On March 18th, 2021, one of the biggest films of the year came out. The movie was the Zack Snyder version of Justice League, which was 4 hours and 2 minutes long! Now, you might be curious as to why this much longer cut was made. Well, this goes back to June 14th, 2013, when Man of Steel, directed by Zack Snyder, came out.

This Superman movie introduced the DCEU (DC Extended Universe), had one nomination and made over 116 million dollars during opening weekend. With Henry Cavill interested and Warner Brothers (WB) looking to make a whole cinematic universe, they had the idea of a clash between Batman and Superman. WB gave Ben Affleck a contract to play Batman for a certain amount of movies. This contract would later on become an important factor in Zack Snyder’s career.

The plan was going great as they had two big actors playing iconic characters, and Zack Snyder was going to be directing ¨Batman V Superman Dawn Of Justice.¨ However, as things were coming along, WB was not liking the plan Zack Snyder had for the film, as he had planned to make a movie lasting over 3 hours.

WB also wanted another big hero, Wonder Woman, to feature in the film, but wanted her to be in it as soon as possible. Things were getting very frustrating for Snyder, as he had to add all of these new elements to an original idea he already had. When it finally came out, according to box office records, this film made nearly 875 million dollars worldwide. However, many fans were mad about the movie. Many of them were furious about how the film ended and how it seemed very rushed. Overall, WB was getting a lot of hate with what they were doing with the characters.

However, WB was not losing any hope for the DCEU continuing. Thinking things would not get any worse, on August 5th, 2016, Suicide Squad came out, directed by David Ayer. Although the box office numbers looked good, the media hated the movie once again citing reasons such as rushed character arcs and how WB portrayed the Joker in the movie. The following movie was Wonder Woman (released on June 2nd, 2017), which was a much-need hit which helped WB obtain the majority of their fans back.

After this, the unexpected happened. WB got Zack Snyder back to film the Justice League, and Snyder had a huge vision to restore the DCEU to make sure it would get the respect it deserved. He was planning on making a Justice League part 1, and then 2 other parts the following years. However, as they were shooting the movie, WB was monitoring him closely, telling him to shorten the movie to 2 hours, although Snyder wanted a much longer film.

They wanted him to include things that were ruining what Zack Snyder had in mind. Not only that, something tragic happened; Snyder’s daughter, Autumn Snyder, sadly passed away from suicide.

Eventually, WB replaced Zack with the Avengers (2012) director, Joss Whedon. Some may think that replacing Snyder would cool things down, although the exact opposite happened when his movie Justice League came out on October 26th, 2017. This movie made WB lose at least 60 million dollars, as this film grossed around 657 million worldwide against a breaking point of 750 million dollars. This time, WB realized that the DCEU plan was not going well, and canceled the Batman and Cyborg movies that were supposed to come out the following year. Ben Affleck eventually also quit playing as Batman, and Joss Whedon was caught being racist to Ray Fischer who was supposed to play Cyborg.

Fans were also speaking out online for the Zack Snyder version of the Justice League to come out. For the next few years, WB was silent and released Shazam and then Birds Of Prey. They later announced a soft reboot of the universe with the upcoming ¨Flashpoint¨ film. Later on, stars of the DC universe, like Ben Affleck, were asking for Snyder to come out with his version of the Justice League, which caused fans to beg even more for the elusive Snyder cut.

Then, on May 20th, 2020, WB announced that the Snyder Cut would be coming on HBO Max. Reshoots would be happening, and on March 18th of 2021, the movie finally came. The reviews at the beginning of what you would consider “opening weekend” were positive for WB. Many fans loved Cyborg’s arc in the film and many other aspects. It has currently been making over 670 million dollars in profit. This movie itself was on a 370 million dollar budget.

Many more people loved the movie than hated it. Something impactful in this film was in the end, where a piece of the text shows saying ¨For Autumn¨. The Snyder Cut, according to Zack Snyder, was for his daughter. Although many would think fans would be satisfied now, it is quite the opposite, as they have been begging for more. The impact of Snyder’s Justice League made the ¨Continue The SnyderVerse” movement.

This had a huge impact, and celebrities were even supporting this movement. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson himself has said he wants his new film ¨Black Adam¨ in the SnyderVerse. This is a big deal, as Dwayne Johnson is an actor known worldwide, and with him being in an upcoming DC film, this will attract fans who are not a part of the SnyderVerse realm. Evidently, WB would not make a significant actor like him feel unsatisfied with the film he is starring in. With the announcement, reports have been saying that Ben Affleck is going to be returning in the new Flash movie with Michael Keaton, who played Batman in the old Batman films. This new movement is going very far, but nothing has been confirmed for the future of SnyderVerse.

What was confirmed about the SnyderVerse is what would’ve happened in the next Justice League films, if Zack Snyder’s plan had worked out in the beginning. Overall, Zack Snyder wanted to right a wrong, and he will ultimately finish what he started.