The new DC universe under James Gunn appears to be in a good place following the successful release of Superman. However, it seems clear at this point that there are always going to be some diehard fans who will continue to push for the continuation of the version of the characters that Zack Snyder created for Justice League. While seeing them again is only becoming less likely over time, Snyder himself isn’t entirely giving up hope, because the fans have already done incredible things.
During an episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Josh Horowitz asked Snyder about the possibility of ever continuing the Snyderverse. While the director certainly didn’t indicate any reason to believe it might happen, he refused to discount the possibility it could, simply because he never thought that his version of Justice League would ever happen either. And yet, fan support for the idea eventually made it real. Snyder said…
There were numerous times, dark times, when I would say, ‘There is no chance that there will ever be, that my version of Justice League will ever exist. It can’t. Cost, politics, everything stood against it. And yet, it exists. You know, I think the fans should never forget that they did that.
I will be the first to admit that I was among those who never believed Zack Snyder’s Justice League would ever happen. And it's not because I didn’t want to see it or didn’t think it should exist, but because, as Snyder says, things like the cost and the politics involved just seemed like insurmountable obstacles. Yet, it exists.
During the post-production of 2017’s Justice League, Zack Snyder had to step away to deal with a family tragedy. Warner Bros. brought in Joss Whedon to finish the film, which ended up including major reshoots that significantly changed the project. That movie disappointed fans and the box office, leading to many wishing they could see the version Zack Snyder would have made had he retained control of the project.
In 2021, following a fan campaign that lasted the entire four-year period, we ultimately saw it, Zack Snyder’s Justice League was a massive four-hour epic released to the the then new HBO Max streaming service. While it certainly wasn’t the movie we would have seen in the theaters back in 2017, it was exactly what fans wanted.
Fans should be proud of their work. Despite all the reasons the movie was never going to happen, they continued to push for it, showing that there was an audience for the project if it ever were to exist. There were also numerous fundraisers for suicide prevention under the #ReleaseThe SnyderCut banner, so the group not only did well, but it did good.
Snyder’s comments are likely to cause a resurgence of another hashtag, #RestoreThe SnyderVerse, which is from those who want to see the projects that Zack Snyder envisioned to follow Justice League that never happened. And who knows, with the news that DC owner Warner Bros. is going to be under new management down the road, perhaps there really is a chance it could all happen.
