It’s March 2021, which means Zack Snyder’s Justice League is fast approaching. Between studio denial of its existence, fan support and Snyder’s teases of its existence, it’s been quite a journey.
Fans of the Snyderverse will be happy to see the “real” Justice League movie that was promised in November 2017. However, it’s possible that this will be the last DC Film from the stylistic director. If the film gets outrageous streaming numbers on HBO Max and is well received, it’s possible the studio could ask for him to return… but let’s not hold our breath.
The director has confirmed that Zack Snyder’s Justice League ends on a massive cliffhanger, and recently broke down what his vision was for the five to six film arc that he originally had planned out. He had a very ambitious plan on where he was taking the DC Universe, and I hope that one day we see it play out. Whether it’s in HBO Max exclusives, or a graphic novel.
Obviously if you want to have no idea what was planned, just in case it comes to fruition, we’ll label this with a spoiler warning.
Justice League 2
This movie would follow the events of Justice League. Whatever those events may be, since 2017’s Justice League wasn’t Snyder’s vision, and the #SnyderCut is being released on March 18th.
The League assembles for a natural disaster and then go their separate ways. An early draft of Justice League saw Bruce and Lois get together romantically after the death of Superman. While this isn’t a part of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, this plot would’ve influenced the sequel. Lois would’ve gotten back with Superman, but would still work with Bruce to find Lex Luthor.
Fans of the Batman and Superman: TAS crossover “World’s Finest” where Lois was interested in Bruce and Superman, but not Batman and Clark Kent. This feels like a fun nod to that.
Lex would’ve spent the sequel bringing together the Legion of Doom, which would’ve included Dr. Poison, Captain Cold, Orm, and Black Manta. These villains would’ve been introduced in the respective solo franchises of their hero counterparts Wonder Woman, The Flash and Aquaman.
Riddle Me This
Unite the Seven
Batman works on tracking down the Riddler, who was approached by Lex to solve the Anti-Life Equation. Which, of course, he does before shooting himself in front of the Dark Knight. This makes me think that the blatant question mark in the warehouse Batman and Superman fight in in BvS was more than a nod to the character.
While Batman is busy with that, Superman struggles to return to his normal life since Clark Kent was announced dead after the Doomsday attack.
Wonder Woman is given a vision of herself becoming the new God of War and killing Superman. Remember, she kills Ares, the God of War, in Wonder Woman.
Aquaman attempts to “Unite the Seven” seas and return to Atlantis. This now clears up what Aquaman’s original teaser poster was about, though that slogan did also appear on all the other character posters, too.
Anti-Life Equation
After the Riddler solves the Anti-Life Equation, Lex activates the Mother Boxes and use the equation for himself.
This is when Darkseid enters the picture, who Snyder has confirmed multiple times was meant to be the big villain of a Justice League sequel. Lex tells Darkseid he knows how to kill Superman, but Darkseid doesn’t want to, he wants to control him, but first needs to break him. This is when Lex points to a little Lane named Lois.
Meanwhile, Superman tasks Bruce to protect “his world,” Lois. It’s revealed here that Bruce argues that he knows she’s pregnant with his child, while she denies it. While they argue, Darkseid arrives in the Batcave and Omega Beams Lois.
Superman was too late to save her and falls under the Anti-Life Equation.
The Justice League Falls
With Superman out of the way, Lex sends the Legion of Doom to take down the League. Dr. Poison gasses Themyscira, killing all the Amazons. Black Manta and Orm take down Aquaman, with Mera escaping.
Snyder has said in the past that they are dead in the Knightmare timeline, and this is the explanation.
Bruce manages to escape Superman’s rage, but Lex isn’t so lucky and is burned to a crisp. Very reminiscent of the Justice Lords arc in the Justice League animated series.
Five years after these events is when the Knightmare from Batman v Superman becomes a reality. The remaining heroes and villains against Darkseid and his army lead by Superman.
Justice League 3?
Whether the next film was Justice League 3 or not is unclear since one was never announced, but the movie was set to open with Green Lantern coming to the Knightmare scorched Earth to ally himself with Batman, Deadshot and the Flash.
The dilapidated Wayne Manor is their base of operations and Batman explains he has a plan to defeat Darkseid.
Wayne Manor in ‘BvS’
Cosmic Treadmill
Cyborg, who also managed to survive the fall of the League, builds the Cosmic Treadmill, powered by the Mother Box. This allows Flash to access the Speed Force to time travel
The issue is they aren’t sure where Barry will end up and they can only do it when the planets are aligned.
The team seeks to steal a Mother Box, but it can only power the treadmill for 10-15 seconds. The plan is for Barry to tell Bruce to stop Lex Luthor, but Bruce whispers something else to Barry that will be more effective. The assumption is it’s the message he gets about Lois in BvS.
Superman vs the Justice League
The team successfully acquires the Mother Box, but Superman arrives. Deadshot is killed trying to put him down with a Kryptonite bullet. Mera attempts to drain the water from his body, but is also killed. Green Lantern is blown apart from Superman’s heat vision in his attempt to take down the Man of Steel and Cyborg is ripped apart of Parademons.
Batman takes his Kryptonite spear from BvS, but Superman kills him with it. Before Superman can get to the Flash, he managed to run back in time.
The Flash Is The Hero
Instead of arriving “too soon” in the Batcave during the events of BvS, he arrives moments after Bruce and Lois argue in the Cave. It’s revealed here that Bruce is the real father of her child.
This time, however, she managed to tell Bruce that Lex has assembled a team to take down the Justice League.
Darkseid appears, but this time Bruce saves Lois, and takes the Omega Beam hit himself. Superman is then able to overpower Darkseid, forcing him to retreat. Now knowing Lex’s plan, he goes off to save his allies.
The Legion of Doom are defeated, but Bruce is fatally wounded. He goes off to battle Darkseid with the League anyways.
Batman v Darkseid
With the Earth united, all countries band together to stop Darkseid and Lex Luthor. Wonder Woman leads Themyscira, Aquaman leads the Atlanteans and Green Lantern brings the Corps.
Cyborg manages to destroy the Mother Boxes, weakening Darkseid, which leads to Batman sacrificing his life to end the planet conquering villain.
Epilogue
20 years pass after the defeat of Darkseid. Diana is the new Queen of Themyscira, and has ushered in an era of peace on Earth.
Aquaman is King of Atlantis, and Cyborg has evolved so much that he’s been able to turn himself back into a human.
Superman knows Lois’s son is Bruce’s, but they stay together as a family anyway. He wants to be a father to the boy, who they name Bruce, which gives him a reason to be Clark Kent again.
During a memorial service for Batman, Commissioner Barbara Gordon asks Lois if she’ll ever tell her son the truth about his real father. With the rest of the League around them, she tells him that his father was Batman.
The Snyderverse saga would end with the shot of Gotham’s new Dark Knight protecting his city, like his father.
Loose Ends
In Snyder’s roadmap of his DC Universe, he never really explains a couple of loose ends. For example, we know that the Legion of Doom are defeated by the League and that Darkseid will be defeated by Batman, but what of Lex Luthor? I’d imagine if he participates in the final battle, he’d be in his familiar mech suit and is killed in battle. If not, the most likely scenario is he winds him in prison for life.
Snyder also never really says what happens to the Flash, but given everyone else gets a happy ending, it’s safe to say he does too. Possibly he settles down with Iris, and Wally West takes on the mantle of the Flash.
As explained above, this was Snyder’s vision for the DC Universe and he really had some ambitious plans. It’s a shame more people couldn’t get on board, or weren’t patient enough to see plot lines seen out.
Hopefully the reception to Zack Snyder’s Justice League on HBO Max is enough to re-kickstart this timeline, but it seems unlikely at this point.
If you made it this far, what are your thoughts of the Snyderverse roadmap? Let us know!
Source: ComicBookMovie.com
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