At long last, Warner Bros. released the Snyder Cut, but all the acclaim Zack Snyder's opus has gotten makes proceeding with the DCEU more difficult. Ever since the 2017 release of Joss Whedon's Justice League, fans of Snyder's vision for the DCEU relentlessly demanded to see his intended version of the film. After years of demands, Warner Bros. finally gave in, using the promise of the Snyder Cut to try and lure in subscribers to their HBO Max streaming service.
While the response to Zack Snyder's Justice League hasn't been universally positive, which is to be expected, it's definitely been more warmly received than the Whedon cut, and is likely to be seen as the definitive rendition of Justice League going forward. The movie creates an awkward tension within the DCEU since it sets up sequels that won't happen. Warner Bros. has indicated the Snyder Cut marks the end of DC's relationship with Snyder, at least for the time being.
WB canceling the Snyderverse and Justice League 2 may prove an unwise decision. As big a studio as Warner Bros. is, it demonstrably can't control fan reaction. The DC diehards form the DCEU's core audience, and financially, the studio can't risk alienating a portion of the fanbase. The future of the DCEU may now become a struggle.
How Successful The Snyder Cut Is For HBO Max
At first glance, it would appear that the Snyder Cut is a runaway hit for HBO Max. Social media has been abuzz about it since release, and as mentioned, it's received a much warmer response than the Joss Whedon Justice League received. However, it's hard to get an accurate impression of what that translates into as far as success for HBO Max and Warner Bros. Neither the service nor the studio has released any kind of official viewing stats, which isn't unusual for streaming services — but it hasn't even commented at all concerning the film.
According to third-party analytics (via Deadline), the Snyder Cut was the most streamed new movie of its weekend, and also outperformed the premiere of Disney+'s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier show. Considering Disney+ has bragged about the performance of that MCU project, that makes it sound like the Snyder Cut has done quite well. At the same time, analytics firms who've tracked stats beyond simply turning the film on have suggested that while nearly 2 million people started Justice League in the first several days following its release, only about a third watched it from start to finish. Frustratingly though, those numbers have no real way to compensate for those households who simply chose to watch the Snyder Cut over multiple sittings, due to its four-hour length.
The Snyder Cut Sets Up A Better DCEU Future (& Demand To See It)
Following Justice League's 2017 flop, both with critics and at the box office, the DCEU badly needed a course correction. 2018's Aquaman solo movie arguably provided that by becoming a hit. 2019's Shazam! also performed well with fans. Unfortunately, 2020 was a bump in the road for Warner Bros. Birds of Prey, while earning mostly good reviews, nearly flatlined at the box office, coming up short of expectations. Wonder Woman 1984 then followed that up by drawing mixed to negative reviews, and leaving even those who loved Patty Jenkins' 2017 effort disappointed.
The large amounts of goodwill toward the Snyder Cut, and Warner Bros. for releasing it, has to feel like a big win for the studio. At the same time, its stance against "restoring the Snyder-verse," as the fans are asking for on social media, will likely lead to most of that appreciation turning into frustration. Snyder has made no secret about his grand plans for Justice League 2 and 3, and after getting a taste of the Snyder Cut, many fans are intrigued by the thought of seeing Snyder's apocalyptic Knightmare story progress further.
The Problems With The DCEU's Future Continuing Snyder's Plan
Of course, even if Warner Bros. decided to reconcile with Snyder and allow his vision to continue playing out onscreen, that sends the DCEU continuity into a tailspin. Four films have been made since Joss Whedon's Justice League debuted, and all of them treat that cut as canon. While it wouldn't necessarily be too hard to try and fix things to fit with the Snyder Cut canon for films like Birds of Prey and Shazam!, Wonder Woman 1984, and especially Aquaman would present big challenges.
Amber Heard's Mera looks, sounds, and acts almost entirely different in the Snyder Cut than she did in Aquaman, which again, treated the Whedon Cut as its direct predecessor. Even more glaringly, Mera says her parents are dead in the Snyder Cut, while her father King Nereus plays an important role in Aquaman. Add to that other behavior from Arthur Curry and Diana Prince in their respective later films that don't jive with their portrayal in the Snyder Cut, and things become a mess. Additionally, all the DC films in development or production would now need to try and retroactively conform to Snyder's plans. Considering that there's no guarantee WB and Zack Snyder won't have another falling out along the way, the prospect of giving him back control becomes increasingly problematic.
How WB Can Fix Its Snyderverse Problem
At the end of the day, Zack Snyder leaves Warner Bros. and DC with only two basic choices. Retconning their last four films and reworking everything in development to try and connect with the Snyder-verse just isn't logically feasible. Option one is that WB can ignore the demands by Snyder fans for his return to the DCEU in hope that the fervor dies down and Snyder and his supporters move on. Considering the years-long Snyder Cut campaign though — which by its nature taught such fans that aggressive campaigning works, thanks to WB giving in — it's unlikely such a development will happy in the short term.
Option two is to give Snyder and fans what they want, but with a twist. It's well-known that the 2022 Flash movie will introduce the DCEU multiverse. If Snyder is willing to go this route, and Warner Bros. are willing to fund it, Snyder's Justice League 2 and 3, as well as the Snyder Cut of Justice League, could officially be considered an alternate world to the one where the main DCEU takes place, and while some actors might appear in both, a clear and direct line could be drawn between them. That may be expecting too much from WB though.
