When it was first revealed that Warner Bros. had made the decision to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut, it was widely reported that the plan was to have Justice League hit HBO Max as a four-part miniseries.
This made sense, especially when streaming services benefit most from content that brings subscribers back on a weekly basis. Of course, there was no real advantage to be gained by releasing Zack Snyder's Justice League like that because with four "episodes" released over a 28-day period, fans could just cancel after a month, anyway!
A lot of fans were hoping to see the "Snyder Cut" as a movie, too, and while not everyone will want to watch a four-hour version of Justice League, that is arguably how it should be presented.
Snyder has previously said that Warner Bros. was 100% on board with him releasing Justice League in a way that lived up to his original vision, and it seems that will be as a feature. As you can see below, the filmmaker confirmed on Vero that we're getting it as a "one-shot," and not as a miniseries.
This is news bound to be welcomed by fans of the director, and while that's a very long movie to sit through, it should be worth it just to see how Snyder's vision compares to Joss Whedon's!
Check out this confirmation from Snyder below:
Click on the "Next" button below to take a look at 5 reasons
we're excited for Justice League...and 5 reasons to be worried!
10. Filling In The Gaps
Joss Whedon's Justice League was a mashup of two conflicting visions, so it's no wonder it was received as something of a mess back in 2017.
Everything from Superman's resurrection to the way these heroes met felt half-a**ed, so the Snyder Cut can fill in some gaps in logic, better explain the motivations of key characters, and help Steppenwolf's mission make sense. Addressing Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice's confusing time-travel is an absolute must.
Nearly five years on, the Flash's message to Batman still makes no sense, so at the very least, we could get an explanation about that and Knightmare that's more than just a Vero post.
Here's hoping Snyder actually explained it in this cut, though.
9. Darkseid's Debut
Darkseid played a forgettable role in Smallville's later seasons, but has never been lucky enough to receive a true, live-action debut. Now, it's long overdue.
The iconic baddie is likely to receive the spotlight in Ava DuVernay's long-delayed film featuring The New Gods, but who knows if that will ever happen. Thankfully, Snyder has big plans for Darkseid in his Snyder Cut of Justice League.
He will appear as Uxas in the flashbacks revisiting the first time the Mother Boxes were almost united, and again in the present day if some rumors are to be believed.
We just hope he gets at least one scene with the League.
8. New Scenes
The original plan for this cut of Justice League was for the visual effects to be finished. Somewhere along the line, Snyder managed to convinced WarnerMedia executives to let him shoot additional scenes (bringing back actors like Ben Affleck and Amber Heard, not to mention a surprise addition in Jared Leto).
Even if you feel like you know how this cut will play out - and it's easy enough to guess when Snyder has shared so much on Vero - there are bound to be some surprises.
Along with more Joker, that could include Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter cameos.
We may not ever know exactly how much Snyder added to his cut, but the scenes we've alluded to above should be more than enough to make this a rewarding viewing experience.
7. Black Suit Superman
We kinda, sorta got this in Man of Steel, but the biggest request for Superman's inevitable return from the dead was that he rise from the grave in his classic black super suit.
Snyder has shared a clip confirming that's the plan for this cut, though admitted that the costume has been changed in post. Perhaps that's a sign he never planned to move away from the classic red and blue, though his explanation was that he was unsure Warner Bros. execs would be on board with the color change he knew could be made later on.
It's doubtful this will have a significant impact on the story, but it sure will be cool to see.
Unfortunately, we're not banking on the famous Superman mullet also debuting in this film.
6. Zack Snyder Finally Gets To Share His Vision
How can you not be happy about this?
It shouldn't matter how you feel about Snyder's work in the DC Universe. A filmmaker, whose vision was trampled on by a film studio, getting to share his own, unedited cut is a rarity.
In the aftermath of his daughter's death, Warner Bros. wrestled Justice League away from the director, and hired a completely different filmmaker to write and direct scenes which undid nearly everything Snyder had planned. That's got to hurt, so this move by WarnerMedia deserves to be praised.
We'll soon find out whether the gamble pays off, but good on Zack for getting this rare opportunity.
5. What Does It Add To The DCEU?
Warner Bros. execs have described the Snyder Cut of Justice League as a road that leads nowhere, so whatever happens here won't be canon no matter how hard fans on social media campaign.
The DCEU is still struggling; hits like Aquaman and Shazam! helped, but Birds of Prey underperformed and Wonder Woman 1984 has taken something of a critical drubbing in recent weeks. Focusing on the past by retelling a familiar story isn't going to help this shared world in future.
Ben Affleck may have returned for reshoots, but as far as we can tell, The Flash will serve as his farewell anyway.
Ultimately, the Snyder Cut may fail to do much more than frustrate fans with open-ended moments that are never addressed or referenced in any future DC films.
4. It Could Be A Total Mess
Batman v Superman gets a lot of hate, but there are a lot of moments in there that work really well. The same can be said for Man of Steel as well.
However, the problem there is that Snyder's DC films often work better as individual scenes rather than as the sum of their parts. Batman's fight with Superman was epic, but when you add the Martha reveal and the Dark Knight's motivations for wanting to take the Man of Tomorrow down, it soon starts to fall apart.
Snyder had a lot of very ambitious ideas for Justice League, but dare we ask what happens if they don't work?
That could mean this film is a total mess, and one that makes even less sense than the Knightmare scenes!
3. A Story Without An Ending
Snyder always had plans for another Justice League film. While Warner Bros. balked at the idea of shooting a sequel back-to-back with this first film after the negative response to Batman v Superman, the hope was that it could one day be shot.
The filmmaker must realize now that a follow-up of any sort is unlikely, but it's sounding an awful lot like he's planning to leave the door open to one.
There's no way the reshoots could encompass Deathstroke's plans to take down Batman, the Knightmare flashforwards, and Darkseid's battle with the team. It's no wonder when that there's been talk of a sequel being released in the form of a comic written by Snyder and pencilled by Jim Lee.
For the time being, however, Zack Snyder's Justice League could be a wholly unsatisfying experience.
2. It's Not Even A Film
Films don't bring subscribers to streaming platforms; TV shows do.
Many of those who signed up to HBO Max for Wonder Woman 1984 will have already canceled their subscriptions because there's no compelling weekly content to keep them coming back. Taking that into account, it now makes sense why this cut of Justice League has been split into a four-part miniseries.
Now, it's not even a film, and it's hard to imagine that doing this any favours. A four-hour film would be a drag to sit through, but a disjointed four-part TV show is never what Snyder had planned.
Maybe we'd be better off waiting for the eventual film version the director has promised?
1. Will It Actually Be Better Than Joss Whedon's Justice League?
The hardcore #ReleaseTheSnyderCut fans on social media will burn you at the proverbial stake for daring to even suggest this, but who's to say this cut will be any better than Joss Whedon's?
As glaringly bad as his film was in places, it also got some things right.
Superman was portrayed in a way fans had been hoping to see on screen for years, and while Batman cracking jokes was a huge blunder, at least we got to see him and the rest of the League being heroes when they saved all those innocents (in the admittedly awkward Russian family scenes Whedon shoehorned in).
Warner Bros. felt the Snyder Cut was bad enough to eviscerate and reshoot. What if they were right?