In Zack Snyder's breakdown of the new Justice League trailer, the filmmaker spent a lot of time talking about Darkseid and the role the villain plays in the movie's flashback to his first visit to Earth.
We caught a glimpse of those scenes in Joss Whedon's cut, of course, but he swapped out Uxas for Steppenwolf and mostly overlooked the importance of the Anti-Life equation (which we know from Snyder was set to factor heavily into a sequel and explains how Darkseid controlled Superman).
Now, the filmmaker has elaborated on what brings the ruler of Apokalips to Earth in the first place.
"He dug the Earth up, because he felt like the Anti-Life equation was here, and he'd pound the Earth to reveal the anti-life equation. In the movie, you see it in a physical form, which is all those patterns of lava that exist on the ground, and that's how they're able to visualize it, so that would have to be deciphered to figure out how the Anti-Life equation would be put into practice. Uxas, at this point, in his conquest of Earth, Young Uxas is super powerful. The only thing that could really stand up against him is the old Gods, the defenders of Earth, and the old King of Atlantis."
Later, Snyder would share some insight into what the villain is actually doing in those scenes from the trailers for the director's cut of Justice League, and he compared the full version of the battle sequence to being along the lines of what we'd see in The Lord of the Rings.
"He's summoning the Mother Box, he's revealed the Anti-Life equation, he's created the unity. This world is in the bag, in his mind. He's just getting ready to not only take over this world but probably the ultimate weapon in the universe. He doesn't realize that he's about to face off against these very determined protectors of Earth. Those are the pre-mother boxes, that's part of the armada, you can sort of see the motherships, these are the dropships. Really, a fun design, creating this world, I really like this sort of crazy sci-fi Lord of the Rings world. Designing it was really fun... you'll see a lot more of it in the movie."
There's a lot to digest here, but it's clear that Snyder's take on this sequence will play more heavily into the history of the DC Extended Universe, while better explaining exactly what it is Darkseid wants.
What's your take on these latest details about Zack Snyder's Justice League?