Zack Snyder's Justice League: One Year Later

Four years ago, a large part of the DC Films fanbase was largely told by critics, pundits, fanboys and gatekeepers, that there was no mythical Snyder Cut of Justice League waiting for the world to see, and even if there was one, it would hardly be better than the theatrical version released in November 2017. 

Three years later, those critics, pundits, fanboys and gatekeepers were handed arguably the biggest platter of crow in Hollywood history with the HBO Max release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. 

As someone who was never against the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement, I’ve made it very clear in the past on this website and in my podcasts that it took me six months to realize the truth, because the story itself was just too insane to believe at first, but as the evidence mounted and the voices involved with the production started speaking out, I couldn’t ignore it any further than July 2018. 

As a result, this time a year ago I was operating on less than five hours sleep, preparing to record a solo podcast and a co-hosted podcast review of the 4 hour, 2 minute streaming masterpiece, because I had done the unthinkable and marathoned what is now called “The Zack Snyder Trilogy” all at once, starting with Man of Steel at 9:30pm ET, and continuing with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition at midnight ET, all in time for what was a 3:30am ET first ever viewing of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which ended as the sun rose and the birds chirped outside my window. 

I remember yawning once during MoS, and more than a few times through BvS:UE, but not a single time through ZSJL, because I was captivated and the movie literally gave me the energy to watch it unabated, without so much as a bathroom break either. 

I then promptly passed out after 7am once it was over, but couldn’t wait to discuss the aftermath of the grand event that I and so many others had been anticipating for the past few years. 

Reflecting on the experience a year later makes it difficult to believe it has truly been that long, but for the rational, logical fans of the Snyder Cut movement, which has now morphed into #RestoreTheSnyderVerse as an appeal to see the continuation of the storyline, it’s still no less a miraculous moment in fandom history. The notion of fans publicly campaigning and demonstrating the viability of an audience for ZSJL for more than 3 years, culminating in a massive Twitter event on November 17, 2019 that ultimately led to the VERO announcement on May 20, 2020, thanks in no small part to The Streaming Age and the very existence of HBO Max, is the equivalent of a dream come true for countless fans of Zack Snyder’s DC work who just wanted to see his original vision of the film see the light of day. 

I remember taking part in the Twitter event while doing laundry at my local laundromat down the street. It was one of the biggest displays of audience reach and attention we had seen for the movement to that point, enough so that Ben Affleck and other cast members were compelled to join it. Even then, it still felt like it would take longer than it did to see it through, especially with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic just months later. 

Yet here we are, one full year later, the film still a massive draw for HBO Max, despite the studio giving mixed messages at best on its performance, physical Blu-ray copies in existence on sale and in many fans’ collections, and all manner of fully objective, factual proof that the film did, and does indeed exist, complete with stronger, “fresher” and more favorable reviews from critics and general audience as a cherry on top, including Leslie Jones’ hilarious live video tweeting of the film she called #longassmovie. 

Regardless of whatever narratives have come from the louder more toxic voices in the wake of Zack Snyder’s Justice League’s release, the commercial release and the existence of the film for audience consumption remains an incredible moment, not just for the fans of the movement, but for all involved in the production that no longer had to suffer seeing that original 111 days of principal photography in 2016 go to waste at the hands of greedy, shortsighted and in many cases bigoted executives, who somehow justified the whitewashing and watering down of the film as a necessary evil to make “the next Avengers movie,” despite wasting millions of dollars, alienating scores of talented creatives, and producing what is still the only universal “bomb” in the now 9-year history of the DC Extended Universe. 

Thanks to charity work and fundraising from fans involved with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, I am one of the lucky fans that has seen ZSJL in theaters, along with my podcast brother Tim Yoko from Squadcast Media, and his wife Jamie, both of whom attended a charity screening of the film with me and many others in the fandom in Birmingham, Michigan on November 21, 2021. The energy, emotions and unbridled passion in that theater, watching a film that many of us were never completely sure we would ever see, but had now seen several times in our homes and were privileged to see on the big screen, while also supporting a vitally important charity in these trying times of humanity, was truly a remarkable thing to behold. It marked the 13th time I had personally watched the entire film since its release, and it has never once felt like it was four hours long, even though it very much is. 

The future of the DCEU and the SnyderVerse is clearer right now than many fans on social media would have you believe. Snyder and his team are fully engaged in pre-production on Rebel Moon, his Star Wars-style epic that has already cast Sofia Boutella, Charlie Hunnam, Djimon Hounsou, Doona Bae, Jena Malone, Ray Fisher and many others, in addition to building out the ArmyVerse, which is now two movies deep with an anime and other projects in full development, all working to build a brand new SnyderVerse of original IP on Netflix, the godfather of The Streaming Age. 

As for the DCEU, despite recent release date shuffles appropriated to a production backlog caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Black Adam, Shazam: Fury of The Gods, Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom and The Flash are all still in post-production headed for release dates between October 2022 and June 2023, Batgirl is still filming for HBO Max, and Blue Beetle continues casting and pre-production for its Fall 2023 theatrical release date. 

Still, with all of this potentially great content coming to the fandom in the next few years, many are still hoping for a restoration of the Justice League sequels and storyline that was teased in ZSJL that follows Snyder’s original plan for the films before any of the studio changes were made, and those who hope for them are pinning that faith squarely on David Zaslav and his incoming management team as part of the new WarnerMedia-Discovery merger currently taking place. 

While it is difficult for the rational SnyderVerse fans to see a logistical path to those sequels that would involve the entire cast and crew from ZSJL, all of whom including Snyder himself have moved forward with other projects since, the prospect of finishing that storyline in some form, be it live action or otherwise, remains possible, provided WarnerMedia becomes convinced that it should be pursued, especially with a need for new content on its streaming service that is definitively one of the Top 3 in the game right now along with Netflix and Disney+. 

At the end of the day though, no matter what happens with the future of the #RestoreTheSnyderVerse movement, the glorious victory that is Zack Snyder’s Justice League, can never be denied or taken away by anyone that doubted or questions its very existence in the zeitgeist. The film is here to stay, the fans won the day, and that’s all we have to say.