Zack Snyder originally left the DCEU in 2017 after Joss Whedon took over directing Justice League, and all reports indicated Warner Bros. wanted to move as far away from Snyder as possible, but reports of DC's future movies being totally "de-Snydered" seem to have been exaggerated. With the release of the Snyder Cut, Ben Affleck returning as Batman, J.K. Simmons returning as Commissioner Jim Gordon for the Batgirl movie on HBO Max, and more, Snyder's influence is far from gone, even if WB has no plans to bring him back or use his plan for Justice League sequels.

Snyder was always a controversial director for DC, and the polarizing reaction got Man of Steel and especially Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was far different from the Marvel-esque crowd-pleasers Warner Bros. wanted from their DC movies. Pressure to change Snyder's approach, particularly the push to add more humor, is part of a confluence of events that eventually led to his exit from Justice League, although, ironically, Zack Snyder's Justice League hits that tonal balance far better, and in many ways is even funnier than the studi0-mandated humor in the version put out by Whedon.

Related: The Snyder Cut Proves WB Killed Their Best Chance to Compete With Marvel

The news has been all over the place regarding the future of the DCEU, with reports ranging from totally recasting and rebooting the whole universe to a soft reboot to totally abandoning any sort of shared canon. The multiverse is the most recent mantra to explain DC Films' approach to continuity, although it's not clear if the studio even knows what the multiverse is. Either way, it appears the WB may not be as sour on the foundation built by Snyder as they used to be, and it's showing in the casting and stories of upcoming DCEU movies.

Zack Snyder Had a 5-Part DCEU Plan Featuring a Justice League Trilogy

Despite confusion over the future of the franchise, the DCEU once had a very robust plan for future movies, with a 5-part Superman story mapped out by Snyder featuring a Justice League trilogy and incorporating a number of additional movies such as Ben Affleck's solo Batman movie, Wonder WomanThe Flash, and more. The story would have revolved around Superman, showing his origin, death, rebirth, and eventual rise to the iconic hero he's known as, inspiring other heroes to follow in his wake.

Snyder told the first two parts of the story in Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, but after Justice League was reshaped in the wake of his departure, it totally changed most of Superman's story and erased the set-up for future stories. Zack Snyder's Justice League brought the story back in line with where Snyder was going with it, teasing an invasion from Darkseid, the apocalyptic Knightmare future, Flash's time travel, and more.

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

The story would have continued in Justice League 2 and 3, and was even charted out on a number of whiteboards by Snyder, Jim Lee, and Geoff Johns. The story would have seen Darkseid kill Lois Lane to make Superman succumb to the anti-life equation and conquer the world, leading to the Knightmare timeline where Batman assembles the remaining heroes to build the Cosmic Treadmill and send the Flash back in time to warn Bruce (as we saw him first try in Batman v Superman) so he could sacrifice himself to save Lois Lane, therefore saving Superman. Then, the Justice League, Green Lantern Corps, and the rest of the world would team up and follow-Superman to fight off an invasion from Darkseid and the New Gods along with the forces of Apokolips, including parademons, the Furies, and everything that entails. 20 years later, Clark and Lois' son, Bruce, would take up Batman's mantle as the new protector of Gotham.

Future DCEU Films May Be Faithful to Snyder's Story (Without Following His Plan)

Aquaman, Shazam, Wonder Woman, and Black Adam DCEU Sequels

Warner Bros. made it explicitly clear they didn't want any more of Snyder's films after Zack Snyder's Justice League when CEO Ann Sarnoff said explicitly that there were no plans to restore the Snyderverse in an interview the weekend after the movie released on HBO Max. For a long time, it looked like the plan was to move away, with Snyder out, Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill's futures as Batman and Superman in doubt, and The Flash expected to make major changes to canon, it seemed like most of the things introduce by Snyder were being tossed aside. However, since then, a number of things have happened indicating a further commitment to Snyder's movies.

Kiersey Clemons joining The Flash movie as Iris West (despite not appearing in the theatrical cut of Justice League), Ben Affleck (a vocal supporter of Snyder) returning to the role of Batman, Sasha Calle's Supergirl suit embracing the same aesthetic as Cavill's, Aquaman 2 getting the Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom title (which was the story  Snyder's whiteboards had laid out for Aquaman 2), and now J.K. Simmons returning to Batgirl on HBO Max, there's a number of indications the DCEU isn't totally scrapping Snyder's work, but instead building on it. Granted, The Flash also lost Ray Fisher and Billy Crudup, but both were supposed to appear in the movie initially and their departures weren't for story reasons.

While the DCEU's future may be seen as a continuation of Zack Snyder's version of these DC characters, it won't be a restoration of Snyder's original plan, and Snyder isn't set to have any creative input on the movies, which may lead many to call into question what specifically calls to "Restore the Snyderverse" even means. It may not be a full glorious return of Snyder as many of his fans hope, but maintaining already established "Snyderverse" canon as these characters return and move into new story arcs by other filmmakers - who Patty Jenkins said treat Snyder's Justice League as canon over Whedon's - may be enough of a silver lining or consolation prize to be a satisfactory compromise as Snyder moves on to a new packed schedule with multiple original franchises at Netflix. Snyder's original 5-part plan will always be a sort of Hollywood legend, especially following the release of the Snyder Cut, so even if the stars don't align once again to bring him back to finish his story, it's a much better ending to the Snyder era of the DCEU than it was in 2017 when the theatrical cut of Justice League stood as his final contribution to the DC Films universe.

Next: Why WB Won't Be Able To Escape The Snyder Cut