Article by Max Byrne
In yet another crushing blow for fans of the DCEU, director Zack Snyder has revealed another tidbit, showing us what might have been for his Justice League movie, this time, in the form of a tantalising glimpse of a young Darkseid, in a rendering of his planned appearance in the film.
As has been widely publicised, meddling from Warner Bros ultimately destroyed Snyder’s vision for both the film and the overall DCEU, vastly changing his original layout and reshaping the narrative of the film. This was a move that was poorly received by fans and critics alike.
Snyder has taken to Vero once again, to show a peak of how Darkseid would have looked in the film had it come to fruition. “Speaking of Father’s Day,” Snyder posted with the picture. “Here’s the king daddy #UxasandtheAntilife.”
What can’t be confirmed is whether this picture is concept art or a visual effects piece, but either way, the unmistakable figure of Darkseid looms large in the frame. Snyder has also previously advised that his plans were for the New God to kill Lois Lane, creating the the dystopian future shown in the Knightmare sequence in Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Here’s what the film-maker has to say about the piece:
The truth is that the ‘Knightmare Sequence’ in this movie, it was my idea that all of that would eventually be explained – is that a surprise? And that we would end up in the distant future where Darkseid has taken over Earth, and where Superman has succumbed to the Anti-Life [Equation]. There were a few members of the Justice League that survived to that world, and that they were fighting, Batman and a broken half of Cyborg – there’s only half of him because of whatever happened – they were working on an equation to jump back to tell Bruce… those were the things that we were dealing with. And the studio, they were still sort of into the big look, but the deep depth about how and why everyone was mad at each other…”
It’s an absolute travesty, in my opinion, that all the groundwork put into place during those first few DCEU movies has been essentially thrown into the trash, as Warner Bros. took steps to reset the movie universe. Whether we will ever get to see the mythological Snyder cut remains to be seen, but hope springs eternal.
Would you like to see more of Snyder’s vision? What would you have liked to see as the ultimate conclusion of the arc? Please leave your comments below.