We are nearly two weeks away from the long-awaited debut of Zack Snyder’s “Justice League” director’s cut. The 4-hour film event gave the filmmaker the opportunity to present his official vision for what he wanted the first “Justice League” film to be. But what it doesn’t do is tell a complete story, unfortunately.
Speaking to IGN over the weekend, Snyder was asked about the images he released of Jared Leto’s Joker costume that will appear in the newly-shot scene in “Zack Snyder’s Justice League.” While he explained that he was inspired by David Ayer’s vision of Joker, the filmmaker said that the look fits into what he planned for the original planned sequels (yes, there were multiple sequels in mind) for “Justice League.”
“What inspired [Joker’s] look was the sort of post-apocalyptic world that I’m a huge fan of and, really, the idea was that as the movies progressed, the next movie – if there ever was one, and it doesn’t seem like there ever will be – but if there was, it would exist primarily in that world with them trying to set it right,” explained Snyder. “[The sequence] doesn’t overstay its welcome but it definitely does what I needed it to do for the story and for us. Beyond that I think it’s a spoiler.”
He added, “Well, [the original ‘Justice League’ plan] was meant to be two more movies… [The Snyder Cut] hints, as you would, at a potential other world. I’d plant the seeds as I had wanted to of what would come in the later films, so that’s in there, but as far as those stories that would be to come — if ever that happened, which it does not look like it would — but I think it’s easy to speculate based on that and we can talk about that for quite a while.”
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While it may disappoint fans of Sndyer’s vision for the DCEU that they won’t get a full story in the Snyder Cut of “Justice League,” it shouldn’t be a big shock. The filmmaker has said multiple times that the version being released later this month is primarily comprised of the hours of footage not used by Joss Whedon in the theatrical cut. In fact, the only “new” footage (shot after the HBO Max announcement) is a 4-minute sequence featuring Leto’s Joker that clearly would have set up potential future films.
So, if the Snyder Cut doesn’t tell the complete “Justice League” saga, as the filmmaker envisioned it, does it have a finite ending that completes the story of this film? Well, according to Snyder, the 4-hour feature actually ends on a cliffhanger.
“The movie ends in a massive cliffhanger,” Snyder revealed.
Look, it’s obvious that for years, people weren’t giving the Snyder Cut a chance in hell of getting made. In fact, most people just scoffed at the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut. But here we are, mere days from the film hitting streaming. So, will two more “Justice League” films get made with the original cast? Even with all the money in the world, it would take a lot to get Ben Affleck and other actors to rejoin the cast. But that doesn’t mean that maybe there are animated sequels? Maybe even comic book adaptations that would further explain the sequel plans? We’ll just have to wait and see.