The Ending of 'The Snyder Cut,' Explained

Martian Manhunter? Batman saying the "F word"? A fiery doomscape and an alliance with Slade Wilson? Lex Luthor breaks out! Bruce Wayne buys a bank! 

If you're like me, you watched The Snyder Cut immediately, but what stuck out was that ending. Now that I've had a few hours to digest, I wanted to go back and look at the ending more thoroughly. I want to know what it means and what we're teasing in the future. 

So I thought we'd spend this post exploring what this all means for the DC Universe. 

What Does the Ending of The Snyder Cut Mean? 

After the sixth chapter of the film, we go into an epilogue. It sums up the events we've seen so far. In the opening parts, we see that Lex has broken out of Arkham Asylum and is on his stately yacht. There, we see him with Slade Wilson, who wants to take Batman down. Wilson, also known as Deathstroke, is given Batman's alter ego to help him pursue this quest. 

This scene was also in the Whedon cut and seems to hint at the Affleck solo Batman film that is no longer happening. So I am not sure how this could reflect on the future DC installments. The best part is that Luthor suddenly looks like the Gene Hackman version from the '70s. 

We also see that Bruce Wayne helped Martha Kent get her farm back. It seems like it never should have come to that, but I was happy for that. We also see him woken up by a visit from Martian Manhunter, who you have to think will join the Justice League in the future. We get a tease about Dr. Ryan Choi, who will eventually become the Atom, another future Justice League member. 

After that, we travel to the one part everyone is talking about. 

Batman's Knightmare 

As you saw in the trailers, this movie has the Joker in it. He appears in a sequence where we go into Batman's mind. We see an alternate reality (or dimension) where Darkseid wins and runs the Earth. Superman is on his side, and Batman runs the resistance. He wants to send the Flash back in time to stop this from happening, which explains the "Am I too soon?" scene in Dawn of Justice when the Flash speaks to Batman.  

Batman, Meera, Slade Wilson, the Atom, Cyborg, and Joker make their way across the doomed cityscape.  

Snyder said of the scene, "After I realized there would be no more Zack Snyder DC movies, my biggest regret was that there was no Batman/Joker confrontation scene. They both went through a series of films and never ran into each other. It didn't make sense to me. So, I thought maybe I could remedy that."

We learn in conversation with the Joker that Aquaman, Harley Quinn, and Lois Lane are dead, casualties of this war. Lois' death contributes to Superman turning bad. And we learn that Joker may have killed Harley, who wants Batman to avenge her. Also, Joker talks about Jason Todd, the Robin he killed. 

There's also a conversation about alternate dimensions Batman may have destroyed because he didn't have the balls to die in any of them. It's an intense scene. You have to assume it could have been a spinoff movie. 

In terms of sequels, they probably won't happen. But Snyder left his vision on the table.

"It’s the fall of Earth, when Superman succumbs to Anti-Life. And then sending Flash back in time to change one element so that doesn’t happen. And then the big battle where we beat him. When [the villain] Darkseid comes to Earth, in the movie that you’ll never see, the armies of Earth all unite again, as they did before. This time there would be aircraft carriers and Special Forces guys, all the armies of the world would come together, as well as [Aquaman’s fellow] Atlanteans rising out of the ocean and the Themyscirans [Wonder Woman’s compatriots] coming off their island. That was our big finale. But it’s a long drum roll and guitar solo to get there.”

This is the sequel he planned to make after The Snyder Cut, but it's hard to imagine this movie happening. We know Affleck is done playing Batman, and all the other heroes have their own standalone movies coming. 

Still, this epilogue teed up lots of different spinoffs and places DC could take these movies. Warner Bros. seems to be done with the expanded universe for now, instead preferring one-off movies and TV series that don't have to be interconnected. 

Still, if The Snyder Cut could trend and get made, who knows if Warner would allow this finale to happen. It might be a smart investment in the future. 

Let us know what you think in the comments.