The BvS Knightmare sequence *Justice League spoilers*

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It's no secret that the original plans for Justice League were very different from what we are seeing in theaters now. The prophetic dream sequences in BvS were seemingly setting up a dark future in which Darkseid's parademons ruled the Earth led by an evil Superman who'd lost Lois Lane, prompting The Flash to travel back to the past to warn Bruce Wayne.

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Well, now that we've seen Justice League, how does this still play out? It kinda works, I think. My guess is that the Superman from Knightmare was the resurrected Superman who never had his "soul" restored by Lois Lane because she was either killed by Steppenwolf or kept from him by Batman, who was rightfully afraid that the newly reborn Superman would harm her. Because of the The Flash's warning to him during BvS, Bruce now understood that Lois was "the key" to restoring Superman's humanity following his resurrection. Otherwise, Superman would have remained the dangerous amoral super-golem he is during his hilariously one-sided takedown of the entire League prior to Lois snapping him out of it.

That's my theory anyway. It's possible they may come back to this during Flashpoint (if there is indeed a Flashpoint movie).

[Jackalope89]

A bit off topic, but came across a guy on quora that truly believed that the Justice League film would take place in an Injustice setting. Despite all of the promos.

And this was just a couple days ago.

[Flash Gordon]

Eh, my head cannon for BvS is just Batman is straight up losing it.

The Flash scene just has to be ignored, i guess. That's such a strange sequence as is. Most people I know who saw it didn't even know who the hell that was supposed to be. A few people thought it was the ghost of Robin, since he's dead. I'll be honest, the only reason I kinda knew what was happening was that I knew Ezra Miller was in the film already.

[Buried Alien]

Eh, my head cannon for BvS is just Batman is straight up losing it.

The Flash scene just has to be ignored, i guess. That's such a strange sequence as is. Most people I know who saw it didn't even know who the hell that was supposed to be. A few people thought it was the ghost of Robin, since he's dead. I'll be honest, the only reason I kinda knew what was happening was that I knew Ezra Miller was in the film already.

Unless they are unaware of the existence of a superhero in the DC Universe called the Flash with superspeed powers, the costume and the lightning effects give it away. Seriously, ROBIN? I think I'd understand people mistaking him for Shazam, but not Robin.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Prime]

So you are telling me that Superman's morality depends on whether Lois Lane is alive or not? And here I though it was because of the Kents.

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So you are telling me that Superman's morality depends on whether Lois Lane is alive or not? And here I though it was because of the Kents.

No, I'm telling you that resurrecting Superman with a bunch of cosmic gobbly-gook nobody really understands leads to an immensely powerful souless husk with no humanity, and the love of Lois Lane was able to restore it. It's possible Ma Kent could accomplish that as well, but the sight of her might also dredge up the guilt and pain of Pa Kent's death, which would make the situation even worse.

Now, is this how I would have handled it? No, but I am not trying to Monday Morning Quarterback what Snyder was trying to accomplish so much as explain what I think he was trying to accomplish.

[Jim Kelly]

I watched MOS and BVS (extended cut) back to back on Wednesday and then saw JUSTICE LEAGUE on Thursday. I like all three movies, but JL is easily the best viewing for me, because it doesn't have things like the Knightmare in it. MOS suffers in its second half for looking too much like a video game, where the consequences are short changed by all the CGI action. BVS I love--and the Martha stuff makes sense to me and holds the movie together--but the second the Knightmare begins i'm furious with BVS for stopping the movie I'm in the middle of watching to pitch another movie that doesn't belong here. That is my main complaint about BVS.

The knightmare scenario would have got us two JL movies--with Darkseid in the second movie. And getting two movies with these actors would have been worth it. But if we were only going to get one movie, then I'm glad they didn't go down that road. The problem with BVS, for me, is that it spends most of its time dwelling on the darkness and only gives us a few seconds of light--when the trinity comes together--before throwing us back into darkness. So if JL had done the same, it would have been a real downer.

[David Walton]

Unless they are unaware of the existence of a superhero in the DC Universe called the Flash with superspeed powers, the costume and the lightning effects give it away. Seriously, ROBIN? I think I'd understand people mistaking him for Shazam, but not Robin.

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

The scene is really dark, plays fast, and it's a little hard to make out what Flash is saying. I can see why people would be confused and jump to a different conclusion.

[David Walton]

IThe knightmare scenario would have got us two JL movies--with Darkseid in the second movie.

DC should have just opened with Darkseid. They've essentially made the same mistake they did with Green Lantern, which is opening with a weak villain on the promise that the cooler stuff will feature in a sequel.

They were trying to mimic Marvel's buildup to Thanos in Avengers, but that played out a lot differently, because Loki had already been established in Thor and audiences already felt a connection.

[Miles To Go]

Yeah, I chalk this one up to being averted by having Bruce bring Lois along with him as his contingency. I don't think she was there in the original timeline. She restored Clark's humanity and now the Knightmare reality has been "erased from existence"[/Doc Brown]

[Soubhagya]

I think they are setting up The Injustice League instead of Darkseid. That's better you know. CGI villains are not working. Interesting ones are rather human looking. Loki, Joker are great examples. Zemo was interesting. How many big blue villains are there? There was Apocalypse whose reaction was meh. Thanos may turn out to be poor too. Who can predict?

Focusing on human villains which are not CGI can work excellently. It also separates them from Marvel isn't it? I was more happy to see Injustice League then Darkseid. @ David i don't agree with you. First film means we know that none of the heroes are in actual danger. Introducing heroes and putting them together as a team and beating up the villain. That's pretty much what they set out to do. For us fans Darkseid is someone special. But for casual audiences he is just another big cgi alien. So, imo they did correctly. I don't want Darkseid to be someone who is taken lightly. He shall feel like an Endgame. When stakes feel real. If he is beaten in the final action scene in a two hour film he could feel underwhelming.

[DochaDocha]

I just wish the Knightmare scene went the way of Judy Winslow. It's not a good direction for Superman, and I wish people who aren't as invested in the character as we fans are would stop hinting toward an evil Superman. Wasn't one evil Kryptonian enough?

[Jim Kelly]

DC should have just opened with Darkseid. They've essentially made the same mistake they did with Green Lantern, which is opening with a weak villain on the promise that the cooler stuff will feature in a sequel.

There's a part of me that wishes they had doubled down and already begun production on a two part JUSTICE LEAGUE before BVS had even come out. So they would have so much in the can that they couldn't back out of the deal. But maybe, after BVS, they still would have edited down all that material to one movie--albeit with a stronger Darkseid presence.

It would be nice if there was a dump of all the extra scenes from MOS, BVS, SUICIDE SQUAD and JUSTICE LEAGUE--so some industrious fans could do their own edits. There's one big epic ten part series there in all the raw footage. If I could, I'd edit the end of MOS and the beginning of BVS so they overlap, because I think BVS does a better job of making those scenes have some consequence.

[Stick Figure]

I have to admit wanting the film to take the Injustice route. Other than MOS, that's my favorite version of Superman. Would've been cool for one movie.