Now I’ve heard there was a secret cut, that Snyder had that would please the lot, but the Warner Brothers didn’t take to it, they reworked it.
Thus is the saga of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, a mythical original cut of a movie that would finally set up the larger DCEU, complete with multiple timelines, new characters and major ramifications for future movies within the universe. So why did the corporate suits at WB decide to axe what seems to be a surefire way to introduce the big baddie and kickstart the universe? It was just too dark.
Honestly it should have come as no surprise to Detective Comics that when they hired the director of Watchmen and 300, he would want to make it a gloomy universe. Unfortunately, the studio decided against Zach Snyder’s gritty take on the characters a little too late and tried to lighten the mood well after production was completed.
I suppose the studios had a right to be skeptical of a dark Justice League after the flop that was Batman v. Superman. I must admit, Bv.S was a train wreck of a movie, and I was not a fan of how dark the characters were portrayed, although that was merely one of the problems with that film.
So sure, I’m glad DC took criticism for their mistakes and tried to apply this to their future plans for the DCEU, but it’s ridiculous for them to attempt to change the tone after principal photography had wrapped. What’s more, they cancelled the two planned JL sequels after Zack left the project. A universe was crumbling before our eyes.
You made the bed DC, now lie in it.
As we all know, Justice League was released in 2017 and featured significant reshoots and rewrites courtesy of Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon. DC elected to focus on the solo endeavors of our heroes rather than a shared universe, while scrapping the dark tone present in the Snyderverse. The reception was mixed, citing underdeveloped characters, odd pacing, and a complete reworking of the implications of a shared universe.
Enter: #ReleasetheSnyderCut
Following the travesty that was the theatrical release of Justice League, fans banded together to demand Warner Brothers to release Snyder’s original vision, the film the director had envisioned. However, there was no official word that Snyder’s version was even completed, and executives deemed the movement ‘a pipe dream’
After years of calls by the fans and cast, Snyder unveiled that an unlikely source would be the saving grace for his vision. The streaming service HBO Max put up the additional $70 million to complete the editing, reshoots, and special effects that the film required. The mythical “Snyder Cut” would be a four-hour epic, showcasing his somewhat lighter plans for the universe, along with typical Snyder filmmaking quirks. Additionally, the film rereleased in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, condensing the action into a tall square.
I have now dedicated hours of my life obsessing over this fascinating movement in film history while watching both versions back-to-back to get a scope of how drastically different these two movies are.
The film opens at the end of Bv.S where Superman defeats Doomsday and the slow motion is front and center. As Superman dies, he lets out a final death yell that echoes across the world…and awakens the Mother Box in the Amazon’s position. Immediately, the film establishes that the Man of Steel’s presence will be missed on Earth, with dire consequences looming. Batman’s attempted recruitment of Aquaman hints at that mysterious danger.
Right off the bat, this is a far-cry from the theatrical release, which focused on establishing the Parademon’s attraction to fear, a plot point that’s only relevant when convenient. After the title card, Whedon spends two minutes recapping what the audience could infer from the echo heard around the world. We get it, people miss Superman and Joss could have spent this time beginning to establish Cyborg’s story arch. Speaking of which, let’s discuss characters.
There is finally a motive for Steppenwolf to unite the Mother Boxes and it actually gives depth to a previously flat character. In Joss Whedon’s version, Steppenwolf is nothing but a one-off baddie that has a faint relation to Darkseid for his motive. Literally, the only reference of a higher power influencing his decision is quipping “For Darkseid” as he collects a Mother Box. Whereas, in the Snyder Cut, Steppenwolf is trying to redeem himself in the eyes of Darkseid after an unknown betrayal and he is presented as a groveling bootlicker even for Darkseid’s liaison Desaad. While he still faces his demise, Steppenwolf’s sendoff in Synder’s cut is much more suited for a neo-noir superhero movie than his Whedon manufactured downfall in 2017.
Steppenwolf wasn’t the only reworked character in Snyder’s vision of JL, much of how the main cast interacted with each other was different from Whedon’s interpretation. The love/hate relationship between Diana and Bruce is scrapped and Aquaman didn’t crack jokes as much. Cyborg and his dad have a much better character arc and this change significantly improves how Cyborg interacts with the rest of the League.
Is this the perfect movie that will finally establish the universe fans deserve?
I’ve never appreciated the dark universe Batman v. Superman established and how they set up the characters. Everything seemed really rushed to get to the team up movie and compete with Marvel, when we didn’t even know who we were supposed to root against. Rumors has it that Snyder had a Justice League trilogy planned, along with Cyborg and Batman solo movies before he left the project. Whedon’s version axed any remnants of a shared universe that could be threatened by Darkseid, leaving the Detective Comics Extended Universe in disarray.
A staggering 10% of the Snyder Cut is in slow motion, a definite trademark of the director. I must admit, not all of it is justified. The Flash scenes are almost required to be in slow motion, but we really didn’t need to see a slow motion shot of a sesame seed falling. Also, the Snyder cut has earned itself the R rating, a possibility thanks to its streaming release, but I’m not sure if F-bombs were needed, but Despite Zack’s indulgence in the mature rating, it suits the movie well.
What’s next for DC?
That’s a perfectly valid question and it continues to take up too much mental real estate for my liking. Fans have really taken to Zack Snyder’s Justice League, despite its runtime and have sparked a movement to #RestoreTheSnyderCut. Although this is the very method fans used to get the Snyder Cut released successfully, despite unsurmountable corporate bureaucracy, I don’t see it working this time. DC’s next movie is a reboot of one of their other flops entitled The Suicide Squad, directed by Guardian’s James Gunn, and the trailer just dropped. I can’t see how it will fit into the shambles the DC universe is in, but at this point it might be pointless.
I’m…cautiously optimistic for the fate of the universe, after seeing what could have been for the Snyderverse, I would have wanted to see more, but it seems the studio is deviating from this plan. We may still see Darkseid in the future, but Zack doesn’t have any plans to come back to the DC universe, and this may be as far as we get.
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