Zack Snyder’s Justice League 3 Was a Man of Steel Sequel: “Very Much a Superman Movie”

Justice League Snyder Cut director Zack Snyder says the final chapter of his planned five-movie SnyderVerse saga would have been "very much a Superman movie." Following his first flight in Man of Steel, his death in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and his resurrection in Justice League, Superman (Henry Cavill) was to be the "main hero" leading the charge against Darkseid (Ray Porter) after Batman (Ben Affleck) makes the ultimate sacrifice in Justice League 3. In previously revealed plans for Justice League 2 and 3, a pregnant Lois Lane (Amy Adams) would help a back-from-the-dead Superman "learn to become Clark Kent again, feeling more human than ever as he and Lois start a family."

"I had just assumed that the final movie was going to be very much a Superman movie. Like the final chapter [Justice League 3] was going to be a large percentage of Superman to just bookend the whole thing," Snyder told Esquire of the saga that started with 2013's Man of Steel. "Because if Batman died, it would have very much fallen on Superman to be the de facto leader. By the way, at that point, Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) would have been made queen of the Themyscira and she would be leading the warriors of Themyscira into battle against Darkseid herself. And Arthur (Jason Momoa's Aquaman) would be leading the armies of Atlantians."

"And Superman basically is going to be the head of the Justice League and the Armies of Men," Snyder added. "And so Superman would have gone from this kind of berserker Superman to a benevolent Superman."

Justice League 3 would play like Man of Steel 2 because "Superman has the hugest arc of everybody because he goes from like the main villain to like the main hero."

"And that struck me as just really cool and fun and like a really interesting trajectory for him. Because I think traditionally, Superman is one of those characters that people don't see as changing a lot," Snyder said. "You know what I mean? He's kind of a rock that everyone props against and I just thought, how cool would it be to make our Superman the character that goes on the most incredible journey."

Snyder recently said his director's cut of Justice League is "all you're gonna get from Zack Snyder's DCEU" after he revealed studio Warner Bros. has "no interest and/or appetite" in a Snyder-directed Justice League 2. The filmmaker has repeatedly expressed interest in telling the rest of his two-movie Justice League story in a hoped-for comic book continuation in the pages of DC Comics.

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.