The DCEU is a cinematic universe full of layers and bizarre behind-the-scenes stories. That said, there's one man who has remained firmly at the center of some of its most interesting developments: Zack Snyder. The man who started it all with Man of Steel, Zack Snyder has remained open with fans about his creative vision, using social media to share information that would've otherwise gone unnoticed.
Those developments are what we're unpacking today. We've gone through Zack Snyder's numerous Vero posts to pick out some of the most fascinating reveals that he has provided us in the days since Justice League debuted in theaters. With so many unique points to get to, let's kick things off with the most recent development on the list...
Snyder Didn't Know About The Russian Family
One of the most recent revelations to come out about Zack Snyder and his time on Justice League is the fact that he apparently had no idea about the Russian family that pops up several times throughout the story, which clearly suggests that it was not something that he included in his original take on the Justice League story. This does make a certain degree of sense, as the humor in those sequences feels decidedly more in line with Joss Whedon's sensibility as a filmmaker. Nevertheless, it's fascinating to know that such prominent characters in Justice League (even if they don't get actual names) were not part of the original vision for the film as a whole.
Snyder Planned To Adapt Injustice
At this point, it has become reasonably clear that the DCEU has shifted from the original vision that Zack Snyder had when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice started setting the table for future DC stories. One of the biggest shifts scene is the fact that Snyder apparently wanted to adapt the Injustice: Gods Among Us video games to the big screen in his creation of the live-action Justice League. In fact, while answering fan questions about the Knightmare sequence from Dawn of Justice earlier this month, Snyder noted that he intended to adapt Injustice based off of the seeds planted in that scene. This makes sense, as both the Knightmare and Injustice both center on dystopian worlds in which Superman goes rogue after Lois' death.
The Dead Robin Might Not Be Jason Todd
Batman dealing with the death of a Robin has become a crucial element in the Batman lore. It's been a mainstay of the comics since the 1980s, but we didn't get a live-action version of the Robin monument in The Batcave until Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. However, while most fans concluded that the suit once belonged to Jason Todd (in a clear homage to A Death in the Family), Zack Snyder recently put those assumptions in question by suggesting that possibility that the suit did not belong to Todd. This doesn't inherently mean that the suit belonged to someone like Dick Grayson or Tim Drake, but it does mean that we can't be as sure as we once were.
Knightmare Superman Is Evil Because Of The Anti-Life Equation
One of the biggest questions that fans had after seeing the Knightmare sequence in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was the question of why Superman would ever turn evil and serve Darkseid. After all, as a beacon of hope, the Man of Steel should be nearly infallible. However, Zack Snyder recently used social media to flesh out the Knightmare sequence and confirm that Superman doesn't fully have his wits about him in that scene. The off-screen death of Lois Lane leaves him emotionally devastated, and that devastation creates a vulnerability to Darkseid's Anti-Life Equation -- a formula that allows Darkseid to size control over the minds of sentient beings.
The Mother Boxes Almost Appeared In World War II
After being teased in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and a bonus Wonder Woman scene in the home release, the Mother Boxes went on to become major elements in Justice League. Their status as the central MacGuffins of the movie required quite a bit of backstory, and Zack Snyder had some lofty goals for how to tell that particular story. In fact, the director recently posted some early mockups of a sequence that he had planned to film (but never got around to filming) involving Cyborg explaining the history of the Mother Boxes, and how the Allies got their hands on one of the mysterious artifacts after it had fallen into Nazi hands during World War II.
Henry Cavill Wore Christopher Reeve's Suit Before Man Of Steel
Developing of a superhero movie is a long process, and sometimes the costumes come much later in the process after an actor has been cast. That was very much the case with Henry Cavill when he signed on to portray the Man of Tomorrow in 2013's Man of Steel, and Zack Snyder recently took to Vero to showcase the fact that Cavill actually wore the Superman outfit from the Christopher Reeve era during the early days of the film when they were coming up with a tone and style for the movie. Of course, Henry Cavill eventually got his hands on the sleeker and more modern alien suit that has become the standard garb for Supes, but we will always have a special place in our heart for the red and blue pajamas.
Lex Luthor Murdered His Father
From the first theatrical cut of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, it was made perfectly clear that Jesse Eisenberg's version of Lex Luthor had some pretty severe daddy issues that he needed to work through. However, it wasn't until Zack Snyder took to Vero that we genuinely understood the full extent of Lex's insanity. More specifically, Snyder took to the social media platform to confirm that the DCEU's version of Lex Luthor actually murdered his father years before the events of the film, essentially staging a hostile takeover in order to gain full control of LexCorp. And we thought Batman and Superman both having mothers named "Martha" was as deep as the parental weirdness went...
Ma Kent And Lois Lane Spent More Time Together In Justice League
Lois Lane and Martha Kent are two of DCEU characters who take on secondary roles in Justice League, which makes sense when we consider the sheer number of plates Justice League has to spin. However, while the two most important women in Clark Kent's life share only one scene in the theatrical cut of the movie, Zack Snyder took to Vero to confirm that other sequences involving the two characters were shot. Specifically, he confirmed another scene in which Lois and Martha Kent talk to one another at the Kent Family kitchen table at the Kansas farm. This it seems to indicate that there was a version of Justice League in which the farm wasn't sold off in the opening credits.
Snyder Teased Justice League 2 In Batman v Superman
The decision to have Doomsday murder Superman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice wasn't just a move to loosely adapt the now-iconic Death of Superman comic from the 1990s. Zack Snyder apparently had a long-term plan in play for his decision to take down the Last Son of Krypton, as evidenced by the inclusion of three crosses in the background of a shot featuring the Trinity. Though we don't actually know what the director would've done with those crosses, he has since confirmed that the imagery is a piece of direct foreshadowing for the events of Justice League 2, back when Justice League was going to be a two-part story.
