Zack Snyder Confirms Batman Was Referencing Darkseid in ‘Justice League’

In what may be a case that was always obvious to a lot fans, Zack Snyder has just confirmed that yes, the “something darker” that Ben Affleck’s Batman references during a scene in Justice League was in fact an allusion to DC villain Darkseid.

As Batman v Superman and Justice League clearly hint, Snyder’s original plan for a two-part Justice League story would’ve eventually led to Darkseid’s debut in the DC Extended Universe. Snyder confirmed as much over on Vero.

Again: this should be of little surprise to anyone who has followed the DCEU for any length of time; the war between Earth and Apokolips and Darkseid’s emergence was something that a lot of fans had been waiting for ever since Man of Steel. If anything, hearing this confirmation from Zack Snyder simply twists the knife in the guts of every fan who was dying to see Snyder’s vision for Justice League and are now championing the “#ReleaseTheSnyderCut” movement.

And yet, this same example also help to effectively illustrate why winning the fight to get the so-called “Snyder Cut” released may still be a loss in the end. Seeing Snyder’s full vision for the film would no doubt put a lot more emphasis on what the filmmaker had planned to do after Justice League. Which, of course, doesn’t appear to be in the cards at all.

What would be perhaps more fun would be if we could get a look at some kind of concept art or models for Snyder’s DCEU version of Darkseid, and perhaps other iconic figures from Apokolips, such as Kalibak, Desaad, or Granny Goodness. Of course, director Ava DuVernay is taking on DC’s New Gods movie, which deals with the war between the beings of Apokolips and its sister planet, New Genesis. So perhaps we’ll still be seeing those same characters mentioned above in the DCEU soon enough.

The post-Snyder, post-Justice League era will truly begin with the release of Aquaman later this year. That film has gotten a recent boost in hype thanks to an extended trailer that teased an epic superhero adventure, one that is a lot lighter in spirit — even with some horrific elements — than what we’ve seen from the DCEU so far.

Upcoming DC Extended Universe films include Aquaman on December 21st, Shazam on April 5, 2019, and Wonder Woman 2 on November 1, 2019.