It's been a rocky road to production for Zack Snyder's Justice League. The film released in theaters in 2017 was certainly not the movie that the director intended to see the light of day, and his vision for the DCEU had been muddled by Warner Bros., starting with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The new, true version of the movie will be far closer to what Snyder wanted it to be, including disparate elements from the unproduced sequels.
Snyder's plans involved not just one but several movies, with the heroes going to the stars to fight and fall before the ultimate evil. Here are all of the known divergences that Zack Snyder would have taken to finally tell his entire story with DC's legendary heroes.
How Justice League Originally Ended
Darkseid makes his maniacal DCEU debut in the Snyder Cut, with the dark ruler of the planet Apokolips showing up predominately in flashbacks to the great war of Earth's past. While this is certainly a treat for fans, who want to see a more of Snyder's version of the villain, his presence in the universe originally had a much more ominous introduction.
The initial plan was to have him appear at the tail end of the intended first Justice League film. This conclusion also ended with the defeated Steppenwolf being taken back through a Boom Tube, apparently to Apokolips. However, how it differed directly set up the final confrontation. As the Boom Tube closed, Darkseid could be seen peering down ominously at the heroes, alerting them to his presence and fury. The movie suddenly ended with a cliffhanger that left viewers hungry to find out who this mysterious villain, established similarly to Thanos, was. To be fair, this is similar to how the new version of the film ends but the Snyder Cut lacks the cliffhanger.
Green Lantern Would Have Entered the Fray
In both the Snyder Cut and the film's theatrical version, Alfred spoke to a returned Superman before he goes off to aid the other heroes. This sequence was always planned, but it wasn't going to be the Man of Steel that Batman's butler talked to. Instead, this scene was meant to introduce the DCEU Green Lantern, who helped the others defeat Steppenwolf.
This dovetailed into the planned second Justice League movie, which had a more cosmic tone and scope. The heroes went into space to take the fight directly to Darkseid, hoping to keep him from attacking Earth in response to Steppenwolf's defeat. The idea that Alfred was meant to be speaking to Green Lantern has been long suspected by fans. It shows how much even the Snyder Cut will be truncated compared to what Zack Snyder envisioned for the entirety of the DCEU.
Lex Luthor Would Have Teamed Up With Darkseid
At the end of Dawn of Justice, Lex Luthor interfaced with alien technology that relayed information about Darkseid. The immediate sequel united the eccentric businessman with the alien overlord, who came to invade Earth after Steppenwolf's defeat. Darkseid was going to have several other New Gods with him, including Big Barda. With Superman back, Luthor tells Darkseid how the only way to defeat him involved his true weakness, Lois Lane. This led to the second film's dour ending of Superman's corruption and Darkseid's victory.
The Origins of the Knightmare Sequence
As mentioned, the second movie in the Justice League trilogy would have been a bit of a downer, even compared to the other similarly bleak entries in the DCEU. The heroes would be defeated and rendered powerless to stop Darkseid from having his way with their planet, resulting in the Knightmare sequence, which was first glimpsed in Batman v Superman. The scene notably featured an Omega symbol that established Darkseid's presence.
This post-apocalyptic wasteland was the setting for the third film. The heroes took on Darkseid, but he was defeated with a pivotal moment restoring Superman, as described by Snyder to the New York Times. The second film was where Superman was brought back, only to see a pregnant Lois be killed. Superman then lost it and helped Darkseid take over Earth, killing several other heroes in the process. There were also initial ideas of Bruce Wayne briefly forming a failed romance with a grieving Lois, but Warner Bros. outright rejected this.
Something similar to a truncated version of this full movie setting can still be seen in Zack Snyder's Justice League. Snyder ends his version of the movie on a cliffhanger that will likely resemble his original ending for the movie, but it remains to be seen if Warner Bros. will actually play ball and allow that to manifest into any future DCEU titles.