Justice League 2: Everything Zack Snyder has said about a potential sequel
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is finally here – but will we be getting a sequel? Given how the four-hour epic ends, Justice League 2 is inevitably on the minds of DC fans everywhere.
Considering the fight to get the Snyder Cut on HBO Max, it’s perhaps a surprise to find out that director Zack Snyder has spoken at length about the possibility of a Justice League sequel. That includes everything from specific plot points to the wider DCEU story arc the director was planning to tell.
But you don’t want bits and pieces, right? You want everything. And we aim to deliver. Here’s everything that’s been said so far about Justice League 2 – and whether it’s likely to become a reality.
Justice League 2: is it happening?
If you can believe it, Justice League 2 was as good as official at one point in time. The sequel was penciled in by Warner Bros. for release on June 14, 2019. That, of course, never came to pass. Justice League 2 was quietly scrubbed from the schedules after the release of 2017’s Justice League (partly directed by Joss Whedon after Snyder left the project following a personal tragedy) and fans' attention instead turned towards getting Snyder’s original vision for Justice League released.
Unfortunately, it sounds like Justice League 2 is going the way of the DC dodo. That’s due in part to Snyder revealing so much of the story (more on that below) – a sign that the director possibly feels it’s never going to be made. Even as recently as February 2021, Snyder has talked about the studio not being on board with the idea of releasing a sequel.
Speaking to the I Minutemen Podcast, he said: "As far as I know, there's no interest and/or appetite to do more of these movies from Warner Bros. – with me, anyway." That, coupled with a New York Times report suggesting sources close to Warner Bros. believe Snyder’s Justice League is a "storytelling cul-de-sac" paint a bleak picture.
Snyder doubled down on his disappearing hopes for the film in an interview with sister publication Total Film. Describing 2021’s Snyder Cut as a "primer for another two [Justice League] movies," Snyder said: "Not that those movies are ever going to get photographed, I don't see that happening."
Sad times. Snyder fans will know, though, that you can never say never when it comes to reviving projects. Zack Snyder’s Justice League – perhaps deliberately – leaves things incredibly open-ended, both teasing a sequel as well as further expanding the League’s roster.
Justice League 2 story: the plot for the DC sequel
So, let’s say Justice League 2 doesn’t happen. As of writing, there are no plans, Snyder sounds unconvinced, and neither Warner Bros. nor HBO Max have released statements on its plans for the so-called ‘Snyder-verse’. Still, we have a sizeable amount of story beats to imagine what could have been.
Speaking to the New York Times, Snyder outlined the sequel’s downbeat premise: "It’s the fall of Earth, when Superman succumbs to [the Anti-Life Equation]. And then sending Flash back in time to change one element so that doesn’t happen.”
That scene, complete with yellowish hue, is something briefly teased in Zack Snyder’s Justice League in its Epilogue. During the Knightmare sequence, Batman teams up with Cyborg, Flash, Mera, Deathstroke, and Joker on a Darkseid-conquered Earth.
Superman eventually descends and is seemingly controlled by Darkseid thanks to the Anti-Life Equation – the mythical power that grants the user full control over anything it touches. Presumably, the Knightmare scene, along with Batman’s similar visions of being captured in Batman vs Superman, would have formed part of the Justice League sequel.
Snyder has elaborated on the final battle. In Justice League 2 – and the potential third movie – Darkseid would have fought the armies of Earth in the same way he did when he took on the likes of Zeus and the Green Lantern a few thousand years prior to the events of Justice League, as seen in the historical sequence.
"And then the big battle where we beat [Darkseid]," Snyder said. "When Darkseid comes to Earth, in the movie that you’ll never see, the armies of Earth all unite again, as they did before. This time there would be aircraft carriers and Special Forces guys, all the armies of the world would come together, as well as Atlanteans rising out of the ocean and the Themyscirans coming off their island. That was our big finale. But it’s a long drum roll and guitar solo to get there."
Kevin Smith also hinted back in 2019 that the trilogy would have touched upon a larger battle on Darkseid’s homeworld of Apokolips alongside the Green Lantern Corps, with the fight eventually brought back to Earth.
While Justice League 2 may never come to pass, we now have a good idea of what would have happened. But, who knows, a #SnyderCut2 hashtag might just turn this Mother Box of ideas and supposition into a fully-fledged sequel involving Darkseid, evil Superman, and the return of Jared Leto’s Joker.
For now, we finally have the first Snyder Cut, and, hopefully, that's enough. For more on Zack Snyder's Justice League, be sure to read our pieces on:
- The biggest differences between Zack Snyder's Justice League and Joss Whedon's
- What would have happened in Zack Snyder's Justice League post-credits?
- Zack Snyder's Justice League ending explained
- The best HBO Max prices
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