Zack Snyder reveals plans for Justice League 2 and how Jared Leto's Joker factors into the new director's cut

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The Snyder Cut of Justice League will include more of the Knightmare timeline

Jared Leto as Joker in Suicide Squad
(Image credit: Warner Bros./DC)

Zack Snyder's Justice League will include a new scene featuring Jared Leto's Joker. Additional photography brought the character back with a new look, which is noticeably missing the tattoos that adorned the character in Suicide Squad. Director Zack Snyder has also hinted that we might not be seeing a continuation of the film.

Vanity Fair broke the news with our best look yet at Joker's new style, and also confirmed that the character will be involved with the Knightmare timeline first glimpsed in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. They report that the sequence will include Joker, who they describe as like "the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come," and that the vision will show to Ben Affleck's Batman the consequences of failing to prevent Darkseid's invasion of earth. It's also confirmed that Joker will speak to Batman for the first time in the DCEU.

"The cool thing about the scene is that it's Joker talking directly to Batman about Batman," Snyder explained. "It's Joker analyzing Batman about who he is and what he is. That's the thing I also felt like fans deserved from the DC Universe. That is to say, the Jared Leto Joker and the Ben Affleck Batman, they never really got together. It seemed uncool to me that we would make it all the way through this incarnation of Batman and Joker without seeing them come together."

He added: "The scene explains why Bruce had the Joker card taped to his gun that you see in Batman v Superman."

Snyder then explained how Robin's death at the hands of the Joker would factor into the storyline, while also suggesting we won't ever see this play out fully, as there's unlikely to be a sequel. "I'd always wanted to explore the death of Robin," he said. "And if there ever was going to be a next movie, which, of course, there probably won't be, I wanted to do a thing where in flashbacks we learn how Robin died, how Joker killed him and burned down Wayne Manor, and that whole thing that happened between he and Bruce."

He explained that the rest of this storyline would reveal "how they became like this… how [Joker] hurt [Batman] in a way that no one has, really. Other than losing his parents, it was probably the most significant personal injury to his life."

This isn't the first time that we've heard there most likely won't be a future Justice League installment, but with how epic the Snyder Cut is shaping up to be – with Joe Manganiello returning as Deathstroke, and a new clip revealing Steppenwolf in murderous action – we're hoping we do get to see more someday.

The movie arrives on HBO Max March 18, 2021. Until then, check out how to watch DC movies in order for the ultimate movie marathon.

Molly Edwards
Molly Edwards
Deputy Entertainment Editor

I'm the Deputy Entertainment Editor here at GamesRadar+, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English.