Zack Snyder reveals Joker’s major role in creating the Justice League's Knightmare timeline

Suicide Squad
(Image credit: Warner Bros.)

As Zack Snyder’s Justice League fast approaches, more details are being regularly revealed by the miniseries’ director. As well as a look at Martian Manhunter, Snyder also released a new, slightly extended trailer and announced when we can expect the new version of Justice League to be released.

Speaking to TheFilmJunkee, Snyder revealed more about the Knightmare timeline – a worst-case scenario future in which Superman is corrupted by Darkseid. The timeline was memorably included in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, in a scene which saw Batman fighting back against Superman's regime. The vigilante was warned by a time-travelling Flash about the future – however, the speedster arrived too early in the timeline for his message to make sense. As a result, the League need to pinpoint the right moment in the past for Flash to arrive to prevent the Knightmare future unfolding.

In the livestream, Snyder mentioned the possibility of a comic book with artist Jim Lee to continue the Snyder Cut’s storyline, and explained: “The Joker is somehow involved in the stealing of the Mother Box and using it to create the treadmill. Because, in my mind, Cyborg was always going to do the math and figure out, ‘This is what we gotta do to go back in time to warn Bruce correctly.’”

While it doesn’t seem from this that we’ll be seeing the Joker stealing a mother box in the Snyder Cut, it’s still an intriguing piece of the puzzle that is the Knightmare timeline. Snyder also said the comic book would potentially feature Robin’s death at the hands of the Joker, adding: “But I always thought that the conflict that was happening there was Bruce reliving the events–the death of Robin and what went into that. I was like, ‘That’d be a fun comic book, even just the death of Robin.’ In that world, just a nice little one-off.”

Snyder has previously revealed that Leto’s Joker will have a new look in the miniseries and is “road-weary.” Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke also returned for additional photography, though whether he is involved in the Knightmare timeline or not remains to be seen.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League is arriving in March 2021. Until then, check out our guide to watching DC movies in order to get caught up with the ultimate movie marathon.

Molly Edwards
Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer 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.