The Snyder Cut Character You Forgot Was Featured In Wonder Woman
Zack Snyder's Justice League featured a slew of characters that weren't in the original cut of the film. Some of these characters only have a couple of seconds of screen time, while others take up quite a bit of the new, four-hour running time. For this new, expanded version of the film, it's clear that Snyder was crafting the version of the story that he always wanted to tell.
In addition to giving the characters more room to breathe, Snyder's cut also includes more footage from the Age of Heroes, the battle that was fought millennia ago to prevent Darkseid (Ciarán Hinds) from conquering the planet. At the time, Atlanteans, Amazons, men, and gods all allied to take on the threat, and ultimately managed to repel the evil king and his forces from Earth.
The sequence features a Green Lantern, Diana's mother, and the former King of Atlantis. It also features Zeus (David McCallum) and his son Ares, the god of war, who might have looked familiar to fans of Wonder Woman.
David Thewlis appears for just a moment in the Snyder Cut
David Thewlis, who played Ares in Wonder Woman, reprises the role briefly in this new version of Justice League. His appearance is easy to miss, in part because he looks so different than he does in Wonder Woman, which takes place ages after the events depicted in the Age of Heroes. During the battle against Darkseid's forces, Ares is dressed in battle clothes, and also has a beard that he lacks when he faces off with Diana (Gal Gadot).
Here, Ares is fighting alongside the Amazons against an existential threat that could wipe out all life on Earth. He's a hero, at least for the moment. It's not until centuries later that he ultimately decides humanity is not worth fighting for, and begins to plot to wipe them off the map.
Ares may have beaten back Darkseid with help from the Amazons, but it was an Amazon who would ultimately be his downfall.
Ares is disguised for much of Wonder Woman
Although audiences eventually discover that Thewlis has been Ares the whole time, for much of the movie, Diana suspects that General Erich Ludendorff (Danny Huston) is actually Ares in disguise. When Ares finally does reveal himself after Diana has defeated Ludendorff, she realizes that the god of war is not the only reason that humanity remains in a state of constant conflict.
It's during this climactic scene that Diana also discovers she is a daughter of Zeus, and is therefore Ares' half-brother. The two do battle, and Diana ultimately wins after harnessing the powers of a god in order to kill Ares. In doing so, she affirms that humanity is worth fighting for, even if some of its people resort to violence to solve their problems.
Ares' appearance in the Snyder Cut is just one more way that Snyder's version ties more closely in to the rest of the DC universe. It's also a reminder that, although he was eventually corrupted, Ares was once very willing to fight for the good of humanity.