The news that every DC fan has been waiting for broke earlier this week – Warner Bros. is finally about to release the Snyder Cut of Justice League. Since the theatrical version failed to satisfy, uh, basically everyone, Zack Snyder has revealed bits and pieces about his original vision over time, so we already know something of what to expect. One of the biggest additions in the Snyder Cut will be the inclusion of Darkseid, for instance, as the Lord of Apokolips was entirely absent from the Whedon cut.
It’s long been reported that actor Ray Porter played the arch-villain of the DC universe in the movie, but he hasn’t been able to confirm it before now due to the secrecy surrounding the Snyder Cut. Given that it’s now set to release next year, though, Porter has finally come clean on social media.
“Hi, I’m Ray,” Porter wrote on Twitter. “I played Darkseid in Zack Snyder’s “Justice League”. There. It’s out now.”
https://twitter.com/Ray__Porter/status/1263982099377188864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
We know of at least two appearances that Darkseid makes in the Snyder Cut that we’re at last about to see. Firstly, he’ll take part in this version of the ancient battle that saw the united armies of Earth take on the forces of Apokolips – in the theatrical cut, they were led by Steppenwolf alone, but Uxas is understood to feature in Snyder’s iteration. Secondly, when a Boom Tube opens following Steppenwolf’s defeat at the end of the film, Darkseid will then make the trip to Earth to make himself known. This was obviously intended to set up Justice League 2.
It’s probably too much to ask for a Snyder-directed sequel to happen, but it feels pretty good that we’re about to see the first Justice League in its ultimate form all the same. Zack’s Snyder’s Justice League, as it’s officially titled, is expected to clock in at around 4 hours long, sport an additional budget of $20-30 million and is coming to the HBO Max streaming service sometime in 2021.