Zack Snyder's Justice League was released one year ago, and the folly of Warner Bros. not finishing Snyder's story continues to be quite clear. 2017's reshoot-filled version of Justice League may have bombed in theaters, but it didn't recede from public view like most commercial failures. On the contrary, the greatly reconfigured and reshot version of Justice League released in theaters kicked off the push by fans for Snyder's original version.
Using the hashtag #ReleaseTheSnyderCut, the efforts of fans eventually succeeded on May 20, 2020 when the movie was announced for release on HBO Max the following year. Upon its release, the ending of Zack Snyder's Justice League included teases for multiple future movies, including the Knightmare set up in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Coupled with Snyder's rough outline of Justice League 2 and Justice League 3 being released, interest skyrocketed for his arc to be concluded with the hashtag #RestoreTheSnyderVerse.
In the wake of the release of the Snyder Cut, Warner Bros. shut down sequel talks and maintained that they would not greenlight the rest of the five-movie arc Snyder had planned. With a year's worth of calls for the studio to do so to look back on, Warner Bros. not moving ahead with the SnyderVerse has been shown more than ever as a mistake. Not only is this just because of the enthusiasm driving the #RestoreTheSnyderVerse movement, but also for the place Warner Bros. themselves have created for the SnyderVerse within DC's Multiverse.
Calls To Restore The SnyderVerse Haven't Died Down (It's The Opposite)
Both in the lead-up to and the aftermath of the Snyder Cut's release, Warner Bros. repeatedly signaled strong resistance to Snyder's planned arc proceeding with the two Justice League sequels. Within the studio, the movie was reportedly described as a "storytelling cul-de-sac" a few months before its debut. The Monday after its release, WB CEO Ann Sarnoff also declared the Snyder Cut to be the end of Snyder's DC trilogy in an interview with Variety. Neither did anything to put an end to the continuous presence of #RestoreTheSnyderVerse on social media, which hit 1.5 million tweets in one day on March 25, 2021. Subsequent trends of the hashtag have also kept the SnyderVerse a social media topic that's impossible to miss.
A year later, it's clear that all efforts to dissuade the push for the SnyderVerse have failed. While definitive viewership numbers for the Snyder Cut on HBO Max have not been made public, available data from international streaming platforms showed it performing very well. The film has also evidently been on the public's collective mind quite a lot, and there's even data available confirming as much. The content intelligence firm Diesel Labs has revealed the Snyder Cut as 2021's fourth-biggest streaming title in terms of audience engagement among all streaming services. Zack Snyder's Justice League also took the number one spot for that metric on HBO Max specifically. In broader data, Zack Snyder's Justice League also holds the distinction of being one of the most tweeted about movies of 2021. A year on from being unveiled to the world, Zack Snyder's Justice League was anything but an under-the-radar release in 2021, nor was the interest in Snyder's Justice League sequels.
DCEU's Multiverse Makes The SnyderVerse Even Easier To Restore
In the time since Justice League crashed in theaters and its second life in the form of Zack Snyder's Justice League, a new element has been added to superhero movies. While cinematic universes were once everything for building comic book movie franchises, both DC movies and TV shows have since adopted the concept of the Multiverse. The gist is that past and present DC films and series are regarded as existing alongside one another in different universes all at once. The CW's Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover event kickstarted this concept for DC, with references to a multitude of DC movies and shows, and appearances by characters like Brandon Routh's once-dormant Superman and Ezra Miller's enthusiastic Flash.
Marvel has similarly gotten in on the Multiverse concept, bringing all three big-screen web-slingers together in Spider-Man: No Way Home, and on the TV side of things, Loki explored the concept of multiple timelines. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will also utilize the concept extensively, while The Flash movie will feature both Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck's Batmen for DC. The idea of the Multiverse, in many ways, works in the favor of the SnyderVerse being restored more than anything, as it wouldn't come at the expense of other DC movies.
Between DC and Marvel, the Multiverse is familiarizing audiences with the idea of different versions of characters existing simultaneously. The Snyder Cut itself even set this up with Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) referencing the Multiverse. Because of this, permitting Snyder and co. to finish up his planned five-part arc and its connected spinoffs wouldn't step on the toes of Matt Reeves' The Batman franchise or any other DC films. Barry Allen's time-travel and multiverse-traversing powers even give a restored SnyderVerse a built-in mechanism to establish its place in DC's Multiverse without any confusion. In narrative terms, the Multiverse makes the notion of the SnyderVerse being restored significantly easier.
Will Zack Snyder's Justice League Sequels Ever Actually Happen?
The two-and-a-half-year #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign faced many denials of the movie's existence along with WB's efforts to leave Justice League in the past. The film being released and the basic idea of where Snyder's movies were headed removes a great number of the obstacles the Snyder Cut faced in getting released. When it comes to the rest of the SnyderVerse, one brick in that road would be David Ayer's essentially completed cut of Suicide Squad. While a major part of restoring the SnyderVerse that could happen in the immediate future would be the release of David Ayer's director's cut, the rest is more complex.
Snyder is presently occupied with Netflix projects such as Rebel Moon and Planet of the Dead, meaning his involvement couldn't happen until those are completed. Just as big an issue would be in resigning departed cast members to their respective roles. Ray Fisher's dispute with Warner Bros. over the Justice League reshoots investigation would need to be satisfactorily addressed for him to return as Cyborg, per Fisher himself. Ben Affleck would also need to be persuaded to return as Batman after The Flash. Affleck has suggested that The Flash will be his Dark Knight swan song, but there have been hints that he could continue on, including a cryptic social media post from Ezra Miller. Henry Cavill's future as Superman would need clarification and Wayne T. Carr's removed Green Lantern would also need to be brought back, too.
One advantage provided by the Snyder Cut lies in the movie having set up numerous spinoffs. These include Affleck's planned solo Batman movie, the Deathstroke origin film, and the Ryan Choi-led Atom movie proposed by Snyder. Numerous others, like a Cyborg solo movie, could also be spun out from the ending, too. Taking Snyder's Netflix commitments into account, the arguably smoothest restoration path would be to use these and the Ayer Cut as a build-up to Justice League 2 and Justice League 3. First and foremost, getting the cast together and obtaining the green light would be step number one. Restoring Zack Snyder's SnyderVerse would not be without logistical challenges. That said, it wouldn't be an impossibility either, especially with the campaign for it still going strong a year later despite Warner Bros.' position on the matter.
With Snyder having had a Superman-centric story with a determined endpoint, Warner Bros. simply completing it in the first place would've spared them years of ongoing headaches. With the Snyder Cut out, their mistake looks even more perplexing a year post-release. With Suicide Squad's Ayer Cut on the shelf and a Justice League roadmap waiting to be explored, the SnyderVerse could be one of many co-existing DC properties Warner Bros. could reap rewards from. If the determination of Snyder's fans holds, Zack Snyder's Justice League might yet be the beginning of the SnyderVerse being restored as so many continue to call for. Heeding that call instead of continuing to burn bridges with Snyder in the DCEU would be wise.
