Zack Snyder released a 30-second teaser for his upcoming director's cut of Justice League, with a full trailer to arrive during the DC FanDome event at 2:30 PST on Saturday, August 22. As expected, the long-awaited 'Snyder cut' has a much darker feel than the theatrical version of Justice League, with a section of the teaser hinting at the demise of the superhero team for those who are aware of what Snyder has planned for the movie.

The part of the teaser in question occurs at the ten-second mark, when the character of the Flash can be seen moving fluidly through space and time. It is likely that viewers are seeing Flash enter the speed force itself, which is the source of his super speed. At its full potential, the speed force can allow speedsters to travel to other dimensions, as well as into the past or future.

According to various clues that Snyder has dropped with regards to Zack Snyder's Justice League over the years, the members of the newly formed League will be unable to stop Steppenwolf's conquest of Earth and will lose their lives in the process. That will force Barry Allen aka The Flash to travel back in time to alter the past. The resulting tinkering with time will bring the League back to life, and this time around, Barry will be able to guide them as to how to defeat Steppenwolf without giving up their own lives in the process.

In the theatrical version of Justice League, the time-traveling subplot was done away with altogether, and the League won instead by Superman punching Steppenwolf really hard. The question now is whether Snyder managed to film enough of the time-traveling sequence that he can put in his cut of the film. Which we may see when the full trailer debuts at DC FanDome later this afternoon.

Interestingly, a time-traveling Flash will be a callback to the 'Knightmare sequence' in Batman V Superman, while also nicely setting up the main premise of his own upcoming solo movie, which will take its cues from The Flashpoint Paradox comics storyline. In that story, Barry runs back in time to prevent his mother's death and save his father from jail, but in doing so fundamentally alters the course of history.

By using time travel, The Flash is supposed to hit a reset button of sorts on the whole DCEU, providing a way to introduce the concept of the multiverse into the franchise, which will allow for different actors playing the same characters to all exist in the same shared reality.

Justice League features a lead cast comprising of Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Ciarán Hinds as Steppenwolf, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon. Zack Snyder's Justice League is set to premiere exclusively on HBO Max in 2021.