Zack Snyder’s Justice League reveals surprise fate of major DCEU character

Zack Snyder’s Justice League packs a lot into its four-hour runtime – but there’s still space for a surprise or two. That includes the fate of one major DC character and a hint of a climactic moment that took place off-screen.

Major spoilers for Zack Snyder’s Justice League follow…

Justice League’s Epilogue takes place in the ‘Knightmare’ world, the possible future first glimpsed in Batman v Superman that involves Darkseid taking over Earth.

There, Batman collects together a team of heroes and villains – with a handful of notable absences. Jared Leto’s Joker, though, shares a scene with Ben Affleck’s Caped Crusader and fills us in on one of those no longer with us.

After some serious goading from the Clown Prince of Crime, Batman snaps back that Harley Quinn died in his arms and, with her last breath, asked Bats to kill Joker. It's even implied that Joker had something to do with Harley's death.

So, Margot Robbie’s character is technically dead in this not-quite-canon adventure. But the implications aren’t as serious as they might originally seem. Not only is Harley Quinn appearing in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad later this year, the events of Justice League 2 would have seen the Knightmare timeline wiped from existence thanks to Flash travelling back to the past to fix things. Phew.

Harley Quinn isn’t the only face missing from DCEU’s Knightmarish future. Wonder Woman and Aquaman are also confirmed to have been killed – though that’s explicitly at the hand of Darkseid

For more on Knightmare, Darkseid, and how the Snyder Cut would have set up a sequel, check out the complete breakdown of the Justice League ending. Plus, grab a subscription if you haven’t already with the latest HBO Max deals. Plus, read more about Justice League with these articles:

• What would have happened in Zack Snyder's Justice League post-credits?
• The biggest differences between Zack Snyder's Justice League and Joss Whedon's