Just to prove once and for all that the Snyder Cut is real, Warner Bros has released an advance 30-second clip from the version of Justice League that director Zack Snyder originally envisioned. Keep in mind that we aren’t supposed to see the full movie until 2021, so by “advance” we mean pretty far ahead.
The clip shows Gal Gadot, in her civilian guise of Diana Prince, slowly approaching an ancient painting while holding a flaming torch, as folks in movies tend to do. The painting depicts an image of Darkseid, suggesting the ruler of Apokolips has visited this planet before. And we get some narration from the Jesse Eisenberg version of Lex Luthor to hammer it home. This guy in the painting is bad news!
One would assume we’re seeing all that’s been completed so far, but the fact that the clip is in 4:3 suggests not even this is COMPLETED, exactly. It does, at least, confirm that Snyder wanted Darkseid in Justice League, but Whedon cut him off and said “No, not yet, he’s too big. We’ve gotta save him for Justice League 2!” And then there wasn’t a Justice League 2.
Chances are if you’re reading this site, you’re nerdy enough to know who Darkseid is, but for the outliers, he’s an evil alien dictator who wants to conquer the universe, and one of the biggest, deadliest, most fearsome bad guys in all of DC existence. Darkseid, done properly, has a heavy presence. You see him and you think “oohhhhhhh, crap.” He has a big army, but he doesn’t need it to kill you. He’s enough.
This is the Darkseid we should have gotten in Justice League and, hopefully, the one Snyder has in mind. The Snyder Cut of Justice League is promised for 2021 on HBO Max, and we should get to see more clips from it later this summer, during DC FANDOME on August 22.
