Yes, bonkers endings. Plural. And one of them is the best scene in the whole movie.
In case you need a big Bat-Signal pointing into the sky with the words SPOILERS spelt out across the sky, then this is us telling you not to read any further unless you’ve already watched the new edit of Justice League.
Still here? Righty oh, carrying on…
As we teased in our review of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the ending to this movie is likely to get a lot of people talking. Or, at least, ONE of the endings of this movie will get people talking, because the Snyder Cut goes the route of The Return of the King in terms of seemingly endless endings.
We’ll go through them here in the order they arrive:
Thanks to some teamwork, but mostly the return of Superman (Henry Cavill), the Justice League are able to defeat (read: violently decapitate) Steppenwolf and toss his body through a portal, landing at the feet of his master, Darkseid. Knowing that the Anti-Life Equation is somewhere on Earth, Darkseid readies his entire intergalactic army to invade the planet.
The Justice League look out over the Russian landscape and the world they just helped to save, with the big Bat-Carrier flying into view and they all seem pretty happy and feeling triumphant. Nothing can ever come between them aga-
SMASH CUT TO…
The post-credits scene we basically got in the 2017 movie, with Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) having escaped Arkham Asylum, hanging out on a yacht and calling in Deathstroke (Joe Manganiello) to assassinate Batman, revealing his true identity to be Bruce Wayne. Dun dun dun!
SMASH CUT TO…
Earth is wrecked. Just absolutely trashed, like the post-nuclear scenes from Terminator 2. We got a glimpse of this ruined-future world in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and we see Batman (Ben Affleck) in his full length khaki trench, making his way towards what probably used to be Metropolis.
We see that Batman isn’t alone; he’s joined by Queen Mera (Amber Heard), Cyborg (Ray Fisher), The Flash (Ezra Miller), and… Deathstroke (Joe Manganiello). They’re discussing getting revenge against the person who has destroyed the world. We’re supposed to believe that they’re discussing Darkseid, but we all know better. Mera reveals that Aquaman was violently killed by their would-be target and she wants to get revenge. Batman tried to deter her, before she accuses him of never having loved (and lost) any one…
And that is when he hear HIM laughing…
Yep, it turns out that Joker (Jared Leto), dressed in a SWAT body suit, is also a part of their team on this world-saving excursion. Joker brings up Batman’s dead mother, dead father, dead adoptive son – Robin, who Joker killed off-screen before the events of Batman v Superman – which effectively triggers Batman into threatening to kill Joker. He laughs it off, saying they need him for the world-saving plan to work, before adding “Besides, who’s gonna give you a reach-around?”
He also adds that the current state of the world is almost singularly Batman’s fault, because he “let her die”, following up with “Poor Lois. How she suffered so!” So, yep, Lois Lane has been killed and Superman has gone bad with grief.
Joker continues: “I often wonder, in how many different timelines do you destroy the world, because frankly, you don’t have the cojones to die yourself?” Now, this may or may not be setting up the multiple timelines plot that is reportedly at the centre of The Flash’s standalone movie, which is said to feature both Affleck and Michael Keaton in the Bruce Wayne role. The movie is still in pre-production, but is currently scheduled for release in November 2022.
Moving on, Joker hands Batman a card – “A truce… Bruce” – and says as long as the card remains intact, Joker won’t be picking fights, but should Batman rip it half, he’ll be more than happy to discuss why he “sent the Boy Wonder to do a man’s job”. So it appears that Batman may also be partly responsible for Robin’s death. Yeesh.
Batman then responds that he will uphold Harley Quinn’s dying wish, which was to make sure that Joker died slowly, with Batman telling him to his face “I am going to fucking kill you”. Yep, Batman dropped the f-bomb. Joker looks like he’s shaking in fear, but eventually shakes it off and the whole group sets about making a move towards the ruined city when Superman suddenly drops out of the sky. Everyone prepares for a fight, Superman’s eyes glow red, Batman looks scared, and-
SMASH CUT TO…
Batman wakes up in his bed. Everything is fine. It was all just a dream?
He hears a sonic boom outside his lush house, walks outside to greet a floating alien, who turns out to be the Martian Manhunter (Harry Lennix), who we were first introduced to as General Sanwick in Man of Steel…
… so he just hung around while Zod was effectively destroying the world in that movie and did nothing? Probably best not to overthink that one. Anyway, MM is aware that the Anti-Life Equation is here and warns Batman that Darkseid is most definitely on the way, but at least the Justice League has another member now.
Sanwick appeared earlier in the movie, when he morphed into Martha Kent (Diane Lane) for a nice chat with Lois Lane (Amy Adams), which… in hindsight… made absolutely zero sense.
Anyway, back to his chat with Bruce Wayne, where he just kinda flies off and Bruce says “I guess I’ll see you around” and that is how the movie ends. With a vague promise of seeing each other again, but unless Warner Brothers decide to fund another Zack Snyder entry in the DC universe, this is probably the last time we’ll be seeing a lot of these actors playing these characters.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is available to watch on NOW and Sky Cinema.
Clips via HBO Max
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