While speculation about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ran rampant over the three years leading up to the film’s release, I’m not sure folks expected to see as much teasing and possible connective tissue to the greater DC Extended Universe as we ended up getting. Indeed, while director Zack Snyder and writers Chris Terrio and David S. Goyer focused on fleshing out the titular point of contention, the film contains a number of explicit references to the superhero world at large, with a number of signposts that could certainly hint at major things to come in Justice League, which is poised to begin filming in just two weeks ahead of its November 2017 release date.

One of the biggest teases came in the form of Batman’s dream sequences, which I attempted to unpack last weekend. We not only saw an extended glimpse at either a post-apocalyptic future or an alternate reality ruled by DC Comics villain Darkseid, but we also got an ominous warning from Ezra Miller’s Flash about Batman’s feelings towards Superman and the importance of Amy Adams’ Lois Lane.

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Image via Warner Bros.

Both sequences were purposefully confusing to audiences so as not to completely spoil what Snyder and Co. have in store for us with Justice League and beyond, but Snyder recently appeared on the Empire Podcast and talked a bit about what audiences are supposed to take away from the Batman dream sequences:

“Let’s just say this, I think it’s OK to look at the extended dream sequence as an impressionistic view of a possible future. And that’s not hard to—I mean that’s in the sequence; I’m not spoiling anything or making up anything that you should see. So the connection with The Flash part of that sequence, you can speculate whether he’s coming from that reality or another one. That’s the fun stuff to try and figure out exactly what Flash is saying to Bruce and what it means. We know, so we’re not making it up.”

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Image via Warner Bros.

Indeed, producer Deborah Snyder previously revealed to us that the entire idea of the Flash sequence came about in the middle of production, as Snyder was working on the outline for Justice League, so we can expect to get some answers in that superhero team-up film. For now, audiences are supposed to be speculating about what it all means.

But what of Darkseid? The extended dream sequence includes some very specific references to the alien being, from the giant Omega symbol in the ground to Darkseid’s minion parademons flying around and picking up troops. When Snyder was asked if he can say anything about Darkseid, he played coy, but he did drop a reference to what the villain’s mode of universal domination may entail:

“I mean, maybe he exists out in the universe somewhere? He’s looking for something? Something that’s against life?”

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Image via Warner Bros.

In the comics, Darkseid has a couple of means of ruling the universe, but one is the Anti-Life Equation, which gives its user complete control over the thoughts and emotions of all living beings. Snyder seemingly reveals here that Darkseid’s big weapon will indeed be the Anti-Life Equation, something that he seeks to fulfill by going to Earth because in the comics, humans possess most of the fragments of the mysterious equation.

So if Darkseid has mind-control powers, could the angry Superman we saw in that dream sequence, surrounded by Superman soldiers, be under the influence of Darkseid? That could certainly set up yet another battle between Superman and Batman and complicate the formation of the Justice League even further. Of course first Superman’s gotta come back from the dead, so it’ll be interesting to see what the main story of Justice League will be: Batman forming the Justice League to resurrect Superman, Batman forming the Justice League to battle Darkseid, or some combination of the two.

For more on Batman v Superman, peruse our recent coverage below:

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