Zack Snyder's Justice League (or The Snyder Cut, as fans have taken to calling it), promises to be the director's definitive version of Justice League, the ensemble DC superhero film released in 2017. Snyder was called away from production due to personal reasons before the film could be completed, leaving Joss Whedon to piece together his vision. This resulted in an extreme restructuring of the plot, copious reshoots, and the elimination of hours of footage.
After lengthy campaigning by fans, the Snyder Cut will finally be released on the new streaming service HBO Max, with many aspects of Snyder's original script put back in, along with dozens of deleted scenes. These efforts will provide context and character development to a film that suffered from an incomprehensible and emotionally flat narrative and subpar visual effects.
A MUCH LONGER RUN TIME
The original theatrical cut of Justice League (2017) was two hours long, whereas every other film to involve its main cast was longer. Wonder Woman (2017) was two and a half hours, Aquaman (2018) was two hours and twenty minutes, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) was a whopping three hours long.
One would think a film including half a dozen of the most popular superheroes in comic books would merit a much longer run time, and with all of the scenes previously cut from the theatrical release added back in (totally 90 minutes of footage), The Snyder Cut could clock in at three and a half hours.
IMPROVED CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR FLASH, CYBORG, AND DEATHSTROKE
The Scarlet Speedster and Cyborg didn't get stand-alone movies to flesh out their origin story like Aquaman, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman did, so they were relegated to more or less background characters in Justice League. Deathstroke was given only one post-credits scene without context.
The Snyder Cut promises to include several deleted scenes with Cyborg, The Flash, and Deathstroke, as well as incorporating them more fully into the overall narrative instead of relenting the spotlight to the more recognized superheroes.
A FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN BATMAN AND SUPERMAN
Despite their differences, Batman and Superman have achieved one of the most compelling friendships in all of comic books, a concept which didn't quite translate to Justice League due to sharing very little screen time and trading sarcastic one-liners.
Bruce Wayne's faith in humanity was restored by Superman at the end of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and fans deserve to see what that means for their friendship in The Snyder Cut, so they can expect more camaraderie and less competition.
BETTER VISUALS
Due to Zack Snyder's departure and Joss Whedon's subsequent inclusion to rectify schedule constraints, there was a rushed state of production for Justice League towards the end resulting in subpar visuals.
These included everything from spotty reshoots involving a digital elimination of Henry Cavill's mustache, to an inferior looking Steppenwolf, and anticlimactic battles that didn't include all members of the Justice League working as a team. The Snyder Cut will have a much more cohesive aesthetic, with many of the reshoots eliminated in favor of deleted scenes.
THE WORLD'S GREATEST DETECTIVE
Ben Affleck may not have been fans' first choice to don the cape and cowl when he was cast as Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, but he proved to be a surprisingly compelling and intense Dark Knight and Bruce Wayne.
In Justice League, he's reduced to sardonic one-liners at others' expense, just when he's supposed to have had his hope in humanity restored. Deleted scenes returned to The Snyder Cut will showcase Batman as the World's Greatest Detective, infiltrating Lex Luthor's cell at Arkham Asylum and discovering his journal pertaining to Darkseid's invasion.
STEPPENWOLF REDESIGN
As revealed by Justice League: The Art of the Film, the main villain Steppenwolf was originally intended to look quite a bit different from his theatrical counterpart. Concept art reveals that he was supposed to look quite a bit more alien, but at some point during production this was changed.
The bland color palate and all-too-human appearance of Steppenwolf in Justice League will be replaced with something more colorful and visceral, closer to the version seen in the original concept art. The Lord of Apokalips will have a much better reign of destruction in The Snyder Cut.
MORE CONTEXT FOR THE KNIGHTMARE SEQUENCE
In Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Bruce Wayne falls asleep in the Batcave and has a disturbing dream/hallucination involving an evil Superman, an Earth enslaved by Darkseid and Parademons, and Barry Allen desperately trying to contact him through time travel.
It was a confusing sequence, and one that Zack Snyder intended to give more context to in Justice League, but this was cut from the theatrical version. The Snyder Cut will include deleted footage that explains Superman's rogue turn more fully, as well as The Flash's time jumping.
DARKSEID DEBUT
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice teased Darkseid descending on Earth, with his symbol carved into the landscape of an apocalyptic future where Superman has gone rogue and Batman looks like Mad Max.
Zack Snyder has teased images of Darkseid, the most powerful of the "New Gods", in The Snyder Cut, so fans will finally have the DC counterpart to Thanos against the Justice League.
LINEAR PLOT
Justice League's production was plagued with reshoots, many of which when inserted into the pre-existing narrative developed by Zack Snyder negatively impacted audience comprehension of the plot.
The Snyder Cut, with a full hour and a half of deleted scenes re-inserted into its running time, and several of the reshot sequences removed (or re-ordered for clarity), will be much more accessible.
EMOTIONAL IMPACT AND HIGHER STAKES
Justice League suffered from several efforts to deflate its climactic moments when it should have carried the same resonance as Avengers: Endgame. Unfortunately, it suffered from low stakes and underwhelming emotions.
By including more context, more character development, and higher stakes, The Snyder Cut will feel like a proper opus for its heroes that fans will be able to connect with on a visceral level.