Will Zack Snyder Return To Justice League?

As Justice League begins to wrap up its reshoots, a rumor is beginning to circulate about whether Zack Snyder will return to the film in some capacity. The director stepped down from the DCEU team-up in May due to personal reasons and was replaced by Joss Whedon, who is directing the reshoots (which he'd already been brought on to write) and generally overseeing post production. Through all this it's been made clear The Avengers filmmaker (who is next set to take on his own DC project, Batgirl) is honoring what Snyder originally envisioned.Of course, the rumor mill suggests otherwise, with the past few weeks bringing up a variety of speculation about the state of the project and specifically the extent of the reshoots in both the amount of the story being changed and how that affects the tone. We're not going to be going too deep into all that today and instead turn our eyes to some new information.

Read More: Justice League Reshoots: What Was (& Wasn't) Changed

It's been reported by some sites that Zack Snyder may be returning to the Justice League fold in some form to help finish up the film. Tracking these reports backwards, you wind up at a post on r/DCEULeaks from prominent poster WBUT7 stating the following:

"There have been rumors around the office and around the levels that Zack Snyder will soon return to finish up his movie. Although these are in no way confirmed, people have been talking about how he may come in within the next month or so to finalize the product and promote it."

OK, let's get the grit trucks to the door and make this clear. DCEULeaks is rarely a reliable source of information, a mixture of unverifiable speculation and fan fiction. This particular user is intriguing insofar as they've been posting regularly over the past few months with updates on the state of the franchise that line up somewhat with the truth; they claim the info is gathered from a source inside a WB office, something that is kept up throughout all their posts and responses. That said, it's hard to verify either way as it's a lot of internal workings, so thus not fully represented by the public side of Warners and also rather dry; these aren't scandalous, binary suggestions of Green Lantern's appearance or similar.

What we do already know is that Snyder is still directly involved in Justice League to some capacity; Warner Bros. President and CCO Toby Emmerich said as much following his departure, making the director change a matter of reshoot helming and predominant leadership. And, in turn, it appears what's being suggested by this latest rumor is that Snyder will return prominently and publicly to the late stage of the edit to provide active input on fine tuning and final approval of the whole project.

Regardless of the specific authenticity, this in conjunction with the previous WB statement raises the question of Snyder's continued involvement in the film (and, we suppose, the franchise); a curious suggestion worthy of exploration regardless. When he left, it was presented as a complete handing over of the keys to Whedon, but how much of that was spin to make the ship look stable? And, further, could Snyder return, either as an active director or figurehead?

Zack Snyder Back Working On Justice League?

If Snyder was to return properly and presumably work with Whedon - Joss is surely too embedded in the edit now (and Zack too removed) to be able to simply step away - that would go a long way to addressing the underlying tonal questions re: what's being changed; if Zack's on board and publicly overseeing the final cut, even in a basic approval capacity, it suggests that any changes made in reshoots were part of the plan (even if that's not really the case).

Creatively, a final, thorough run through from the original director indeed makes sense too. Justice League has always been pegged as the culmination of the Superman trilogy he's been telling across the DCEU and by simple nature of the story - Supes has to be resurrected - that's going to be the case no matter what else is changed. There's an artistic onus there.

Read More: DCEU's True Superman Will Be Born in Justice League

Of course, the flipside problem for WB in all this is that the DCEU's inherently divisive nature will mean that, while it slows the "troubled production" narrative, it returns us to the "Snyder unchained" one. Many were burned by Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, and after Wonder Woman introduced an alternative angle a sense of change is needed.

Regardless, as already stated, some of this is - admittedly to a removed degree - happening. Between distanced input and Whedon following the gameplan, it's possible the direction of the movie wouldn't be that different if Synder returned - it's all spin and PR. Which is where the real impact could be.

The other area Snyder could come into play is away from the behind-the-scenes milieu and in the movie's press tour. The public release of a movie is massive, with premieres, press junkets, talk shows and countless other PR opportunities all around the world. It's likely he'd want to do this; Snyder has a strong investment in the film and being so integral to its development certain can offer real insight to the media. And, of course, it would be another, less intensive way to bang the "all's good" drum. Now, the director has removed all mention of the film from his Twitter, but still remains semi-active on social, posting ahead of the film's SDCC panel and becoming noticeable active on social network Vero. This indicates he is still keeping involved with fans and aware of the big picture.

Honestly though, this feels unlikely without some official prior re-involvement. Getting away from the external pressures of the film was a key part of him stepping down, and interviews are only going to bring that in spades. It cannot be overstated this is all a result of a personal tragedy and that the Snyder's well-being comes well ahead of a Rotten Tomatoes score of Warners' bottom line.

At the very least, we will have Snyder present in one very forward way. After SDCC Warner Bros. released a trailer with the logline "A film by Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon", but that was removed and it was later reported last month that Whedon wasn't going to be getting a credit, at least for director. Per the DGA (although a separate ruling could override this) Snyder appears to be the only person requiring credit, and so most likely the first words audiences see after the final shot will be "Directed by Zack Snyder".

A Zack Snyder return to Justice League's production isn't out of the question and when you consider how integral and seemingly respected he is by the rest of the team outwardly it would actually strange if he didn't have some tangible input as the film approaches release. Like most rumors surrounding the DCEU, though, we're unlikely to get any firm confirmation any time soon.