Zack Snyder's Justice League may be a marked improvement over the 2017 theatrical release, but the film still fails one of his most vital characters: Lois Lane. The Justice League Snyder Cut expands the roles of several characters, including Cyborg and The Flash, but still relegates Lois to the background, a disappointing development considering her status as "the key" to Snyder's broader DCEU setup.
When Snyder first introduced his iteration of Lois Lane with 2013's Man of Steel, the Daily Planet reporter played a crucial role. Her perspective drove early portions of the film, building towards her investigation of a Kryptonian ship deep in the Canadian Arctic. Snyder's Lois, played by acclaimed actress Amy Adams, has always been more than just Superman's love interest. In a sense, Lois is the first domino in the long chain of events that make up Snyder's DCEU. Of course, Snyder has teased a similarly consequential role for Lois Lane in his Justice League sequels, which makes the character's diminished presence in the Snyder Cut all the more disappointing.
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The conundrum surrounding Lois Lane and her role in Snyder's DCEU is a symptom of Snyder's overall approach to writing. His ambition can cause him to put character development on the backburner, and instead arrange characters in such a way that prioritizes narrative causality. For Snyder, characters become pawns in his elaborate tapestry of ideas. Indeed, Snyder's ambition is what makes him so exciting as a filmmaker. It's why fans have clamored for his fully realized vision via the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement for so many years. But now that Zack Snyder's Justice League has finally arrived, it is especially clear that Snyder's narrative aims, while irable, come at the expense of characters like Lois Lane.
Lois' Depiction in Man of Steel & Batman V Superman
Man of Steel introduces a version of Lois Lane that is at once innovative and familiar. Snyder's Lois is a uniquely independent journalist, someone who is willing to push the boundaries of her profession in order to achieve something special. Of course, she still works for the Daily Planet, and must therefore answer to editor-in-chief Perry White (Laurence Fishburne). Lois' ambition, perhaps representative of Snyder's own lofty goals as a filmmaker, plays a central role in Man of Steel, and helps establish Lois Lane as a key cog in the DCEU moving forward.
The emphasis on Lois' relationship with her work is so strong that it often comes at the cost of her relationship with Clark Kent. Snyder does cement their love for one another, but only so as to spring Clark into action as Superman. Lois is plenty prominent in Man of Steel, but once she meets Clark and discovers his true nature, she operates as more of a plot device than as a well-rounded human being. This dynamic comes to a head in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, where Lois is a narrative afterthought until she is taken hostage by Lex Luthor, despite being one of the few people hot on Lex's trail. Upon being rescued by Superman, Lois then helps facilitate the infamous "Martha" moment, which Snyder Cut. In both instances, however, Lois is distilled into a narrative convenience. She is in the right place at the right time, and is therefore able to broker peace between Batman and Superman. Indeed, these moments solidify her as "the key" to solving some of the DCEU's more existential conflicts, but they do little to flesh her out as a character.
Lois' Story in Justice League 2017
For all the issues associated with Lois Lane's presence in Snyder's DCEU setup, the 2017 version of Justice League marked a particular low for the character, which can now safely be attributed to Joss Whedon's intervention. Whedon limits Lois to just a few scenes in the theatrical version of Justice League, with very little attention paid towards the immense grief she must be feeling towards the deceased Superman, something Snyder addresses but doesn't necessarily improve upon in his version. It is worth noting that Zack Snyder originally envisioned a much larger role for Lois, including a romantic subplot between her and Batman. He was forced to abandon the idea after Batman v. Superman's lackluster reception, and struggled to find a proper role for Lois moving forward.
Lois' most notable moment in Justice League comes during the duel between Batman and Superman, when Batman calls her in to calm Superman and take him with her to Smallville. Lois' diminished presence remains a concern, but this is the rare moment that may have actually been better in the original Justice League. Whereas Snyder's version depicts Lois simply being in the right place at the right time, Batman acknowledges Lois' significance in the original version and calls upon her accordingly. It's a minor difference that still doesn't address Lois Lane's lack of agency in the broader DCEU, but it does at least draw attention to her supposed importance without relying on any narrative conveniences. Still, 2017's Justice League glosses over Lois' grief, introducing her as a simple means to an end.
Snyder Cut Still Fails Lois Lane
The Snyder Cut finally recognizes Lois as one of the DCEU's most significant characters, but her increased screen time does not equate to greater complexity or depth. Snyder emphasizes Lois' grief, even including a subplot in which she is unable to return to work at the Daily Planet in the wake of Superman's death. This addition could perhaps even be seen to parallel Snyder's own departure from working on Justice League in 2017. It is therefore no wonder that Snyder would feel a particular connection to Lois and her struggles, but the director's wider intentions for both Lois and the entire DCEU ultimately set the character up for failure.
Indeed, Lois appears more in Zack Snyder's Justice League than she does in the 2017 version. And yet, she is relegated to the background. Of course, Lois is a ing character in the DCEU. She is not a member of the Justice League, and therefore shouldn't be expected to stand alongside characters like Batman and Wonder Woman in of narrative significance. But Snyder previously established Lois as essential to the inner workings of the DCEU. Considering the narrative weight placed on Lois and her relationship with Superman, her experiences should have been placed at the very core of revealed to be Martian Manhunter in disguise. It's a moment that excels as a piece of comics-inspired worldbuilding, but fails as a proper dissection of a grieving woman's struggles. Snyder soon suggests that Lois is pregnant, another exciting moment that expands the DCEU narratively but offers little agency to the woman at the center of the experience. It seems that Lois' role as "the key" in the DCEU has more to do with everyone around her than it does the character herself.
How DC Movies Can Fix Its Lois Lane Problem
DC continues work on several different films, but it may never get the opportunity to tie up many of the threads introduced in the Justice League Snyder Cut. The future of Amy Adams' Lois Lane remains similarly unclear. Casting such an accomplished actress in the role set up lofty expectations for the DCEU's Lois. In some ways, Snyder and company delivered. But in many others, they disappointed. Character development will always be a tricky task in superhero storytelling, where the line between faithful fan service and proper storytelling is increasingly blurred. Of course, the MCU managed to strike that balance, with characters like Thor proving that the DCEU's supposed obstacles were never really obstacles at all. In order for DC to fix its Lois Lane problem, it needs to recognize the character's humanity independent from those around her.
Snyder's operatic vision for the DCEU remains one of the most fascinating "what-ifs" in Hollywood, but that very same vision also placed an unfortunate lid on certain characters' potential, Lois Lane being chief among them. Lois' journey in the Snyder Cut is intriguingly personal, but it ultimately renders her a MacGuffin, not unlike the Mother Boxes or the Anti-Life Equation. A clear cog in the DCEU, Lois has a strong impact on the world around her, but very little interiority available to the viewer. Zack Snyder's Justice League remains a welcome addition to the superhero landscape, but it still fails one of its most potent characters.
