Batman v Superman opened in theaters Friday, March 25. That weekend, fans took to the web to either vent their frustrations or announce their praise. Out of those discussions came questions about the plot, more particularly Lex Luthor’s ambiguous motives. Fast forward to the following Monday and Warner Bros. releases a deleted scene, which answered questions and raised dozens more. In the scene, Luthor is found on the Kryptonian ship, kneeling in front of who we now know to be Steppenwolf. Boom, internet loses its collective mind! Why was the scene absent from the film, and where would it have been placed? Zack Snyder has an answer for both of those burning questions.

During a set visit for Justice League, attended by CBR, the following question was asked:

“That deleted scene from BvS that was released the Monday after. Did you deliberately put it out there to sow the seeds for Justice League? Most of us are used to getting deleted scenes on a Blu-ray.” “I kind thought like, ‘Oh, that would be a cool after-credits sequence,'” answered Snyder. “But then I was like, ‘I don’t know, can I do that?’ Because Marvel does that. ‘Is that a thing?’ So we were like, ‘Oh! Well, maybe there’s another way to do it.'”

If you missed it, Lex Luthor’s Communion scene is below.

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This is a clever twist to a now very familiar formula. It will be interesting to see if the same trend is carried throughout the rest of the DCEU releases. The next film up to bat is Suicide Squad, which opens on August 5. If an extra scene is planned, there is no telling what it would be; the same can be said of Wonder Woman when it releases June 2 of next year.

Justice League opens in theaters on November 17, 2017, and more deleted content is on the way when BvS hits Blu-ray/DVD on July 19.

Image: Warner Bros.