Zack Snyder's five movie DCEU plan would have seen Henry Cavill's Superman turn into the classic Superman seen in the comics. As Snyder gears up to release his cut of Justice League this year, much of the focus is on what his plans were for the DCEU. Once seen as the architect of the next great cinematic universe, Snyder's plans for the DCEU were put on hold after his departure from Justice League and the poor reception to the DCEU as it stood.
Snyder says he currently has no plans to continue in the DCEU after his cut of Justice League releases on HBO Max in March, but that hasn't stopped curious fans from inquiring as to what could have been. #RestoreTheSnyderVerse began trending to encourage the studio to see through Snyder's original plans, but that's looking less and less likely. Studio executives at DC see the Snyder Cut as a storytelling dead-end, indicating their ideas for the future lie elsewhere.
Still, Snyder has been steadily teasing just what would have happened in his plans for the DCEU. This included a five movie arc, heavily focused on Cavill's Superman, who debuted in 2013's Man of Steel. This five movie arc, Snyder revealed in an interview with ComicBook Debate, would have seen Superman become the classic hero as seen in the comics, after his journey into darker territory in Man of Steel and the original Justice League. Snyder says that, in this arc, the black suit Cavill wears in Justice League is a marker of progress and that, eventually, Superman's full potential would have been realized.
In the end, the idea is that or what I had planned is that, you know, the sort of final step of Superman is his real return or his real sort of coming into the classic Superman. We don’t really get it in [Justice League].
There's never been a clear answer as to why Snyder wasn't able to continue his Superman arc after Man of Steel. What is clear, though, is that the DCEU has long been in disarray - in fits and starts, the studio has tried to get a cohesive cinematic universe together, but multiple films taking place over different timelines have prevented one grand story from taking shape. The critical reception to various films certainly did not help - most DCEU films have been on the receiving end of less than positive reviews.
It seems as if this future, though, is starting to finally take shape. Walter Hamada, president of DC Films since 2018, seems to have a clear plan in mind going forward. The studio wants to release up to six films a year, with two going straight to HBO Max. Hamada has also said that there will be two different Batman stories going forward, one within the current timeline and one in its own (2022's Robert Pattinson led The Batman). The future still seems precarious and many are wondering if upcoming The Flash, with its time-traveling, multiverse plot, could be leading to a major reset for the DCEU timeline. One thing is clear, though: Snyder's vision for Superman will not be coming to fruition, an unfortunate casualty of the confusion behind the scenes at DC Studios.
Source: ComicBook Debate
