Justice League Snyder Cut trailer leak reveals real villain and tons more

Like the Kraken of the Seven Seas, Warner Bros. is releasing the "Snyder Cut" of Justice League. The extended director's cut of the 2017 DC superhero movie premiered its first look at DC FanDome, the virtual DC convention for fans of all thins DC Comics.

Following many exhausting months, the "Snyder Cut" of Justice League, formally known as Zack Snyder's Justice League, is now in "production" (if you can call it that) and is gearing up for an HBO Max release in 2021. A first trailer was expected on Saturday afternoon, but it's leaked early online.

Released Saturday, the first trailer for Zack Snyder's Justice League packs a wallop of scenes not included in the original, 2017 release of Justice League. Set to Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" (now the second time Snyder has used the song in his career), the trailer reveals the Snyder Cut indeed focuses on Darkseid as the main villain; a devastated "Hall of Justice" (presumably some dark vision of the future like in Batman v Superman); and Superman wearing his black and silver costume.

But wait, there's more. Kiersey Clemons, whose role as Flash's love interest Iris West was cut from the movie, will have her scenes restored in the Snyder Cut.

And that's probably still not all! Behaving unlike a "normal" movie trailer, the Snyder Cut trailer is all about hyping how much more there is to Snyder's film. We see more of Victor's backstory as a college athlete before becoming Cyborg, more of Flash and Cyborg's friendship in the film, more of the bank robbery scene from the beginning, more scenes with Lois and Clark Kent, more set up for Aquaman, and more scenes with the Justice League ensemble together. Check out the trailer below.

The trailer ends with Ben Affleck's Batman, in a previously unseen moment, telling the Justice League crew: "I don't care how many demons he's fought in how many hells. He's never fought us. Not us united."

Batman, of course, is referring to Darkseid, one of the biggest villains in the DC Universe. Since Batman v Superman, the DCEU franchise has set up a showdown with the Justice League against Darkseid. But in the complicated history of the DCEU, plans changed, and Darkseid's underling (and uncle) Steppenwolf wound up the movie's villain. Now in the Snyder Cut, Darkseid will be restored as the big bad for the Justice League.

The trailer leaked hours on YouTube before the scheduled panel went on at 5:30 p.m. Predictably, those videos were hit (and continue to be hit) with copyright takedowns by Warner Bros. Entertainment. Stay tuned for Warner Bros. to officially release the trailer later today.

Zack Snyder's Justice League is the infamous "Snyder Cut" of Justice League. In 2017, months before the film's November 2017 premiere, Snyder departed directing duties on his ambitious DC superhero movie to be with his family following the death of his daughter. Firefly creator and The Avengers director Joss Whedon, who was brought on board to punch up the script, replaced Snyder in the director's chair. In recent weeks, actor Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg, has accused Whedon (and others) of abuse of powers on set.

After Justice League received middling reviews and a box office gross eclipsed by Thor: Ragnarok released the same month, fans rallied after learning — from interviews like this one — that much of Snyder's material was not even in the final version of the movie. (People forget, but Justice League was once poised to be a two-part movie, until Snyder had to condense his story to one movie.)

Years of grassroots campaigning by fans, an effort that has included both charity drives and online harassment of anyone remotely critical of the DC franchise, WarnerMedia will now release Zack Snyder's Justice League for its lavish new streaming service HBO Max. The movie will be close to three hours in running time and, according to Snyder, will not include anything Whedon shot.

"It will be an entirely new thing, and, especially talking to those who have seen the released movie, a new experience apart from that movie," Snyder told The Hollywood Reporter in May.

Zack Snyder's Justice League will stream on HBO Max in 2021.