After all the drama it took to wish this thing into existence, Zack Snyder's Justice League was largely seen as a triumph. While the praise for the movie wasn't quite unanimous, pretty much everyone agreed that it was an improvement from the theatrical cut in every conceivable way. The movie restores Snyder's original vision for the massive superhero team-up in terms of its story and its characters. Not only did it help redeem some characters that were pushed aside in the original, but it also introduces some fan-favorite DC characters that didn't even appear in the theatrical cut. One of the biggest additions that fans loved was the villainous Darkseid. But while there was a lot of excitement about seeing this character in a live-action movie for the first time, as a villain, Darkseid was a big letdown.
In the comics, Darkseid is a cosmic tyrant who rules the planet of Apokolips and wants to conquer the universe. His existence in the DCEU was first hinted at when Lex Luthor promised some ominous threat was coming to Earth. In Justice League, Darksied's minion, Steppenwolf, is the one sent to Earth to retrieve the Mother Boxes and submit the planet and its heroes to his will. Though only comic book fans likely knew of the connection between Darkseid and Steppenwolf, there is one short mention of him in the theatrical cut. Zack Snyder's Justice League establishes Darkseid a lot more while hinting at his further role in Snyder's original plans for the Justice League sequels.
It is clear that Snyder envisioned Darkseid as the big bad of the DCEU, similar to Thanos's role in the MCU. Snyder's original plans show that Darkseid would show up in Justice League 2 where he would conqueror Earth and turn Superman evil, as seen in this movie's epilogue. Justice League 3 would then have all the heroes of the DCEU coming together to fight Darkseid similar to the epic finale of Avengers: Endgame. But in forcing Darkseid into an already crowded movie, he gave the villain a poor introduction and established him as an unexciting villain for the future.
Though he appears in a few scenes throughout the movie as Steppenwolf relays his progress on Earth, Darkseid's big moment is the flashback sequence showing the first time Darkseid tried to conqueror Earth. This sequence appeared in the theatrical cut of Justice League, only it was Steppenwolf shown to be leading the army of Parademons against the heroes of Earth. This suggests that either Snyder redid the digital effects for the sequence and replaced Steppenwolf with Darkseid, or Joss Whedon decided to cut Darkseid out of the movie completely. If the latter is the case, it might be one of the few instances in which Whedon's instincts were correct.
Though the appearance of Darkseid in the midst of an epic battle is exciting to see and certainly thrilled fans, it does nothing to make Darkseid an interesting villain. In fact, it really hurts his image as the big threat to come. It feels like a strange decision to have the first appearance of this significant villain feature him getting his butt kicked by a bunch of characters who are not integral to the story. Some might argue that it makes Darkseid an underdog which is an interesting starting point for a villain, but the movie never treats him that way. He is this hugely powerful being who brings his massive army to Earth and is beaten by Earth's forces. In that respect, it sort of sours the heroes all coming together to eventually defeat Darkseid as this movie already proved that wasn't too hard to do.
Another aspect of this movie that hurts Darkseid's image is the fact that Steppenwolf is the main villain. In the first movie where all of the DCEU's biggest heroes come together, Steppenwolf was a poor choice for the main villain. This is a character few fans were familiar with and a hero that had not been established at all in the movie universe beforehand. While Snyder's version of the movie improved the character considerably, he was still one of the weakest aspects of the story. Unfortunately, Steppenwolf was the audience's introduction to Darkseid and he is a dull one at that. After watching Steppenwolf in a four-hour movie, fans likely had their fill of Mother Boxes and wanted something new.
The biggest mistake Snyder makes with introducing Darkseid in this movie is the rushed motivations given to the character. Again, looking at Darkseid's obvious Marvel counterpart, Thanos was a villain that lurked in the shadows for a long time before stepping into the spotlight. It was known that he wanted the Infinity Stones, but it was unclear why. When he finally came forward in Avengers: Infinity War, his character development and motivations were made clear and made him a fascinating character.
With Darkseid, Snyder seems to think the comic-book accurate design of the character is strong enough to avoid interesting motivations. It is established that he wants Earth because they defeated him the last time. That's a pretty lackluster approach to such an important villain. He is simply evil for the sake of being evil. While future movies could add layers on top of that, the foundation of the character is still weak.
As it seems unlikely fans will ever get to see the rest of Snyder's plans for the DCEU which means it could be a long time before Darkseid is seen in a live-action movie again. Despite making interesting heroes and an epic feel, this seems to be one area Snyder botched with his DCEU movies. It's true that Darkseid would have served his purpose as an obstacle for the Justice League to overcome. But for a villain with such potential, it's a shame that Darkseid couldn't have been more than that.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is now streaming on HBO Max.