Justice League: Snyder Cut's Knightmare Timeline Explained By Zack Snyder

Snyder Cut director Zack Snyder answers burning questions about the hellish Knightmare sequence [...]

By Cameron Bonomolo

Snyder Cut director Zack Snyder answers burning questions about the hellish Knightmare sequence ending Justice League, revealing the amount of time separating "Part 6: Something Darker" and "Epilogue: A Father Twice Over." Spoilers for Zack Snyder's Justice League follow. A newly-resurrected and black-suited Superman (Henry Cavill) unites with the Justice League — Batman (Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Flash (Ezra Miller), and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) — to defeat Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) and thwart a planned invasion of Earth at the command of Darkseid (Ray Porter), but a dark future looms over the new age of heroes.

In the post-apocalyptic epilogue revisiting the Knightmare first envisioned by Bruce Wayne in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, only half the League remains: Wonder Woman and Aquaman are dead, slain by Darkseid, and a Superman grieving the death of a pregnant Lois Lane (Amy Adams) has succumbed to the Apokolips ruler's feared Anti-Life Equation.

Heroes left alive include Batman, Cyborg, the Flash, and Mera (Amber Heard), who have no choice but to ally themselves with enemies Deathstroke (Joe Manganiello) and the Joker (Jared Leto).

"The actual full fall of Earth is maybe a year or two later [after Justice League]. And maybe longer, I don't know," Snyder said on the ReelBlend podcast. "Not 10 years, probably not five years, but somewhere [around a year or two]. They've been on the lamb for a while. Because you can imagine that [it's been] long enough where they've sort taken their eye off the Batcave as a place that they might be."

In Snyder's revealed plans for Justice League 2 and 3, it's inside the Batcave where Superman entrusts Batman with defending Lois: "She's my world. Protect her." And the Batcave is where Batman fails to protect Lois when Darkseid unleashes his Omega Beams to turn her to ash.

The Snyder Cut shows the black-suited Superman holding the charred remains of Lois, but flashes into the future show a red-eyed Superman — enslaved by Darkseid — back in the traditional red and blue costume. Snyder explains: "In my mind, once he succumbs to the Anti-Life, he goes back into the blue and red."

Snyder previously detailed why Superman wears the black suit throughout Justice League, including the ending shirt-tearing sequence, saying that "the blue suit is his suit of a hero, the suit of his destiny, whereas the black suit is more personal in a lot of ways, more about his family. One is outward, and one is inward."

Starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Ciarán Hinds, Ray Porter, Joe Manganiello, and Jared Leto, Zack Snyder's Justice League is now streaming on HBO Max.

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