The release of the Justice League Snyder Cut needed to happen for the DCEU. After becoming a major box office disappointment in November of 2017, the colossally reshot theatrical version of Justice League left the entire franchise in ruins, with Warner Bros. content to leave it in the past and steer future DC movies away from the early influence of Zack Snyder's films, while calls for Snyder's cut of the movie grew increasingly loud over the following two and a half years. That wish would eventually be granted, with the Snyder Cut to be released on HBO Max next year as a four-part mini-series, but for as much jubilation as that has brought, it doesn't capture the full picture of the fact that the Snyder Cut has quite arguably saved the DCEU.
Those less enamored with Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice might not share this assessment (even if many have developed curiosity about the film), but the period immediately following Justice League is proof enough of the damage that it unleashed upon the DCEU. From Ben Affleck departing as Batman after protracted rumors of him doing so, the involvement of numerous other Justice League cast members hanging by a thread, and a general abandonment of an overall roadmap, the DCEU had become a blast zone of the fallout wrought by the eleventh hour retooling of Justice League and its eventual failure in theaters. That isn't a strike against any of the subsequent DC movies themselves, and in fact, it was just the reality of the situation that each found itself navigating.
Contrasting that against the state of the DCEU since the Snyder Cut's announcement, it is simply a night and day comparison. Following an extended period of new DC films having to prove themselves in the shadow of a failure that should have been a monumental success, the DCEU has come back to life like Superman himself as if it had never stumbled at all, and that began the moment that news of the Snyder Cut's release hit the internet. Here's why the DCEU has not only benefited from the Snyder Cut but actually always needed it.
DC Movies Post-Justice League Were A Mixed Bag
After the theatrical failure of Justice League, Warner Bros. elected to refocus the DCEU on individualized films without having any real overarching plan or endgame in mind. However, the DC movies that were released after Justice League were not home runs across the board, or consistently free of any ancillary controversy. While Aquaman was both well-received and rose to become the biggest DC movie ever, it was also the only post-Justice League DC movie that was able to reach such heights unhindered.
Shazam! was positively received when it debuted in the spring of 2019, but was only modestly successful in commercial terms. That fall, Joker (not tied to the DCEU continuity but a DC film nonetheless) would gross nearly as much as Aquaman, with Joaquin Phoenix winning a Best Actor Oscar, but Joker was also the subject of a moral panic that it might inspire the rampage of the next mass shooter. After that, Birds of Prey saw an all-around positive reception but unfortunately performed well below its box office expectations. Looking back, it’s now evident that Aquaman was alone among DC films after Justice League in not hitting some kind of ceiling in either its reception or commercial performance – and this wasn’t the only pattern that would emerge during this era of the DCEU.
The Snyder Cut Haunted Every New DC Film
While Warner Bros. was eager to leave Justice League in the past, Snyder’s fanbase wasted no time in pushing for the Snyder Cut’s release. Snyder himself energized this with his frequent social media teases, but the Snyder Cut also hovered over every new DC movie after Justice League. Aquaman first showed this to be the case with Jason Momoa commenting on Arthur Curry’s ending “In Zack’s cut” setting up Aquaman's solo movie, and later enthusiastically voiced his support for it to be released. Zack Snyder would chime in during this period as well with an image of Darkseid from the movie along with another from Arthur’s aforementioned send-off in the Snyder Cut, and this pattern would only gain steam as the DCEU moved along.
The release of Shazam! was preceded by Snyder’s directors cut event, where he gave an on-camera confirmation of the Snyder Cut’s existence for the first time. The timeframe of Joker was where things really started to heat up, with fans organizing a billboard for the Snyder Cut in Time’s Square along with Snyder revealing General Swanwick was Martian Manhunter in disguise, both in close proximity to Joker’s release. Meanwhile, the release of Birds of Prey was preceded by a Snyder Cut fan poster contest judged by Snyder himself. All of this is without even bringing up the numerous fan-driven endeavors during that time along with the mushroom cloud of support for the Snyder Cut on the movie’s two-year anniversary, but it is now undeniable that new DC movies could not be marketed or released without the Snyder Cut rearing its head and drawing significant media attention. With all of that said, what ultimately solidified the value that Snyder’s version of the movie truly brought to the DCEU was everything that has happened since it was officially announced.
The DCEU Has Been On Fire Since The Snyder Cut Was Announced
The news that the Snyder Cut will be released on HBO Max next year would arrive on May 20th following a Man of Steel watch party hosted by Snyder. In the time since then, the DCEU has experienced nothing but fireworks. Among the developments that have happened since, news would arrive of Henry Cavill being in talks to return as Superman after a long period of limbo, rumors would emerge of Ryan Reynolds making a Green Lantern comeback through the Snyder Cut, and The Flash would not only bring Ben Affleck back as Batman but also pull Michael Keaton into its Flashpoint-inspired story, with the Snyder Cut itself now set for a week's worth of additional filming. David Ayer would also get in on the action, speaking more openly than ever about his original cut of Suicide Squad, and all of it would culminate in the online bonanza of DC FanDome.
A full trailer for the Snyder Cut would be released, while excitement for the DCEU’s future would shoot through the stratosphere with the marketing for Wonder Woman 1984, Black Adam, Matt Reeves’ The Batman, and everything else on DC’s upcoming film slate. Even the Multiverse-focussed The Flash has now finally come out of its long joked-about hibernation to become possibly one of the most anticipated superhero movies in recent memory. The roll that the DCEU is currently on started as soon the news of the Snyder Cut’s release was made public, and it hasn’t slowed down since (the COVID-19 prompted release date delays notwithstanding.) In the two and a half years since the theatrical release of Justice League, the DCEU struggled to find its footing and rebound from that low point, but the Snyder Cut gave it the exact jolt of energy that it needed, with the fans who had pushed for its release so hard celebrating and all other DC movies now, at last, free to build excitement and anticipation without the after-effects of the theatrical version’s debacle weighing them down.
Though the actual release of the Snyder Cut will not happen until next year, it's already reversed nearly all of the damage that the theatrical version of Justice League did the franchise. New DCEU movies now no longer carry the burden of its collapse, actors who either left the franchise or fell through the cracks have begun returning in droves, and the DCEU has even transitioned into a Multiverse of all past and present DC film and television adaptations. Justice League may have all but killed the DCEU, but the Snyder Cut (or Zack Snyder's Justice League, as Snyder hopes to call it) has completely revived it, and it's more clear than ever that it was the only thing that was capable of pulling that off.
