Gradually, we’re learning more about Zack Snyder’s intentions for his cut of Justice League and lately, the news is coming out rapidly. Yesterday, we reported the story of a deleted scene featuring a young Darkseid fighting Ares during the invasion of Earth. At that point, we weren’t sure who might play the space tyrant but now we have an answer from Snyder himself.
Thanks to Snyder and his candor on his Vero account, we can put a face and a name to the director’s casting process. And it’s no one any of us would’ve thought of. Responding to a rumor, Snyder named Ray Porter as his Darkseid.
Ray Porter is an actor known for Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous and Ben Affleck’s Argo. He’s written a couple of books and works in TV, doing guest appearances on popular sitcoms and dramas — not someone with the kind of visible profile you can picture making a turn as a supervillain.
Porter may be who Snyder wanted for Darkseid’s voice and a little motion capture, nothing more, but that wasn’t cleared up — as of yet.
Snyder has talked a great deal with respect to his vision over the past couple weeks. He expounded on the infamous Knightmare Sequence which could’ve featured Darkseid when it was realized in full.
“The truth is that the ‘Knightmare Sequence’ in this movie, it was my idea that all of that would eventually be explained – is that a surprise? And that we would end up in the distant future where Darkseid has taken over Earth, and where Superman has succumbed to the Anti-Life [Equation]. And there were a few members of the Justice League that survived to that world, and that they were fighting, Batman and a broken half of Cyborg – there’s only half of him because of whatever happened – they were working on an equation to jump back to tell Bruce… those were the things that we were dealing with.”
Snyder noted, “the studio, they were still sort of into the big look, but the deep depth about how and why everyone was mad at each other…” obviously didn’t go anywhere. While they reasonably were down for bringing in Darkseid — as they always are — Snyder’s method of doing so clearly made them chafe. He was let go and Warner gave us the string of DC successes we have today.
The door is open, of course, for a new Justice League to assemble down the line, one that could tangle with Apokolips’ Omega Man. And it will have Shazam too!