A year ago, something once thought unimaginable happened: Zack Snyder's Justice League was released
Before that fateful day, the so-called Snyder Cut – the original director's cut of the 2017 superhero blockbuster – was a mere myth. Yet, thanks to a passionate, relentless, and ultimately successful fan campaign, Snyder's true vision for the movie saw the light of day, Warner Bros. even giving the director additional funding to complete his work. Today, Joss Whedon's version – which has a drastically different plot – is all but forgotten.
There's been no work on the SnyderVerse (AKA Snyder's vision for the DC Extended Universe) continuing any further, and the director has moved on to other projects at Netflix. Yet, today, it's clearer than ever that the SnyderVerse should continue.
First, it's worth noting that Zack Snyder's Justice League falls into its own pocket of the DC universe, outside the mainline canon. Should a sequel – Snyder envisioned three Justice League movies in total – be greenlit, there's no worry about it interfering with Warner Bros.' plans for the cinematic universe as it currently exists. Just look to the success of The Batman, which has crossed the $500 million mark at the worldwide box office, for proof that mini-universes work: Robert Pattinson's movie is entirely unconnected from the likes of Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Joker, which itself introduced a different version of Gotham, yet Bats is still proving popular.
The mainline DC universe is fully embracing the multiverse, too, with The Flash set to bring back Michael Keaton's Batman along with Ben Affleck's version of the character. The concept of the multiverse has already been a hit with mainstream audiences thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – why not embrace that further and allow the SnyderVerse to tell the epic story it started in Zack Snyder's Justice League?
Restoring the SnyderVerse is also key to keeping major figures in the DC universe.
The future of Henry Cavill's Clark Kent is unclear. Warner Bros. currently has two separate Superman projects in the works – a Val-Zod series produced by Michael B. Jordan, and a movie focused on a Black Superman with J.J. Abrams and Ta-Nehisi Coates – yet there's nothing announced for Cavill. Considering we currently have no less than three live-action Batmen, we can just as easily have three Supermen, especially if they're each existing in separate universes.
Snyder also envisioned introducing a Green Lantern to the DC universe, with Wayne T. Carr playing John Stewart, yet this was excised from Justice League because Warner Bros. already had plans for Green Lantern (a HBO Max show without Carr is in the works). Again, we understand the multiverse, and having Carr's version of the superhero is an exciting prospect. Then there's Joe Manganiello's Deathstroke, Jared Leto's Joker, and Harry Lennix's Martian Manhunter – all characters with great promise that were unfairly given little screen time. Continuing the SnyderVerse could rectify that and allow them to flourish.
All that's without mentioning that the Justice League haven't been united since 2017, and there are seemingly no plans for that to change anytime soon. Even the Peacemaker finale – which brought back Jason Momoa's Aquaman and Ezra Miller's Flash – used silhouettes standing in for Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman and Cavill's Superman, and removed Cyborg and Batman entirely. That moment broke the internet, so there's an obvious hunger to see these characters back together.
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Zack Snyder's Justice League ends with Darkseid revealing himself as a major threat to the universe, Superman coming back to life, and Cyborg embracing his true superhero potential. There's so much left to tell, and it's clear the Snyder Cut's story is far from over.
And, one year later, fan appetite has only grown. #ZackSnydersJusticeLeague and #RestoreTheSnyderVerse regularly trend on Twitter. Snyder himself has never definitively walked away from the universe, either, and even posted on social media to mark the anniversary.
It's clear the future of the DC universe should include the SnyderVerse. That may seem unachievable, but who knows? Stranger things – like a four hour director's cut of Justice League – have happened.
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