DCU Post-Credits Scene That Never Amounted to Anything (And Never Will)
The post-credit scene of DC's most recent cinematic disappointment Black Adam featured a surprising Henry Cavill Superman cameo, all but promising a long-awaited return. Two months later, it's been announced that Cavill will not return. This is not the first DC movie to amount to absolutely nothing.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was meant, as the name suggests, to set up the Justice League for the first time on the big screen. It featured the two classic characters turning from rivals to allies, teaming together in the end to take down the villainous businessman Lex Luthor.
Lex, played by Jesse Eisenberg, was last seen behind bars. But its follow-up, Justice League, set up his return.
But then, unfortunately, a terrible tragedy in Zack Snyder's family forced him to withdraw from work on the almost finished Justice League. After that, the director's seat was taken by Joss Whedon who immediately began changing the plot and re-shooting scenes that didn't fit his "vision."
A lot of footage already filmed by Snyder ended up on the editing room floor, including the scene with Lex Luthor, who broke out of his imprisonment to meet up with Deathstroke, played by Joe Manganiello. It was the first hint at a team-up of villains, preparing viewers for future films featuring the Justice League battling Luthor's Legion of Doom – their counterpart in the comics.
Deathstroke (Slade Wilson) is a fan-favorite among comic readers, the antithesis to Batman, and seeing him in full gear is a dream come true for fans.
Luckily, they finally got to see this scene in Zack Snyder's Justice League, released on HBO Max in 2021, but it left a bittersweet taste because nothing will come of it.
Despite Zack Snyder's Justice League success, WB still lost a ton of money when Joss Whedon's version of the movie flopped. It made only $658 million against a massive $300 million budget, which is a huge investment and a huge loss for a studio trying to battle the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This movie and the mess surrounding it made DC and WB completely shift direction. They instead focused on one-off solo movies like Aquaman and Wonder Woman – still set in the same continuity, but without the Justice League.
In the last few weeks, new co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran have announced that most of the DCEU actors will not be returning. With that, the epic universe will likely be rebooted.
There's little doubt that Lex Luthor will appear in the future of the Justice League – he's the main antagonist of the heroes. But it certainly won't be the version we saw in 2017 and 2021. Eisenberg's casting was met with mixed reviews from fans, who said that he didn't match the characterization from the comics.
The future of DC films is in serious doubt. After Henry Cavill was officially announced as no longer part of their future, DC seems to be in full reset mode.
And with that, Zack Snyder's Justice League's post-credit scene is just another unfulfilled promise from DC.