Zack Snyder Reveals His Original Plans for JUSTICE LEAGUE Which Included Time-Travel and Major Deaths

It looks like Zack Snyder is no longer shying away from talking about his Justice League movie plans. He’s been quiet on the matter since before the movie was even released, but during recent Q&A, he let the details and information fly!

As you know, Justice League went though a number of changes and reshoots under the direction of Joss Whedon after Snyder and Warner Bros. parted ways due to a family tragedy.

Snyder discussed several aspects of his original plans for the Justice League film, and they were so insane that the studio didn’t want to risk making it.

Snyder’s original version of Justice League wasn’t even shot! While DC fans have been wanting to get a Snyder Cut of the film released, it doesn’t event sound like it exists. At least not his original version. The filmmaker said:

"The original Justice League that Chris [Terrio] and I wrote, we didn't even shoot. The actual idea, the hard, hard idea, the scary idea, we never filmed because the studio was like 'That's crazy.'"

"When this movie came out, understand that Chris Terrio and I had finished the script to Justice League before Batman v Superman came out. Some people didn't like the movie. A vocal minority. So they said 'There's a lot of stuff we don't want you to do,' so we did a rewrite from that script." 

So what did that script entail? Well, first of all, “Knightmare” was going to get an explanation. I’m sure you all remember the "Knightmare" sequence in Batman v Superman which seemed to leave some people confused. Snyder explained:

"It's a long story, The truth is that, the Knightmare sequence in this movie was always my idea that all of that would eventually be explained."

He went on to say that the story would have ended up in the "distant future, where Darkseid has taken over Earth...[and] a few members of the Justice League that had survived in that world...were fighting." 

So, the movie would have actually led to the distant future with the superheroes traveling back in time! That certainly sounds a lot like the rumored story for Avengers: Endgame!  

As for Superman’s story arc, the plan was for him to succumb to the anti-life equation. This is what leads to “Knightmare” becoming a reality. It’s explained:

Darkseid had taken over the Earth and Superman had succumbed to the Anti-Life Equation, thereby explaining why he had turned evil in the flashforward sequence from Batman v Superman. 

The Man of Steel's fall from grace would have led to Batman, the Flash, and a "broken" Cyborg attempting to send the Fastest Man Alive back in time to warn Bruce about what was to come and that explains what the Caped Crusader saw in the Batcave when Barry Allen told him that "Lois is the key." 

Snyder didn’t go into deals on how all this would have worked, but while Warner Bros. was initially on board, "the details of how and why" the Justice League broke up made the studio nervous, and they wanted it changed.

Snyder has not watched Whedon’s Justice League movie, but there was a post-credits scene that was scrapped that was supposed to reference the events of Batman v Superman and set the stage for what was coming next. 

"The Justice League teaser that wasn't in the movie, apparently, I guess, where Wonder Woman says, it's this line where Bruce says 'I was right here when Barry Allen came to me and he said Lois Lane is the key,' and she says 'She is, to Superman. Every heart has one.' And he goes, 'I think it's something more, something darker.'"

For this to happen, the superhero team would have to do everything they could to prevent Lois' death because that is what would lead to Superman succumbing to the Anti-Life Equation. That explains the reason why “the Man of Steel blamed Bruce for her death because it was going to be down to Batman to protect her and he would have taken her to the Batcave to do so.”

Snyder went to to reveal how Lois Lane would have been killed off. The plan was to have Darkseid enter the Batcave “via Boom Tube and he would have killed the intrepid Daily Planet reporter in order to break Superman and bring him to his side.”

The director then dives into the time-travel aspect of the story and a battle that take place in the Batcave. Apparently “the Flash would have been able to transport himself back in time to the same spot in space; this would mean the remaining League members would have had to choose carefully otherwise Barry Allen could have landed in the wrong location or even just the void of space.” It’s also explained:

Because Bruce remembered that visit from Barry, he allowed the half of Cyborg that remained to choose the window the Fastest Man Alive would be sent back to and that would help him avoid arriving "too soon." The new window in time would have seen him show up in the Batcave moments before Darkseid so he could stop Lois' murder and help avoid Superman's turn to the dark side. 

As you can see, things were starting to get really complicated, but it also sounds like it could’ve been pretty awesome and better than what we ended up getting!

It was also revealed that the villain Steppenwolf was never originally supposed to appear in Justice League.

As for the Snyder Cut that the fans want to see, Snyder apparently said that there isn’t enough of what the filmmaker shot to even put together a Snyder Cut of his original version of the film. The closest things we will get to a real Snyder Cut at this point is if he releases the original script that he wrote. They should just turn it into a graphic novel or even turn it into an animated film! I’d be down for that!

What do you all think of the information that Snyder revealed regarding his original plans for Justice League? I’m sure a lot of fans would have much rather seen this version of the film than the one we got.

Source: CBM