Justice League director Zack Snyder has revealed his idea for why Batman (Ben Affleck) is seen working with the Joker (Jared Leto) in the epilogue of his 2021 director's cut of the 2017 superhero film.
The epilogue of Zack Snyder's Justice League is a "Knightmare" sequence, offering a glimpse into a post-apocalyptic future where Darkseid (Ray Porter) rules the Earth and Superman (Henry Cavill) has gone rogue following the death of Lois Lane (Amy Adams). In an effort to bring down the Man of Steel, Batman has joined forces with a group of both heroes and villains, including Cyborg (Ray Fisher), the Flash (Ezra Miller), Mera (Amber Heard), Deathstroke (Joe Manganiello) and, most surprisingly of all, the Joker. Granted, the Dark Knight is hardly happy about having to work with his mortal enemy, promising to kill the Joker when all is said and done. Nevertheless, the exact circumstances of their brief truce piqued fans' curiosity.
Snyder addressed the topic during the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice panel at SnyderCon 2023. "Our theory is that [the Joker is] the one who knows where the Kryptonite, what shards of Kryptonite exist," the director said. "He has that information. And so he's being carried... He has basically made a deal with Batman. 'Don't kill me, and I'll show you. I'll get you a tool to fight Superman.' And so [Batman] is kind of stuck with him, in that way. If he kills him, or gets rid of him, then he's screwed himself."
The Knightmare scene in Zack Snyder's Justice League marked the aforementioned Leto's second and presumably final appearance as the DC Extended Universe's Joker, following his first go-round as the character in David Ayer's Suicide Squad (2016). Much like how the version of Justice League that originally released in theaters greatly deviated from Snyder's original vision, the theatrical cut of Suicide Squad was quite different from what Ayer originally had in mind. Given the success of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign, some fans have campaigned for DC and Warner Bros. to release the "Ayer Cut" of Suicide Squad, with Ayer himself hinting at potential movement on that front. For the time being, however, a director's cut of the 2016 film has not been announced.
Zack Snyder and DC Have Officially Parted Ways
Similarly, while Snyder ultimately got to release his version of Justice League via HBO Max, there are currently no plans for the director's DC story to continue, despite continued fan campaigns. In fact, the DCEU will soon be rebooted into the DC Universe, with new DC Studios heads James Gunn and Peter Safran at the helm. Still, while Leto appears to be done as the Joker, the aforementioned Affleck isn't quite done with Batman yet. Affleck will return as the Dark Knight in the timeline-altering The Flash, which is due to bow in theaters this June. Affleck will then make what is expected to be his final performance as Bruce Wayne/Batman in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which arrives in December. The Aquaman sequel will be the final DC(E)U film green-lit prior to the Gunn-Safran regime to hit theaters.
Gunn and Safran have already laid out a roadmap for the first chapter of the rebooted DCU, which kicks off with the theatrical release of writer-director Gunn's Superman: Legacy in 2025. Snyder, meanwhile, is currently awaiting the release of his new space opera film, Rebel Moon, which is slated to premiere exclusively on Netflix this December. It should be noted that Gunn has confirmed that he and Snyder are on good terms about everything. "He contacted me to express his support about my choices. He's a great guy," Gunn said of Snyder. "Again, he seems really happy with the massive world building he's doing now."
Source: YouTube, via The Direct