After a long wait, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is still a few weeks away from release. But the movie is already generating buzz regarding its two planned sequels. In a recent interview for IGN Fan Fast, Zack Snyder spoke about the distinctive new look of Jared Leto’s Joker as he will appear in the upcoming film, and how that look was meant to hint at future sequels taking place in a post-apocalyptic world.
“What inspired [Joker’s] look was the sort of post-apocalyptic world that I’m a huge fan of and, really, the idea was that as the movies progressed, the next movie – if there ever was one, and it doesn’t seem like there ever will be – but if there was, it would exist primarily in that world with them trying to set it right… [The sequence] doesn’t overstay its welcome but it definitely does what I needed it to do for the story and for us. Beyond that I think it’s a spoiler.”
Joker’s appearance is going to be part of the infamous “Knightmare sequence” that first showed up in Batman v. Superman. The sequence is something between a dream and a portent of things to come, in which Darkseid has enslaved Superman, and used him to lay waste to Earth. In this new reality, Superman rules the planet as a tyrant, while Batman leads a ragtag group of renegades against him.
Snyder’s plan had always been for Justice League to be a trilogy, with the second movie diving fully into the world of the “Knightmare”. Now, according to Snyder, the chances of Warner Studios allowing him to realize his cinematic vision for the series is unlikely, but that does not mean fans are not allowed to speculate about the possibilities.
“Well, [my Justice League saga] was meant to be two more movies… It hints, as you would, at a potential other world. I’d plant the seeds as I had wanted to of what would come in the later films, so that’s in there, but as far as those stories that would be to come — if ever that happened, which it does not look like it would — but I think it’s easy to speculate based on that and we can talk about that for quite a while.”
Considering how much of a long shot the release of the Snyder Cut of Justice League seemed at one point before it actually happened, there is still a chance that the entire trilogy of Snyder’s planned Justice League saga will someday see the light of day.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Ray Porter as Darkseid, Ciar&án Hinds as Steppenwolf, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon. The film arrives on HBO Max on March 18.