Avengers: Endgame directors Joe and Anthony Russo praise Zack Snyder's Justice League as the definitive cut of the DCEU film. The Russo Brothers are known for their work in the MCU, directing Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and the aforementioned Endgame, which is also the second-highest grossing film of all time. Snyder directed both Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice before moving directly onto Justice League, which was initially planned as a trilogy.
Snyder suffered a family tragedy and numerous conflicts with the studio towards the end of post-production on Justice League, prompting him to leave the film. Director Joss Whedon was brought on board to rewrite and reshoot nearly 70 percent of Snyder's Justice League, delivering a very different film to theaters, which was a box-office dud. Last year, WB brought Snyder back to finish his cut of Justice League to be released on HBO Max. The director delivered a four-hour definitive cut of the film with finished VFX, new scenes, and an R-rating, which realized his initial vision for Justice League.
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While doing a Q&A for Wired, the Russo Brothers were posed with the question "What if The Russo brothers directed Justice League", prompting Anthony to say, "I don't know how to answer that." Instead of discussing what their vision of Justice League might have been, Joe said, "See the Snyder Cut. That's the definitive cut. You don't need to see anything else." which is high praise for Snyder coming from the duo. The Russos didn't offer any additional commentary on the subject, which shows that their stance is strongly in favor of watching Snyder's version of the film, rather than imagining something different.
Since ending their tenure in the MCU with Endgame, the Russo Bros. have moved on to streaming for their feature film work, making the Apple TV+ adaptation of Cherry with Tom Holland and this month's The Gray Man with Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans for Netflix. Their next feature will be Netflix's The Electric State with Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt. Meanwhile, Snyder has also moved on to streaming in lieu of theatrical features, signing his own deal with Netflix to produce original content, including his Army of the Dead franchise and the currently in-production sci-fi film Rebel Moon.
Having realized their own visions within the MCU, the Russo Brothers' comments show strong support and respect for fellow filmmakers like Snyder, as they are all well aware of the trials and tribulations that come with making big-budget superhero films. It's nice to see A-list filmmakers show an affinity for a peer's work, which isn't all that frequent. With Zack Snyder's Justice League being such a revolutionary endeavor in terms of getting the opportunity to fully realize his vision, it's great to hear that other filmmakers are checking it out for themselves and reacting to it in a positive way.
Source: Wired
