Zack Snyder's Justice League proves Warner Bros. had a big opportunity to compete with Marvel, but impatience and panicked course corrections ruined that chance. Ever since Zack Snyder's departure from Justice League, Warner Bros. has been seeking cinematic plans for its DC characters. The strong reception of Zack Snyder's Justice League offers a rare second chance to seize that opportunity, but WB doesn't plan to take it.

In the years since the release of Joss Whedon's cut of Justice League in 2017, demands for the release of the Snyder Cut only grew, despite claims it didn't exist or wouldn't be any better. Now that it's finally here, it's clear the Snyder Cut isn't only real, but it's exactly the movie DC needed in 2017, and sticking to this plan would have saved Warner Bros. years of trouble trying to get the DC cinematic universe back on track.

Related: Justice League: The Snyder Cut’s Biggest Differences From 2017

Under normal circumstances, such a revelation would be a gift, as none of Warner Bros. audience was clamoring for more of these characters following Whedon's model, but Warner Bros. finally confirmed what Zack Snyder has been saying: they have no interest in returning to Snyder's original plan.

Zack Snyder Had an Epic DCEU Plan

Zack Snyder 5 Movie Plan Justice League 3

One of the most prevailing criticisms of the early DCEU was that it was rushed and didn't have a plan like Marvel's plan for the MCU, but as time has gone on, it's been revealed there was actually a fairly extensive plan in place, not just for Zack Snyder's core 5-part story, but a number of spin-offs that would flow back into the main story. Snyder and Chris Terrio worked to flesh out the whole arc on a series of whiteboards, which also got a number of illustrations by Jim Lee, and Geoff Johns even did the lettering.

Developed before Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the story brought in the Legion of Doom in a plot by Lex Luthor to help Darkseid turn Superman and bring about the Knightmare timeline. Batman would devise a time travel plan and sacrifice himself to save Lois Lane, thus preventing Superman from turning, leading into a final film where Superman returns as the hero in all his comic-book glory to lead the forces of Earth, including men, Atlanteans, Amazons, and the Justice League, joined by the entirety of the Green Lantern Corps to fend off an invasion of Darkseid and the Forces of Apokolips in what Snyder has referred to as a "New Gods invasion movie."

It may not have been apparent that there was a plan back in 2016, but all the crazy stuff Snyder was setting up in Batman v Superman already had a plan for long-term payoff, as we're now finally seeing with Zack Snyder's Justice League. In fact, Snyder didn't just have one plan, but after a few changes, including the removal of a pivotal Bruce Wayne/Lois Lane in the time after Superman's death, Snyder revised the plan to align with what would happen in any hypothetical sequels to Zack Snyder's Justice League. The details of the new plan aren't known yet, but the original plan's whiteboards are currently on display at an AT&T exhibit in Dallas, TX.

Warner Bros. Never Sold Audiences on Snyder's Plan

Zack Snyder Warner Bros Black Suit Superman

The perception in 2016 that there was no larger DCEU plan is a major failure on Warner Bros. part. While Marvel Studios held a major event to reveal their whole film slate, teasing that the next batch of movies would go through Captain America: Civil War and culminating in Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame (Infinity War Part I and II at the time), WB revealed their lineup in an offhand way during an investor's call to little fanfare, with Justice League Part I and Justice League Part II getting no additional info to set fan expectations.

Related: Everything We Know About Zack Snyder's Original Justice League 2 Plans

While the MCU model and Snyder's DC plan were drastically different in structure, both were headed towards a major culmination. Marvel piggy-backed on that hype with lesser-known characters, getting solid hits from characters like Ant-Man because audiences knew that, regardless of their existing affection for Ant-Man, it would somehow be relevant when the Avengers eventually faced Thanos.

DC's approach was going to be more like Lord of the Rings (as we've now seen in Zack Snyder's Justice League), putting the whole story in a series of epic-length movies instead of relying on spin-offs and sub-franchisees for the bulk of the storytelling. Unfortunately, while MCU teases of Thanos' eventual arrival excited moviegoers looking at the future release slate, Batman v Superman including Darkseid's Omega symbol and parademons in the Knightmare or teasing Steppenwolf and Mother Boxes at the end of Batman v Superman didn't get the same reaction (it doesn't help that the studio forced Snyder to cut things like Steppenwolf and the Mother Boxes from the theatrical release, so they're only in the director's cut, AKA "Ultimate Edition").

While audiences weren't as quick to react to DC's plans, Marvel was. In fact, Kevin Feige is on the record saying the decision to go the route of Civil War was a decision made in reaction to Batman v Superman, marking a time when there was some give-and-take between Marvel and DC, whereas the past few years it seems more like DC is simply trying to replicate Marvel's success.

Warner Bros. Abandoned Snyder's Vision, But Never Replaced It

Even though Man of Steel is the highest-grossing Superman movie of all time and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is also one of Warner Bros. top earners, polarizing reviews and a sub $1 billion box office for Batman v Superman put WB in a panic. They'd already cut 30 minutes from BvS, and it's widely agreed that those minutes go a long way to improve Snyder's director's cut, Batman v Superman: Ultimate Edition, but due to the audience demand for more jokes, Suicide Squad got a round of last-minute reshoots,  resulting in a barely coherent and tonally dissonant film that shortchanges a number of major characters, including Jared Leto's Joker.

Not learning their lesson from studio interference with Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, Warner Bros. also ordered Justice League rewrites to add more humor and remove the controversial Bruce and Lois subplot, also placing Geoff Johns and John Berg on set to babysit Snyder throughout production. Despite this, Snyder still filmed his own version of the movie alongside the studio's changes, which would turn out fortuitously down the road.

After his family tragedy, Snyder decided to step away from the project, at which point the studio took the chance to bail on Snyder's whiteboard plan altogether. Joss Whedon was also brought in to conduct massive rewrites and reshoots, which, now that we can compare to Zack Snyder's Justice League don't make any sense, and resulted in an inferior product at almost every turn. Instead of setting up Justice League 2 and Ben Affleck's The Batman and a Ryan Choi The Atom movie and more, almost all sequel setup was cut, leaving only a reshot post-credits scene setting up a Legion of Doom movie that never materialized.

Related: Every Canceled DCEU Movie Set Up In Zack Snyder's Justice League

After Justice League's theatrical release, DC Films, now under Geoff Johns and Jon Berg, the direction promised was to lean into "hope and optimism" and focus less on universe building in favor of delivering solid standalone movies. Ben Affleck and Rick Famuyiwa left their respective projects and the future of every major actor but Jason Momoa and Gal Gadot was left up in the air, particularly Henry Cavill, as Ben Affleck already had both feet out the door.

A number of DC projects were announced over the next few years, but many of them were never heard of again (such as Steven Spielberg's Blackhawks movie), while other already-in-development projects, like The Flash were caught in creative limbo as multiple creative teams came and went. Eventually, WB started teasing that the future would be the multiverse, allowing all sorts of crossover between films and TV, including legacy DC characters, such as the announcement that Michael Keaton's Batman would be in The Flash, but beyond its function as a continuity stretching plot device, no further news ever came on what the multiverse would mean.

In 2021, it's now almost 4 years since Snyder's initial departure from Justice LeagueZack Snyder's Justice League is on HBO Max and details about Zack Snyder's original plan are coming out in interviews, highlighting WB's inability to develop a plan of their own. In a recent interview, Warner Bros Chairman Ann Sarnoff again promised the development of a plan, providing no specifics other than the fact that it wouldn't include more Zack Snyder movies or the Ayer Cut, which is odd, because the biggest advantage of embracing the multiverse is the ability to do all of these projects without having to commit all other DC Films to the same continuity. In fact, Snyder says WB insists that Whedon's cut of Justice League is what they'll treat as canon going forward. Adding to the irony, Zack Snyder's Justice League is the first DC film to reference the multiverse or set-up time-travel, which are the very mechanisms by which the multiverse is being implemented.

The Snyder Cut Proves Snyder's Plan Would Have Worked

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While WB's early concerns with building a franchise on polarizing footing like Batman v Superman are understandable, it now looks like Warner Bros. hit the panic button way too soon. Zack Snyder's Justice League is one of the best received DCEU films and gives the audience investment in the characters, paying off some of the previously polarizing elements from earlier installments in eepic fashion. Man of Steel and Batman v Superman have also largely maintained relevance through the years despite the preception that their stories were a dead end.

Related: Zack Snyder's Justice League: Every Easter Egg & DCEU Reference

Now that audiences have seen what Snyder was working toward, the desire to see his vision through has expanded to a larger audience than simply his die-hard fans. If similar results could have been seen in 2017, then all it would have taken was a little more patience from Warner Bros. before detonating their long term plan and they could have had audiences excited to see the story of the Justice League continue as they grow and face off against Darkseid.

Related: Justice League's Complete Darkseid Timeline Explained

The most impressive part about the narrative about-face after the Snyder Cut's release is the fact that Zack Snyder pulled it off with minimal help from Warner Bros. While the green light, funding, and marketing for his version of the movie came from HBO Max (which is under WarnerMedia, not WB), Warner Bros. had minimal participation in marketing, as WB executives even issued statements referring to the Snyder Cut as a storytelling dead-end and reports came out revealing plans for reboots of characters like Superman, undermining the marketing for the Snyder Cut in a way that wouldn't happen during a normal studio release. If WB were to embrace Snyder's plan for once, even if just as one of many threads in the multiverse, the movie could be even more successful and raise hype for more future DC films.

Warner Bros. is Shutting Down Hope of More Snyderverse

Justice League Warner Bros

We're still waiting on full numbers from the release of Zack Snyder's Justice League, but early reports show the Snyder Cut is tracking 35% higher than Wonder Woman 1984 in audience demand post-release. Considering Wonder Woman 1984 got a sequel announced the Monday after release, it's especially odd for Sarnoff's first words on the Monday following the Snyder Cut's release to say they won't be doing more Snyderverse projects. Not just because of the sequel greenlight, but also because of the dampening effect those statements could have on the Snyder Cut's performance and HBO Max's growth as new subscribers are essentially being told the platform won't provide any more of the content they signed up for.

This isn't simply odd behavior from Warner Bros. in relationship to the Snyder Cut, but it also brings to mind Todd Phillips' Joker. It's been reported that Warner Bros. resisted Phillips' attempts to make Joker, and when it finally did happen, they sold off most of the profit before it went on to gross over $1 billion. WB's lack of faith in their hottest products seems to be a repeat issue and is impacting their bottom line.

There's also the question of what WB expects to happen for the passionate fan demand for these products. The Snyder Cut notoriously exists in part thanks to a passionate fan movement, and that demand isn't likely to go away now, especially with Zack Snyder's Justice League exceeding expectations. The day of Sarnoff's interview, both #ReleaseTheAyerCut and #RestoreTheSnyderVerse trended in the top 10 on Twitter, triggered directly by her comments.

Until Warner Bros. is able to provide an announcement of what they plan to do with the DC IP that gets fans more hyped than the movies Snyder was setting up, this is going to continue to be a thorn in their side. The irony also can't be missed that Snyder's 5-part arc would be on the verge of completion by now if WB hadn't second-guessed, allowing them to reboot with whatever plan they want for the future of DC properties without unfulfilled promises of Zack Snyder Justice League sequels hanging over their heads.

Next: Zack Snyder's Justice League: All Endings, Cliffhangers & Setup Explained