The Warner Bros. DCEU franchise can largely be accounted for due to Zack Snyder’s contribution during its formative years. The director extraordinaire had paved the building blocks for the entire DC Extended Universe through his trilogy, i.e. Man of Steel (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and Justice League (2017/2021).
These films not only introduced a universe of intertwined plots, narratives, and character arcs never seen before but were too good to be left hanging dry after their completion. The abdication of Zack Snyder from Warner Bros. and his dream child, Justice League, in the middle of production had witnessed the launch of multiple movements and fan petitions unprecedented in the franchise’s long history.
Related article: ‘No Plan For Additional Work’: Did DC Just Dash SnyderVerse Hopes at the San Diego Comic-Con?
The Convoluted Relationship of Warner Bros. & Zack Snyder
The immaculate filmography of director-producer duo Zack Snyder and his partner, Deborah Snyder had brought the unquenchable quasi-sadistic impulses of their audience to rest when the Snyderverse was introduced to DC under their rebooted banner, DC Extended Universe (DCEU for short). The subsequent gilded era of success and fame that was helmed upon the franchise was largely due to the visionary efforts of Zack Snyder and his team of brilliant minds and talented actors.
However, in the aftermath of the ugly fallout between the studio and the director, the franchise rallied on with its projects, some successful, others harshly criticized. Projects like David Ayer’s Suicide Squad received a similar treatment at the hands of WB due to the studio’s excessive censoring and manipulation of the director’s final cut. Incidents such as these forced the public to then launch social media and internet movements like #ReleaseTheSnyderCut, #RestoreTheSnyderVerse, and #ReleaseTheAyerCut to the forefront.
WB Allegedly Moving Forward Without Zack Snyder
The Snyderverse has been defined as an alternate version of an American media franchise and shared universe known as the DCEU that is centered on a series of superhero films, produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and based on DC comics characters. Zack Snyder’s vision of an interconnected DC universe was to comprise five films, which included two post-Justice League films. However, all of it was cut short because of rising creative differences between the studio and the director.
The intermittent push-and-pull relationship between the two entities has, however, come to a halt. Recently, news has surfaced of Leslie Iwerks, a documentary filmmaker working on the history of DC, being informed by the Warner Bros. new management that they will allow the sanctioned use of footage from only 2017’s Justice League.
“Leslie Iwerks recently asked to license clips from the 2021 Justice League for a film on the history of DC and was told there is only one Justice League: the 2017 incarnation.”
Also read: 5 Films Made and Never released (Including Batgirl)
The report confirms the fears of many DC goers regarding the state of the relationship between Snyder and WB. After the transference of authority to David Zaslav and the new merger of Warner Bros. Discovery, any hopes for the return of the director under good faith have been dashed. Unfortunately, it seems that the studio has decidedly agreed to move forward without any further involvement of Zack Snyder.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
Source: Rolling Stone
