After four years of campaigning, the fabled “Snyder Cut” of Justice League is finally set to reach audiences in March under the title Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Now, Snyder has revealed how the new look of Jared Leto’s Joker ties in with his original plans for the movie’s sequel.

Since the theatrical cut stitched together by Warner Bros. and Joss Whedon bombed at the box office, there was never a sequel to Justice League and even if the new director’s cut is as big of a hit as it promises to be, Snyder doesn't plan to make any more movies for DC after it. But, back when he was working on the first version of Justice League before a personal tragedy forced him to step down, Snyder was planning a second movie in a post-apocalyptic setting.

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During an interview with IGN for their Fan Fest event, Snyder explained, “What inspired [the Joker’s] look was the sort of post-apocalyptic world that I’m a huge fan of and, really, the idea was that as the movies progressed, the next movie – if there ever was one, and it doesn’t seem like there ever will be – but if there was, it would exist primarily in that world, with them trying to set it right.” Few events would galvanize a team of superheroes like the end of the world. The story of a superhero squad banding together to undo the apocalypse is very reminiscent of Avengers: Endgame, but that movie didn’t exist when Snyder was planning his Justice League sequel. Leto’s appearance as the Joker in Zack Snyder’s Justice League will reportedly take place in an expansion of the “Knightmare” sequence seen in Batman v Superman. In BvS, Bruce Wayne has a bad dream that also acts as an ominous premonition of the world’s fate. He sees himself fighting Parademons in a post-apocalyptic wasteland before being attacked by an evil Superman enslaved by Darkseid.

Since this sequence stopped the movie dead and it was initially unclear what it was supposed to set up, this was one of the most controversial moments in Batman v Superman. But if Snyder pulls off his explanation of where that plot point was heading, he could redeem the scene. The new version of Justice League won’t fully explore the Knightmare storyline, but will instead tease how it was going to be wrapped up in the next movie, which was going to be set primarily in the post-apocalyptic Knightmare world.

Snyder reiterated that a Justice League sequel is unlikely, but added that he’s included plenty of sequel setups and teasers in the new one just in case: “I’d plant the seeds as I had wanted to of what would come in the later films, so that’s in there, but as far as those stories that would be to come – if ever that happened, which it does not look like it would – but I think it’s easy to speculate based on that.”

While Snyder is deliberately avoiding getting fans’ hopes up for a Justice League sequel, anything could happen. There was a time when it seemed unlikely that the Snyder Cut would ever see the light of day, and that happened, so there’s every chance a sequel or two will eventually follow.

Zack Snyder's Justice League will be released on HBO Max in the United States and other services worldwide starting March 18, 2021.

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Source: IGN