Was A Major 'Batman v Superman' Plot Point Cut From 'Justice League'?

While the cast and crew promise Justice League was a product of Zack Snyder's vision, the completed product from replacement director Joss Whedon may have cut a major story beat in Snyder's original plans.

Spoilers for the Justice League movie follow!

In Justice League, shortly after Batman unites the heroes of the DC Extended Universe, he realizes they alone are not enough to take on Steppenwolf. He is prompted to revive Superman in an effort to turn the most powerful being on Earth into an ally to defeat the villain attempting to conquer the planet.

When Superman awakens, he fights each member of the the makeshift Justice League, ultimately beating them with ease until Bruce Wayne calls for "the big guns" from Alfred. Those "big guns" in reference are Lois Lane and Superman's love for her. Upon seeing her, Superman remembers who and where he is and elects to fly off with his lover instead of continuing his beatdown of Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, Cyborg, and Batman.

Batman was made aware of Lois Lane being "the key" in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, though Justice League never made that explicitly clear.

In Batman v Superman, The Flash appears to be traveling through time to send the warning message to Bruce Wayne, which based on the events of Justice League pertains to getting Superman back on their side. With Superman's return possibly being a part of Justice League's many re-shoots, Snyder's original vision may have been extended across the originally planned two-part event the movie was going to be. With The Flash learning about his abilities throughout the film, it seems highly possible he would have experimented with the Speed Force in another cut of Justice League. There, he could have discovered his ability to travel back in time and save himself and friends from an evil Superman.

Instead, Bruce Wayne had the knowledge of Lois Lane being "the key" ahead of Justice League's start, despite The Flash never traveling back in time to warn him.

The thought of Justice League's theatrical cut's events directly leading into a sequel is difficult to imagine given its wrap up sending Steppenwolf off to an undisclosed fate wrapped in Parademons. DC Comics fans are left to assume is was sent to answer to Darkseid, a villain namedropped in the film and likely to appear in a future movie. Snyder's original vision, however, may have tied all this together more clearly and seen the League with their backs against the wall more than they did in the theatrical battles with Steppenwolf, playing out across a pair of films rather than in 119 minutes.

"People don't understand how much of the film is designed in pre," Batman actor Ben Affleck said. "I found as a director you can maybe change 10 percent, 15 percent on the day. We really had Zack's ship set sail for us. We were fortunate in that when Zack was unable to continue, we got a guy who. I got the sense that Joss was working from what he had discussed with Zack before he stepped in."

Then again, maybe he did travel back in time, and in this timeline we don't ever see it. Oh, paradoxes.

Justice League is now playing in theaters.