Justice League Director Zack Snyder Explains Snyder Cut’s Spoiler Character Cameo

Justice League director Zack Snyder answers burning questions behind the secret seventh member of the team revealed in the closing chapter of the Snyder Cut. Spoilers for Zack Snyder's Justice League follow. After the death of Superman (Henry Cavill), a grieving Lois Lane (Amy Adams) mourns with Martha Kent (Diane Lane) — only for Clark Kent's mother to shapeshift into a green-skinned, red-eyed alien: the true form of military man Calvin Swanwick (Harry Lennix). In the epilogue chapter of the Snyder Cut, Batman (Ben Affleck) wakes from a Knightmare and meets the Martian Manhunter, who warns that the Justice League must prepare for war with Darkseid (Ray Porter) — and he's here to help.

"I think he's been on Earth, we talked about it a lot, he's been on Earth for quite a while, a long time. Generationally long," Snyder told IGN about the alien Justice League member whose human form appeared in Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. "And we believe he's taken different forms over the course of history, he's been around kind of knocking around a little bit but always in the shadows. The Martian timeline is tricky at best (laughs). That's our feeling, and there's certainly more of a deep dive to take there."

First seen as a United States Army Lieutenant General and then the Secretary of Defense, Swanwick's rise through the ranks of the U.S. government is because "he's smart, he can read minds. It wouldn't be that hard, I think, with that skill set … he could become president if he wanted."

The floating alien introduces himself to Bruce Wayne as the Martian Manhunter, not giving the name of his comic book counterpart: the Mars-born J'onn J'onzz.

"If you use comic book lore it's a sci-fi trope name which sprung up in an era where martian invasions and martian mythological stories were quite prevalent," Snyder explained, "so there's always that kind of fun game that you have to play with the true origins, sort of societal origins of characters, then how we get to superimpose our modern vision over the comics. I think all of that has sort of yet to be unpacked."

Snyder recently revealed he originally shot the scene with John Stewart, a member of the Green Lantern Corps, and used the Martian Manhunter as a "compromise" after Stewart's inclusion was blocked by the studio.

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.