search of the Mother Boxes instead of Steppenwolf, and a considerably longer fight between his army of Parademons and the ancient heroes. Along with the appearance of Vulko and the scene where Aquaman first gets his Atlantean armor and quindent, the more substantial appearance of the Atlanteans is part of the Snyder Cut's additions to Aquaman's storyline in Justice League.

In a split second between a shot of Cyborg seemingly manipulating a huge cluster of nuclear weapons and another shot of him singlehandedly stopping a tank, the trailer shows the mighty King Atlan wielding his fabled trident. The weapon looks slightly different from the trident Arthur gets in Aquaman (after picking up the quindent in Justice League), with a more rounded shape and without the horizontal bar below the prongs. Atlan plunges it into the ground and sends a devastating shockwave that sends Darkseid's Parademons flying in all directions. In the theatrical cut, the Atlantean king is only seen rushing into battle and later celebrating Steppenwolf's retreat, but this blink-and-you-miss-it tease suggests the Snyder Cut's version of the fight will be much more intense.

King Atlan, the Atlanteans, and Darkseid in Justice League Snyder Cut

While the Atlantean army doesn't make an explicit appearance in the Snyder Cut trailer, it's implied that Atlan is commanding them in their fight against Darkseid. After all, it makes more sense for them to have a stronger influence in a world-changing event rather than the background role they had in the theatrical cut. Besides, their closer connection to Darkseid and the Amazons gives Aquaman's future development more weight, as the Atlanteans no longer seem like a civilization that's oddly distant from global metahuman affairs.

If King Atlan and his army had appeared in the theatrical version of Justice League, Aquaman's official transformation into the King of the Seven Seas in his solo movie would have enjoyed a stronger foundation. Thankfully, their prominence in the Snyder Cut is one more improvement to look for. Plus, the fact that so little content from the "History Lesson" sequence is shown in the trailer could mean that other familiar faces may join them in the battle against Darkseid. All in all, the Snyder Cut promises an exciting escalation of an already monumental event in the history of the DCEU.

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