Before stepping away from Justice League Zack Snyder had a five part plan for the DC Extended Universe, and while the DCEU is headed in a completely different direction these days the director hasn’t been shy about revealing what might have been — including the death of Batman.
Fan Ramesh De Silva recently shared a piece of fan art he created of Superman carrying Batman’s body with the suggestion that it was “what we may have seen in the 5 story arc” and it turns out that he wasn’t too far off. Snyder replied to the piece on Vero with a simple “of course”. Check it out below.
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“of course” pic.twitter.com/0qcOgFhhIM
— Ramesh De Silva (@RameshDeSilva2) September 29, 2018
This comment from Snyder goes along with things has teased previously about the possible deaths of main characters, specifically the three crosses in the background of Superman’s death scene in the Ultimate Cut of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that he later revealed was a reference to a possible Justice League 2. It also might confirm what many fans have thought Justice League 2 would pursue, comics inspiration wise — Final Crisis. A mention on WetaFX’s website earlier this summer indicated that the Anti-Life Equation was originally intended to be introduced in Justice League and De Silva’s art is very similar to an image in Final Crisis in which Batman died.
If the plan was for Batman to die under Snyder’s plan for the DCEU, presumably this is the outcome that Ben Affleck signed on for, potentially with his solo Batman movie ending in the hero’s death. If so, Snyder no longer being part of the DCEU and Justice League going from being a two-part story to one certainly changed that trajectory and, potentially, Affleck’s in the role. At this point, it’s likely we will never know exactly how things would have played out. The DCEU is taking a different direction these days and while Snyder fans have been vocal about wanting the release of the “Snyder Cut” of Justice League to see what the director’s original vision looked like, there’s still some debate about such a cut even existing. Even if it does exist, it might not even be in a complete enough state to give a full overview of what the future could have held for each of the heroes.
For now, fans will just have to continue to see what information Snyder reveals when it comes to his vision for the DCEU.
What do you think about Batman potentially having died in Snyder’s original DCEU plans? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.