With the reins of DC Studios handed over to a new regime, the internet is abuzz with fan theories and crew revelations about what could have been in the Zack Snyder-led DCEU. While the now-scrapped franchise failed to impress audiences with its inconsistent timeline after Snyder’s departure, it is evident that the Snyderverse had a clear vision of where it was headed.
In the director’s cut of Justice League, a vastly improved version compared to the miserable 2017 release, Snyder teased the formidable Darkseid, who would have been the main antagonist in the shelved sequel New Gods. However, as former crew members confirm, Darkseid was not the ultimate big baddy in the Snyderverse.
Who Was Going To Be Zack Snyder’s Thanos-Like Villain?
According to Jay Olivia, a DC creative and director of the 2013 DC Animated film Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox, Zack Snyder had planned a Darkseid quadrilogy before drastically altering course with a movie based on Flashpoint. In this storyline, a famous arch-nemesis to the Flash would have been established as the main villain of the entire Justice League. Olivia reveals this villain would have been Eobard Thawne, also known as Professor Zoom or Reverse-Flash.
“It was Professor Zoom pulling the strings because he had come from the future to basically f*ck with Barry. In the Flash movies, Zoom would be the villain in the background. But also in the ancillary other films, you would see some of the influences of Zoom on the rest of the Justice League.”
Interestingly, the 2023 box office disaster, The Flash, borrowed elements from Flashpoint but failed to include the character of Professor Zoom. This indicates the film was set to fail considering the Flash movies could have had a significant impact on the Snyderverse, had they followed the Flashpoint narrative.
What Would Have Happened In Zack Snyder’s Flashpoint?
Zack Snyder’s Flashpoint would have acted as a reboot for the Justice League universe, featuring an entirely different cast due to its alternate timeline. In this gripping storyline, Professor Zoom manipulates the timeline, leading Barry Allen to wake up in a world where Cyborg holds a Superman-like status, the real Superman is imprisoned by the US army, Thomas Wayne (not Bruce) assumes the mantle of Batman, and the forces of Aquaman and Wonder Woman wage war. According to Jay Olivia, Snyder would have killed it with the live-action version:
“At the ending of Zack’s Darkseid quadrilogy, or whatever, we would end up with a ‘Justice League Unlimited’ version of the Snyder-Verse. And then you flip it. You do ‘Flashpoint Paradox.’ Everybody who’s friends are now enemies, and it’s a world that you don’t want to live in. You can reboot the universe and introduce a new cast that way. Because after 10 years, the actors need to go onto something else.”
Jay Olivia shared his disappointment, lamenting all the missed opportunities with DC’s new rebranding under James Gunn. Although Snyder had hinted at the Anti-Life Equation storyline to build an Avengers: Endgame-like climax for the Justice League, recent revelations indicate that there would have been a far more intriguing and grandiose finale with Professor Zoom at its heart.
Source: Inverse
