JUSTICE LEAGUE Full Snyder Cut Breakdown | All Additional Scenes, Story, Ending, Extra Scenes & Differences

It’s long been thought that the original and intended vision of Zack Snyder’s Justice League would never see the light of day but yesterday die-hard DC fans everywhere got some incredible news.

That is that the Snyder Cut will be released on HBO Max in 2021.

But what exactly is the cut and what changes and extras can we expect? Well, throughout this post we’re gonna be breaking down everything we know about the entire plot of the movie from start to finish. This is the most extensive and in-depth breakdown I’ve ever made on the piece and it should pretty much cover the majority of the movie. Now as of the announcement we do know that there may be some additional dialogue and scenes added, however, this should pretty much cover 90% of the movie.

Obviously, there will be Heavy Spoilers here so if you don’t want any of the big surprises potentially ruined then I highly recommend that you click off now. Snyder did say that there would be a lot of surprises so this could potentially spoil the experience for you.

The Snyder Cut Score

First, we have to talk about one of the Snyder Cut’s biggest differences. That is the entire score of the film. Originally the piece was going to be using the majority of Hans Zimmer’s original score from Man of Steel and Batman V Superman. Additions for this such as a Darkseid theme would come from Junkie XL who had collaborated on the aforementioned movies with Zimmer.

This would allow the piece to feel more in line with the other DCEU entries that preceded it and in my opinion, the score will fit the characters better.

I actually bought both Man Of Steel and BVS’ soundtrack and was gutted when they weren’t in Justice League.

This is because at the last minute, Warner Bros decided to fire JXL and they brought onboard Danny Elfman.

Elfman of course created the incredible Batman 1989 theme, however, I didn’t really feel like it slotted in that well with the vision that Snyder and Whedon had created.

Due to being brought in with very little time, Elfman had to reuse his older themes as well as the John Williams Superman one and you can tell it all just feels underdeveloped.

Run Time

Another big difference is the length of the film. Warner Bros mandated a two-hour run time for Joss Whedon who was forced to pretty much cut the movie in half. Originally it was going to be three and a half hours long, however, rumours are now circulating that it is actually closer to four hours.

Now Whedon is getting a lot of hate in the wake of the announcement yesterday. However, I actually don’t really blame him for any of the things that happened. It was Warner Brothers who decided to change direction and he was brought on board in the middle of the project, had to rewrite most of the script, reshoot about 70% of the movie, edit it and also oversee the CGI in a very short time frame. I can’t imagine how stressful this would’ve been and he’s definitely not the bad guy in this.

As for how it will be released, we don’t know if it’s a 4-hour film or if it will be split into six episodes.

I would lean more towards the latter as I’d guess an HBO Max trial sign-up will last about a week. If they want sign-ups to their subscription service to last at least one month they will do 6 episodes released weekly. This will mean people pay for at least one month to watch it as its full release period will be over the space of six weeks.

Snyder Cut Plot Breakdown

As for the plot itself, unlike the theatrical release, the film didn’t open on terrible cellphone footage of the worst CGI blunder in movie history. Superman’s face is no more, it’s gone, it’s finally over. Instead, Justice League: Part One as it was called because the film was originally meant to have a second part to it, began with the invasion of Earth.

This was told to Bruce in a story by Diana but in the original vision, it was supposed to open the film similar to The Fellowship of the Ring.

Darkseid & Steppenwolf

We would see that Darkseid was heading up the invasion and that he, not Steppenwolf, was leading the forces. This has been shown in several of the images from Zack’s Vero account and it really kick-started the movie in a big bad way.

Here we saw much more of the battle between Ares and Zeus which allowed the piece to be tied together with Wonder Woman, making for a more complete DCEU.

Darkseid was defeated and Steppenwolf was banished and the movie would centre around him trying to win favour with Darkseid after their crushing defeat.

As for Steppenwolf himself, he was designed completely different. Steppenwolf was revealed to be a relative of Darkseid and he looked more in line with the design from Batman V Superman rather than what would happen if the Marshmellow man hit up the gym.

Motherboxes

The mother boxes themselves were to take on a far more distinctive role and they would be more like living entities rather than plot devices. The three boxes were meant to represent fear, alienation and doubt. These are the main emotions that the planet was all feeling at the time due to the death of the supes.

This general despair over the planet helped to power them and this was when we got the line from the trailer:

“There are no protectors here, no Lantern, no Kryptonian”

Steppenwolf was going to use these devices to overwhelm the planet and this would set up the anti-life equation which would pay off in other movies.

Batman and Aquaman

From here we jumped to the present to see a Bearded Bruce Wayne searching for Aquaman.

This opening is far longer than the version that we got in the original film and it was meant to mirror Batman Begins. Now one thing that this scene massively improves on is that sorts out the continuity error of Bruce fighting a criminal on the rooftop clean-shaven and then having a full beard in the next scene. In the original cut, it meant that he was either wearing a face warmer or could grow a full beard in six hours, which yeah, didn’t make sense.

Bruce would then meet with Aquaman and exposit the dialogue that we saw in the original teaser trailer. This is when he also says “I hear you can talk to fish!”

Aquaman would reject Bruce and he would shave on the plane and goes back to Gotham to continue being a vigilante. We actually see him fighting criminals and there isn’t the scene on the rooftop as this was shot by Whedon. There is no parademon fight and instead, Bruce finds out about the Parademons from Lex Luthor.

He collected his journal after the events of Batman v Superman and Jesse Eisenberg did state that many of his scenes were cut. Apparently, Bruce at one point even returns to Arkham to interrogate him over what he meant over the bell being rung.

This would drive him to escape and it would of course set up the post-credits scene.

Wonder Woman

At the same time, Wonder Woman tackles the suicide bombers in London, however, unlike in the theatrical cut she fails to stop a secondary explosion. Something that was also present in early trailers. Whilst there are no casualties she still harbours a lot of the blame and the film takes on a darker tone.

The Flash

We are then introduced to Barry Allen through his saving of Iris. In it, he speeds over to her at superspeed and then grabs her around the throat and choke-slams her. Nah I’m just kidding. He saves her and Iris was originally going to be played by Kiersey Clemons as Iris West but she was cut entirely from the film.

Lois & The Kents

From here we cut to the Daily Planet and Martha and Lois discuss Clark’s death at the farm before Martha announces that she is being evicted. We have some images of this and it looked like it would have been a lot better than that terrible alien scene that ended up in the final cut.

Lois visits the Heroes Park as we saw in the opening and here we get the full sequence involving former Jimmy Olsen actor Marc McClure who portrayed a cop who Lois brought coffee routinely on her way to the memorial. This is a cameo for the actor who played Olsen in the Christopher Reeves film.

Cyborg

From here we get a much more fleshed-out origin story for Cyborg. We witness his life as a football star and the horrifying car crash that killed his mother and critically injured him.

There was also a sequence in which Victor Stone played and won a football game for Gotham City University. This would end up impressing his mother, Elinore Stone. After the game, Victor got angry that his father didn’t come to the match and during the car ride home this spills over and causes his mother to crash the car.

This kills her instantly and we then witness his revival by Silas Stone using a Mother Box, as seen in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice but from another angle instead of just on a screen.

As shown in the original trailers, the film then moves to Bruce and Diana discussing the rejection of Aquaman in the Batcave. At the Daily, Planet Lois plays a much more vital role. She discovers how the Parademon kidnappings are related and Cyborg intercepts this knowledge, deciding what to do. We follow the character as he learns to fly and control his power. The metal man realises that he can control the entire nuclear arsenal of the world, however, he fears for his humanity and decides to swipe it away.

After his father is taken by Parademons, he goes to the window and looks up to see where they may have taken him off to. There was also a cut scene that involved Victor hiding the Mother Box from a Parademon, discovering his “arm cannon” in the process.

The Original Steppenwolf design

The film then reverts back to the theatrical release with Steppenwolf stealing the first Mother Box from the Amazons.

The Amazonians send a warning to Diana and she rejoins Bruce to discuss Steppenwolf. She informs him of the first time Steppenwolf attacks the planet which is cut much shorter than it was shown at the beginning.

Bruce seeks out Barry and Diana begin her quest to find Cyborg.

Steppenwolf Attacks

In Atlantis, Steppenwolf attacks, this time however he is joined by Parademons which distracts Aquaman and the villain can attain the box. This fight is much longer and has the Atlanteans realising there is an alien threat. Willem Dafoe, not Mera, discusses Steppenwolf with Aquaman and instils his duty to track down the box.

This tied in more with the actor’s later appearance in the Aquaman solo movie and made for a better setup with his character gaining more importance here.

Parademons stalk Cyborg in his home, kidnapping his father and the team assembles and ventures into Gotham Harbour to take down Steppenwolf.

Justice League Snyder Cut Dialogue Differences

The action scene plays out much the same, with extended dialogue and more conflict from Cyborg as he struggles to control his power. The battle ends at a stalemate but the team begins to assemble. As they discuss the pros and cons of bringing back Superman, Lois wakes up from a nightmare and reminisces over the good times that she had with Clark. A scene that was added to the opening montage song but is far longer here.

Flashback to the Batcave and Bruce studies Superman’s costume as Cyborg discovers the origins of The Mother Box. Through virtual reality, he is able tocan investigate its history at the hands of The Nazis in World War Two which slightly retcons the discovery of it in the deleted scenes of Wonder Woman.

He then reveals to the Justice League that Silas Stone is his father and he explains that the Mother Box rearranges matter at the will of its master which explains how Steppenwolf is later able to terraform the planet.

The group argues back and forth over whether to revive Superman much as we’ve seen in the full cut but they eventually agree to go to the Kryptonian ship.

The movie explains that Superman can be revived without him transforming into another Doomsday because of the Growth Codex inside him that prevents his cells from destabilizing.

Superman Vs The Justice League Fight

After this Superman is revived and the commencing battle that The Man Of Steel has with the remaining League devastates Heroes Park.

Unlike the theatrical cut, this fight takes place at night and involves the military, who were firing at Superman due to his confusion after his revival.

Apparently, Superman was not going to say a single line in this entire sequence and we wouldn’t get the ‘tell me do you bleed’ bit.

Lois Lane, who is passing at the time hears this and runs to the confrontation to save Clark from killing Batman similar to how she did in the Martha scene of BVS. This is where we would also see Cyborg telling the police officers that they should probably move.

Clark takes Lois and leaves.

This is when Steppenwolf comes down and goes to take the Mother Box from Star Labs.

So nope, the Justice League didn’t just leave it lying around a carpark. The league fought with Steppenwolf in the Labs and Silas Stone actually died in this scene which completely tore them apart.

Cyborg would actually be haunted in a simulation by his mother, father and the ghost of the man he used to be. This made him even more torn over whether he truly was a man or if he was more machine.

Anyway, Clark and Lois arrive at the farm and discuss their engagement. This scene was shown in trailers but cut down for the theatrical release’s strict run time of two hours but it added a lot more character development. Now did the movie need this scene, meh I think what we got was enough but it’s always nice seeing Clark and Lois talking about their relationship. That kinda was always the heart of Man Of Steel and BVS so I don’t know why it was removed.

We then join the League at the Batcave who discuss their defeat whilst Alfred humorously mocks them in his sarcastic British tone. This scene was extended and really fleshed out that Diana should be the leader of the League even if she disagrees with the position. Overall it would have built more comradery and gave motive to Batman’s suicide mission in the final act.

Snyder Cut Original Script Breakdown

The League would then embark on their journey to take down Steppenwolf and we would see a much grittier moment in which Batman arms up the other members. Aquaman’s conversation is less humorous and he mutters ‘honestly, I think we are all going to die’ which is replaced with ‘I don’t want to die’ in the final version. This was a lot longer scene in which Cyborg laid out the strategy and the team really bonded before they went into what could be their last day on Earth.

Superman journeys to the ship for a suit, he retrieves his blue and red one but there is also a nod to the black suit. This kinda shows that he wants to embody hope and is no longer going down a darker path and then he goes to visit Alfred to discover the League’s plans. Batman blaming himself for Superman decides to become bait and as he heads off on his Suicide mission, the other leaguers dissuade and help him.

The final battle plays out much in the same way that it does in the theatrical release, however, when separating the Mother Boxes, Cyborg gets a glimpse at the Knightmare vision that Batman had in BVS and also witnesses Darkseid.

This shows what would happen if Unity is complete. The vision shows the Knightmare world from Batman V Superman, and Darkseid makes an appearance.

This was meant to complete the arc of Batman V Superman so we finally had some closure on that scene.

Justice League Snyder Cut Ending Explained

The team, of course, defeat Steppenwolf but wonder woman actually beheads him as he goes into the boom tube.

We see the other side of this where his head rolls out of it on Apokalips and Darkseid stops it with his boot, teasing the villain for the next movie. He sees the League through the portal and they see him. This sets up their rivalry to come.

Now for the end of the film w get a much longer one in which Barry gains a job at the crime lab.

In addition to this, he too is working on the cosmic treadmill which explains how he was able to travel through time in Batman V Superman.

Mera travels to land to bring Aquaman back to Atlantis, where he belongs. Arthur states that he’s going to see his father, Thomas Curry, and his story would have been picked up again in the Aquaman film which would nicely continue from this moment.

Bruce awakens at night to be greeted by a Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter.

Green Lantern has arrived on earth after hearing of the attack on the planet and it would be revealed that General Swanwick was actually Martian Manhunter.

This would have obviously set up what was to come in the originally confirmed Green Lantern Corps movie but that seems to have died along with the ending of the scene.

We then cut to Diana exploring ancient caves and trying to unearth the meaning behind Darkseid and the war that would be coming in Justice League Part 2. We got an awesome cave wall painting of Darkseid and this looked like a big tease for what was to come down the line.

We then got the Deathstroke and Jesse Snyder post-credits scene which ended the film.