What happened to Zeus after his Darkseid fight in Zack Snyder’s Justice League? The DC Extended Universe confirmed the existence of the Greek gods, including Zeus and Artemis, and their role in the live-action franchise's mythology. Wonder Woman revealed Zeus is the creator of Themyscira, the island Diana Prince and the Amazonians call home. However, by the time of the film’s events during World War I, Zeus was long gone. Justice League brings him back in the flashback battle against Darkseid, a villain intent on conquering Earth, and his whereabouts in the aftermath are deeply connected with Ares, the God of War.
In Justice League, Zeus and the Old Gods joined the humans, Atlanteans, the Green Lantern Corps, and the Amazon warriors in their fight against Darkseid. However, it’s clear Zeus is no longer around in the present day, even though he seems to have survived the devastating battle with the alien conqueror. The story of Zeus’ downfall is revealed to Diana at the beginning of her titular film, which effectively closes the timeline gap regarding the whereabouts of Zeus following his role in the battle against Darkseid. In fact, the war against him was likely the last time Zeus fought alongside his son Ares just before their own conflict.
After Zeus and the legion of warriors defeated and banished Darkseid from Earth, he sought to stop people from killing each other and turning on the Amazons — whom Zeus created to help bring peace to Earth — thanks to Ares. Rather than help, Ares started his own war with the Old Gods, killing them all and corrupting humans out of hatred and jealousy. In this instance, Ares plays a similar role to the biblical Lucifer, both of whom rebelled against their fathers. Zeus fought his son, banishing him from Mount Olympus and weakening his powers. However, Ares dealt the final blow, killing his dad. Before he died, Zeus created Themyscira for the Amazons in the hopes they would be protected from Ares, as well as be around when he finally returned to finish what he started (which he did in Wonder Woman before being defeated).
Sadly, Zeus seems to have gone from one major battle to another without much rest. In Wonder Woman, Hippolyta confirms there was some peace in the immediate aftermath of the Amazons’ creation. However, it was incredibly short-lived before Ares waged war on his father and the rest of the Old Gods. This war is why Zeus is no longer around and only appeared in a flashback scene to ancient times in Justice League. The timeline of events suggests he died not long after the battle with Darkseid, though it could arguably have been hundreds of years. The demise of the Old Gods and Ares in Wonder Woman effectively answers the question regarding why none of them appear to fight Darkseid the second time around.
Regardless of his death at the hands of Ares, the spirit of Zeus lives on in superheroes like Wonder Woman, who knows and can speak about his history the way she did in Justice League, and Shazam, whose powers are (at least in part) fueled by Zeus. While fans will probably never get to know what Zeus was like first-hand unless he appears in another flashback sequence in a future DCEU film, Wonder Woman and Justice League confirm he was always ready for battle and risked a lot to protect Earth by taking on Darkseid and Ares one after the other.
