Starting at about two hours longer than the 2017 version of the live-action Justice League, the Snyder cut of the film contains lots of extra scenes as well as follows a significantly different theme. 

While the previous movie was mainly centered around Batman, Wonderwoman, and Superman, three characters that were already established and well known, the Snyder cut of Justice League puts more focus on Cyborg and the Flash. The extended time frame for the movie allowed characters that were being newly introduced to the DC live-action cinematic universe to receive an in-depth telling of their backstories. Furthermore, while his appearances are brief, Snyder made way for a new Justice League member as Martian Man Hunter comes to help Lois Lane with her mourning of Superman. 

In the first movie, the Flash was a source of comic relief. He is young and goofy, allowing him to contradict the darker and more hardened themes and heroes within the Justice League. However, his light-hearted role prevented him from growing much as a character. While there is a scene where he is told to save just one person after being afraid to get himself involved in a dangerous situation and the audience can see him grow a little used to the job of a superhero, he is still portrayed as little more than a kid. The Snyder cut of the film not only stays true to the bubbly and silly persona of Barry Allen but also gives him a vital role in the climax of the film. The Flash has to deal with not only the job of saving his friend’s lives but the world’s as well, as their battle begins to go astray. He uses the speed force in order to reverse time and give the other members of the Justice League a second chance to beat Steppenwolf. In addition, the newer movie also began to prepare Barry Allen’s character for his own movie by introducing and having him save his love interest, Iris West. 

Similarly, Cyborg receives an intensive character arc in the movie. Much of the movie’s plot is centered around his backstory and development. In the theatrical version of the film, Victor Stone is an angsty kid with lots of potential, and very little of it is explored. The Snyder cut explores Victor’s past and his tension with his father. In the initial movie, it was implied that Victor’s conflict with his dad stemmed from his ability to accept his mother’s death and his father’s decision to turn him into a cyborg to save his life. In addition to these reasons, the Snyder cut also depicts how the tension began long before the fatal car accident. When Victor was a normal teenager his father focused more on his work rather than his son, unlike Victor’s mom. At this point, Victor’s resentment of his father had already begun and was growing. Furthermore, the Snyder cut also includes how Cyborg desires to do good and help other people, as seen when he helps his friend’s grades and uses his newfound abilities to give money to those in need, while the theatrical cut only covered his brooding nature. Cyborg’s character is significant to the new plot of the story as his dad sacrifices himself in order to help the league and Cyborg’s creation being intertwined with the Mother Boxes makes him the only one capable of deactivating them. 

 The antagonists’ motives also changed. The theatrical cut depicts Steppenwolf trying to gather the Mother Boxes so that his mother can return and so that he can turn Earth into the same hell-scape as his home planet. The new movie made Steppenwolf a more dimensional character as he is now trying to gather the boxes and take over Earth in an attempt to make up for a past mistake for Darkseid and find the Anti-Life Equation. Which was another important change in the movie, the appearance of Darkseid, setting him up to be a major villain if there were to be more movies. 

In addition to new scenes and a plot change, the Snyder cut also had different atmospheric elements. The film had an entirely new score than what was originally planned and was literally darker as well. One example of this could be seen changed his classic blue and red suit for a black one. The fight scenes were also more intense and bloody as the Snyder version was rated R, while the theatrical cut was only PG-13.

The film also ended uniquely as it showed a Knightmare scene that predicted the future of that universe. Throughout the movie, it was implied that Superman’s main connection to humanity was Lois Lane. In the predicted future Lois Lane has died and Superman has turned bad. The world looks apocalyptic as Superman has joined Darkseid in taking over the world. A sign of his destruction can be seen in the background as a dead green lantern, Kilowog lies in the background.