See Lex Luthor Commune With Alien in 'Batman v. Superman' Deleted Scene (Spoilers!)
This story contains some plot details that might be considered spoilers. Proceed with caution.
Forget the red capes: It’s the aliens that are coming. Piggybacking off the record-setting success of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Warner Bros. on Monday released a deleted scene that will presumably be part of Zack Snyder’s three-hour, R-rated director’s cut. The 45-second, near-wordless clip depicts Jesse Eisenberg’s manic Lex Luthor — acting speechless for a change — deep within the bowels of Zod’s Kryptonian vessel, communing with a giant creature that’s most definitely not of this world. The creature vanishes as a gun-toting SWAT team approaches, presumably to take Lex into custody. He turns slowly, almost confidently towards them, perhaps secure in the knowledge that, compared to what he’s just seen, these flesh-and-blood fighters don’t pose the slightest threat.
Out of context, this sequence may seem downright… well, alienating. But it clearly fits into a larger extraterrestrial pattern that’s emerging from the rapidly expanding DC Universe. And we’re not talking about crop circles. Strewn throughout Dawn of Justice are references subtle and overt to the arrival of Darkseid, an intergalactic supervillain who already lords over one apocalyptic wasteland, the planet Apokolips, and seeks to add another planet to his empire. The alien’s presence is felt most strongly in Bruce Wayne’s vivid dream sequence, which foretells a future Earth that’s been reduced to rubble. But “Darkseid” is also the answer to some of the movie’s other burning questions, including Lex’s warning to Batman at the end of the film.
Now, it should be noted that the creature who pays Lex a visit in this clip isn’t Darkseid, who is too powerful a warlord to waste time stopping by for a chat with a mere human. But the critter is related to the Jack Kirby-created “Fourth World” that houses Apokolips’s ruler and other New Gods. Current Internet consensus suggests that Lex is having a meet-and-greet with Steppenwolf, one of Darkseid’s generals, who in the comic-book realm is also the father of one of Wonder Woman’s fellow Amazons, Fury.
Steppenwolf (DC)
At the same time, others are suggesting that we’re looking at Papa Darkseid, Yuga Khan, which would add an interesting father/son dynamic to his child’s impending invasion. Either way, the square object he’s holding is almost certainly a Mother Box, a doo-dad that allows for intergalactic travel via Boom Tubes. That’s why he’s able to pull his vanishing act so quickly as the soldiers approach.
Yuga Khan (DC)
But don’t worry! Like the Terminator always says, this thing will definitely be back.
See how the ‘Batman v Superman’ cast reacts to the film’s surprise ending.
