We all know that although Zack Snyder's name is on the film, he was not the one who oversaw Justice League to completion. In the time since Justice League came out, however, Snyder has been quite forthcoming about his original intentions for the film and the DCEU as a whole, revealing a vision that stands in stark contrast to what Justice League actually turned out to be. Now the director has revealed a new nugget about his plans. Responding to a fan asking musing on "What we may have seen in the 5 story arc..." accompanied by a picture of Superman holding a dead Batman, Zack Snyder affirmed that he wanted to kill off Batman in a Justice League sequel. Take a look at the exchange below:
Zack Snyder's simple response on Vero (via Batman-News.com) makes it clear that he had every intention of taking his story in this direction after the first Justice League. Snyder had no problem killing off Superman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and if he had his druthers, Batman would have met a similar fate before the completion of the director's five-film arc. It is almost unthinkable to kill Batman, given that he arguably is the most popular DC character, but you can kind of already see how Zack Snyder was building to a huge event such as this.
The image the fan is using on Vero is evocative of a moment that occurs in Grant Morrison's Final Crisis event series, which deals with Darkseid's plot to upend reality through the use of the Anti-Life equation. In the sixth issue of the multi-verse-shaking series, Darkseid apparently kills the Caped Crusader with his Omega Beams after which Superman recovers his body and then faces off with the ruler of Apokolips. By the end of that series we discover that Bruce Wayne is not dead and has in fact been sent back in time by the Omega Beams.
Whether Zack Snyder would have undid the death as well in Justice League 2 or if that would have occurred in a later film (or not at all) is unknown. You can sort of see though how Sndyer was setting this up in Justice League, with the Mother Boxes and Steppenwolf, building towards a contest with Darkseid that would have given the opportunity to recreate the iconic moment of Superman holding a fallen Batman. DC storyboard artist Jay Oliva has spoken about Zack Snyder's five-film vision being epic, emotional and unforgettable and killing Batman in the midst of a universe-shaking battle would have certainly fit the bill in that regard.
Keep an eye on our guide for everything going on in the DCEU and check out all of the biggest movies heading to theaters the rest of this year in our release schedule.
