This Ominous 'Justice League' Scene Could Mean Huge Things For The Future Of The DCEU

Spoilers ahead for Justice League. The DCEU (aka the DC Extended Universe) has taken a page — or chapter — out of the MCU's (aka the Marvel Cinematic Universe's) book with Justice League. The new superhero team film garnered Marvel comparisons early on when the director of Marvel's The Avengers, Joss Whedon, took over this new film after its first director, Zack Snyder, stepped down midway through filming due to a family emergency. Marvel's influence on Justice League is likely apparent for most fans of comic book superhero movies, but one of the most noticeable similarities between Justice League and Marvel movies like The Avengers is what happens after the film ends. The number of post-credits scenes Justice League has is similar to that of most Marvel movies. The latest DCEU film has two post-credits scenes of the classic format, which is one funny scene, and one scene previewing what the next movie might be.

Just to catch everyone up, the vaguest of plot-summaries of Justice League is this: Batman (played by Ben Affleck, of course), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), The Flash (Ezra Miller), Cyborg (Ray Fisher), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and — surprise — Superman (Henry Cavill) team up to fight a supervillain called Steppenwolf (voiced by Ciarán Hinds) on Earth. A few surprising twists and turns take place, but it's important to note that the heroes from the previous movie Batman v Superman return, because the foreshadowing post-credits scene reveals the surprising appearance of that film's villain, Lex Luthor (played by Jesse Eisenberg).

The post-credits scene involves a fake-out view of Luthor in prison, where everyone left him at the end of Batman v Superman. The man in jail is discovered not to be the real Lex Luthor — classic evil-villain move right there. And where is the actual Luthor, you ask? The Justice League post-credits don't leave that to the imagination. If you guessed, "I bet he's sailing on a yacht somewhere, being a jerk," you would be right.

The post-credits scene shows Luthor on the yacht, being a jerk, when he's visited by a shadowy, masked figure — Deathstroke. Rather than fight to the death, these two evil forces basically decide to team up, and so the end of Justice League swiftly sets up a potential for a Suicide Squad-like team of evil villains that's been seen in the comics. As IndieWire points out, this pairing of powerful villains could mean a lot for DCEU, because even if many of its latest film's attributes seem reminiscent of Marvel's blockbusters, making a future movie with a team of evil villains is something that Marvel can't do. According to Polygon, Deathstroke has a long history in the DC comics, so the possibilities of what a Deathstroke/Lex Luthor team can do together are pretty exciting.

A new movie about the villains of the DCEU teaming up together is still likely years away, though, as it's only been hinted at in the post-credits scenes. What comic book movie fans can most likely look forward to is the Flash's standalone movie, Flashpoint. The more lighthearted post credits scene gives audiences a little extra screen-time for Ezra Miller's Flash, too, as it shows him racing Superman in a field to determine who is faster. Whether or not Flashpoint will actually come out in 2020, as previously suggested, will likely be determined by Justice League's success, but here's hoping, because more of that character would be truly great.

But for now, at least, fans can sit back and enjoy watching the unlikely combination of characters seen in this movie and its spooky, drama-filled after-credits scene.