Zack Snyder's Justice League: The Knightmare Sequence Is Basically Injustice

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Zack Snyder's Justice League, now streaming on HBO Max.

Developed by the same studio behind the studio that develops Mortal Kombat, Injustice: Gods Among Us took the biggest faces of the DC universe and pitted them against each other in a fairly standard fighting-game structure. But how do you justify the heroes of the Justice League tearing each other limb from limb? Injustice worked its way around this particular problem by creating an alternate universe in which Superman became a fascistic dictator, driven to tyranny by the death of Lois Lane. If that sounds familiar, it's because a similar reality is featured in Zack Snyder's Justice League.

The end of Zack Snyder's Justice League features another Knightmare sequence, which is a five-minute scene at the tail-end of the film depicting a potential future where Batman lets Lois Lane die, resulting in Darkseid turning Superman evil. Batman leads a ragtag band of rebels against the Kryptonian powerhouse, including Flash, Mera, Cyborg, Deathstroke and the Joker. The results of their fight aren't shown, and the scene ends up feeling more like a trailer for a future film, but the parallels between Snyder's vision and Injustice's story reveal some essential truths about the Big Blue Boy Scout. Let's break down those similarities, as well as some of the differences.

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How Justice League and Injustice Are the Same

The "darker timelines" in Injustice and Justice League are bother created by Lois Lane's death. Superman isn't human, and the thing that ties him to Earth is his love for his wife. This can even be seen at work in Justice League, where Superman isn't broken out of his animalistic fury until Lois appears to calm him down. The dystopian scenarios her death result in then need to be solved by temporal manipulation. Flash attempts to reach out to Batman during the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice to convince him he needs to save Lois, while the heroes in Injustice act more directly, pulling the Batman of another timeline into their world so they can enlist his help in defeating their renegade Kryptonian.

Both stories also prominently feature Joker, perhaps more so than any other DC villain. It's Joker that sets off the events that lead to Lois' death in Injustice, and it's Joker who teams up with Batman in the Knightmare sequence. Joker and Superman have encountered each other plenty of times throughout the history of the DC universe, but it's their meeting in Injustice that throws their personalities into the greatest contrast. Superman is a paragon of morals, the embodiment of "truth, justice and the American way," while Joker is everything dark and depraved about humanity.

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How Justice League and Injustice Are Different

The seeds of both timelines are quite similar, but it's in their execution that they differ. Details on the Knightmare sequence's future are scarce, but it's clear that Lois Lane's death drove Superman to somehow fall to Darkseid's influence. His parademons are everywhere, and Superman seems to act as the grim enforcer of his will, having killed Aquaman and Wonder Woman. The future presented is utter devastation, the eradication of human civilization by an off-world invasion. Injustice's future is more about the evils of fascism, as Superman imposes his will upon the people of Earth. Any perpetrators of violence will be brutalized by his hand, as he no longer trusts humans to guide their own future.

Injustice also has plenty of heroes who join Superman in his tyranny of Earth. Lois Lane's death also sets off a nuclear explosion that destroys all of Metropolis, and the utter shock of its annihilation spurs most of the Justice League to abandon their own morals. Batman alone tries to fight back against the onset of the new "Regime," and does so by pulling in the heroes of another timeline. This is probably to create the greatest number of heroic conflicts but also serves to showcase a difference in Superman's power level in both works. The Superman of Zack Snyder's Justice League is an unstoppable menace, capable of taking on anyone. He fights the rest of the Justice League without taking a single scratch, and effortlessly demolishes Steppenwolf. The Superman of Injustice is strong, but not unbeatable. He's more dangerous for the ideas he represents, and how they pull the rest of his timeline's heroes towards world domination.

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Zack Snyder's Justice League stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Ray Porter as Darkseid, Ciarán Hinds as Steppenwolf, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon. The film is currently available on HBO Max.

KEEP READING: Injustice: Year Zero Gives the Justice Society a Surprising Send-Off

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