Zack Snyder Celebrated The HBO Max Launch With A First Look At The Snyder Cut’s New Villain

Given the bombshell news that HBO Max will officially “Release the Snyder Cut” next year, Justice League director Zack Snyder seems more than happy to promote the streaming service on its big launch day.

The filmmaker is known for whipping fans into a frenzy on social media, and he certainly leaned into his strong suit by dropping a first look at the epic DC Comics villain Darkseid, who will reportedly play a huge role in the upcoming Snyder Cut. Despite the blurry photo — it’s not your screen — the tweet has already racked up more than 60,000 likes after only being up for a few hours.

You can (kinda) see Darkseid below:

— Zack Snyder (@ZackSnyder) May 27, 2020

While the theatrical version of Justice League featured the villain Steppenwolf, who was not well-received by fans and general audiences, it’s unknown how large of a role Darkseid will play in the new Snyder Cut version of the film or whether he’ll replace Steppenwolf altogether. What is known is that actor Ray Porter was secretly cast in the part, which he officially confirmed on Twitter for the first time after the Snyder Cut announcement was made.

— Ray Porter (@Ray__Porter) May 22, 2020

While hardcore Snyder fans were aware of rumors that Porter was cast as Darkseid, the assumption was that he only did a small amount of voiceover work. But in a recent interview with the Lightcast podcast, Porter revealed that he actually filmed a significant amount of motion capture footage for Snyder before the tragic circumstances that led the director to exit the Justice League film. Via Heroic Hollywood:

“Obviously you never know how much… I know what I did, and you never know how much is going to be in the film, because editing occurs. If it all comes out in the wash in 2021 and I’m not in as much as I thought I would be, or there was stuff that’s cut, that’s just part of the deal, that’s part of the process. But there was a lot of work. There was a lot of work. Obviously not as much as some other cast members, but there was a lot going on.”

Judging by Snyder openly teasing DC Comics’ biggest villain to promote the HBO Max launch, we’re guessing Porter’s Darkseid will be seeing a lot less of the cutting room floor this time around.