Zack Snyder’s Justice League is the most talked-about movie of the year so far, and a lot of that has to do with the director himself. Snyder has been a one-man publicity machine for weeks, popping up virtually everywhere to give insight into both how the all-new version of the DCEU epic came together, as well as teasing his unrealized plans for the future.
#RestoreTheSnyderVerse has been trending ever since the HBO Max exclusive dropped on Thursday, but as things stand, there’s still no vested interest on Warner Bros.’ part to revisit that particular pocket of the mythology, with Snyder admitting that Joss Whedon’s theatrical version is currently regarded by the studio as official canon.
That hasn’t stopped him from drumming up interest, though, with Justice League ending on multiple cliffhangers that tease movies we’re more than likely never going to see. Of course, another DCEU project fans would love to happen is a Man of Steel sequel with Henry Cavill, but again, it looks as though the WB brass have other ideas.
In a new interview, though, Snyder revealed that Justice League 3 would have been something of a Man of Steel follow-up, with Cavill’s Kal-El stepping into the breach and leading the titular team into battle against the forces of Darkseid with the fate of the entire world at stake.
“I had just assumed that the final movie was going to be very much a Superman movie. Like the final chapter was going to be a large percentage of Superman to just bookend the whole thing. Because if Batman died, it would have very much fallen on Superman to be the de facto leader. By the way, at that point, Wonder Woman would have been made queen of the Themyscira and she would be leading the warriors of Themyscira into battle against Darkseid herself. And Arthur would be leading the armies of Atlanteans.”
“And Superman basically is going to be the head of the Justice League and the Armies of Men. And so Superman would have gone from this kind of berserker Superman to a benevolent Superman. Superman has the hugest arc of everybody because he goes from like the main villain to like the main hero.”
“And that struck me as just really cool and fun and like a really interesting trajectory for him. Because I think traditionally, Superman is one of those characters that people don’t see as changing a lot,” Snyder said. “You know what I mean? He’s kind of a rock that everyone props against and I just thought, how cool would it be to make our Superman the character that goes on the most incredible journey.”
Now that his Justice League is out there for all to see, Snyder at least managed to get 60% of the way through his planned five-film arc, but the idea of two more sprawling superhero fantasies in the vein of The Lord of the Rings remains hugely enticing, especially when it sounds like the third installment could have ended on the DCEU’s Battle for Minas Tirith.