The Snyder Cut. Excalibur. The Ark of the Covenant. The unicorn. The Philosopher's stone. What do they all have in common? They are widely thought to not exist, despite the insistent cries of a small group who claim they do. There are even people who have claimed to see them! Who claim they’ve laid eyes on the most sought-after items in all of history. We have never discovered them, and probably never will...but there’s just enough evidence to not completely disqualify their existence as a concrete possibility. Needless to say, simply uttering those words in a room full of comic book junkies would be enough to start an all out brawl. Controversy and debate isn’t really hard to find within the comic book community...they gotta sell comics somehow right? However, the Snyder Cut is different.
The Snyder Cut brings forth the full unbridled wrath and chaos that comes with along with a divided fan base as passionate and attached to their characters as the comic book community. It does so like no other topic in the history of this storied fan base. For those of you not familiar with why these three words are a such a fire-starter in the Nerd community, I invite you to come out from under the rock you live under and explore the insanity that is now the comic book fandom. Come hither! Come and read the crazed rant of a passionate DC fan who not only knows for a fact that this fabled item actually does exist, but has poured through countless articles and forums and spent countless hours researching and digging to find out exactly what happened. I first set out on this valiant and harrowing quest a little more than two years ago (when Zack was first fired) to simply find out what really happened, and to find out whether a separate version of the movie existed. What I found, however, was much bigger than that.
Much bigger.
Before we talk about the fiasco that was the production of Justice League, we must first understand why Warner Brothers decided to go with Zack Snyder and his vision for a series of DC movies in the first place, and what made the now-infamous company switch gears so quickly and suddenly that it completely derailed their film productions for the better part of two years in the process. This is important, because without an in-depth knowledge on what DC and Warner Bros. were going for with their initial run of DC films, it simply looks as if the company didn’t know what it was doing and had no long term planning or leadership whatsoever...which is how the media obviously painted the situation but is completely and utterly false.
While I do agree that Warner Brothers severely mishandled their comic book properties and film productions...I never thought for one second they didn’t know what they were doing or that they didn’t have a plan (which seems to be the main argument nowadays for disenfranchised fanboys who don’t get what they want). Upon further research, it seems like my suspicions have been confirmed. Warner Bros. did have a plan...and not only did they have a concrete and solid plan, but it was a damn good one too. Had Warner Bros. actually stayed the course and let Zack deliver what he promised he would...they would have crafted something the likes of which we have never seen and would never seen again. Although it’s hard to match what Disney and Marvel have done with the MCU...this would have come damn close. Their original plans were so unique...so epic...that it would have cemented DC’s place in comic book film history forever.
It all started with the success of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy...and more specifically Batman Begins. That film in of itself was an extremely important contributor to the modern day comic book film landscape, because although it wasn’t the movie that started the comic book movie trend (see my Dark Phoenix article) it was the one that brought the genre from over-the-top silliness and cringey acting to oscar-worthiness almost overnight, as well as bestowing upon it a tone of seriousness and realism never before seen. More specifically, the character of Batman had more or less been made into a laughingstock of the mainstream audiences after the release of the infamous Joel Schumacher films (my guilty pleasures). Even before those horrendous works of art, comic book films were never taken seriously and even darker films like Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992) were thought of as hokey and corny. No one ever took comic book movies seriously. Not until Batman Begins, that is.
With the smashing success of The Dark Knight, and the release of the first Iron Man, as well as The Incredible Hulk, 2008 saw the rise of a revolution in filmmaking that sent shockwaves throughout all space and time. For the first time, comic books and comic book movies were being taken seriously...and the fans, it seemed, were looking for more serious and down to earth representations of their comic book heroes. In other words, they wanted more of the Nolan-verse. They were clamoring for it...they thirsted for it…and Warner Bros. was determined to give it to them. This was the thought process that brought Zack Snyder and his vision over to Warner Bros. to try and accomplish something that no one in film or TV had been able to accomplish up to that point:
Making a serious and down-to-earth Superman film.
Not just one either, but at least three according to my research. When Zack first came on board to direct Man of Steel, he and Warner Bros. were focused solely on Superman and doing with him what they did with Batman in The Dark Knight trilogy. They wanted to do this with all of their heroes. Make dark, gritty, and down to earth versions of their most popular heroes, and although there is no evidence of this, I feel like they would have eventually brought them all together for an ultimate Justice League movie. At the time, Chris Nolan himself was still heavily involved, because it’s no secret that he was a huge fan of what Warner Bros. was doing with these characters, and it’s why Nolan’s name is attached so heavily to Man of Steel. He was rooting for this to be a success! But then something happened. Something monumental that caused an earthquake in the genre of comic book films causing the tectonic plates of power to rumble and shift so dramatically, that by the time the dust settled, there was a new king on the throne. What was this earth-shattering event you may ask?
The release of The Avengers.
When Warner Bros. (as well as Fox and Sony) saw their rival’s penultimate super hero team-up film gross over a billion dollars at the box office, things changed. For everyone. These companies started to envision the potential of their own characters and the rights they held over their villains and stories, and when they saw the endless stream of dollar signs pouring in from every conceivable corner of the earth, they all lost their visions, identities, and sensibilities. Everything after that was about trying to replicate what Marvel had done. As a result, a trilogy meant to be solely about Superman turned into a 5-Part epic about the titans of the universe coming together to form the Justice League. What DC didn’t consider, however, was the fact that Marvel spent years and multiple origin-story films building up to the team-up film, and DC intended to do it with just two. Believe it or not, this dramatic shift of plans wasn’t even the downfall of the old DC film universe. Zack Snyder is a severely misunderstood genius and foresaw the disaster that would ensue had they tried to copy the MCU. He pitched his idea for the Justice League to Warner Bros., and although it was extremely different than what Marvel had done, they did the right thing (at the time) and trusted their brand and their creative leader in his decision to keep things contained.They still held onto their identity. They still had their vision...albeit a twisted and warped version of the original. It was still…contained.
That’s how it was always meant to be. Contained. Controlled. Finite.
Zack never wanted to make the “DC extended universe”. He never wanted to replicate Marvel. Yes, he signed onto the production of the Justice League, but he did it with the understanding that he would be able to do it his way with his Superman, and his storytelling. He wanted to do something so different and so revolutionary that it would have shifted power back to DC and its pantheon of all-time great superheroes and stories...and had he been allowed to complete his 5-film epic, that’s exactly what would have happened. You might ask why then, did DC hit the wall so fast after Batman V Superman and fall into a downward spiral of madness into a bottomless blak pit of media negativity? The answer is very short and very simple: Studio interference. It happens all the time in Hollywood, but never have films been so butchered like they have in the superhero genre. The problem is, these production companies treat superhero films just like all the other films they produce, when that is the completely wrong way to approach these types of movies. With comic book films there are two routes you can go:
The issues start to arise when you try to do both at the same time because the film loses it's identity...causing mass confusion and frustration among the public. Compare The Dark Knight to Spider-Man: Homecoming if you would like to observe the differences for yourself. The biggest flops of all time within the superhero genre have come from studios who don’t understand this and have tried to get the best of both worlds. This is what DC tried to do with Batman V Superman, and they were exposed the moment they decided to release the Batman V Superman Ultimate Edition which saw over a half an hour of footage re-inserted back into the film. The result was a much better and much more polished film that not only was coherent (unlike the theatrical release) but was actually extremely morally/thematically complex and was quite good. Too bad only ten percent of the people who saw the theatrical version bothered to watch the real version of the film which clocked in at a whopping 3 hours and 3 minutes of total run time.
After years of scrolling through comment sections, forums, and reviews, I have narrowed the number of reasons for Batman V Superman’s cinematic failure down to one: Misunderstanding. Misunderstanding by both the fans and Warner Bros. Let’s be honest here...Zack Snyder’s vision for the epic 5-part story he wanted to tell was WAY ahead of its time, and I’m not exaggerating. See everyone was trying to copy Marvel, and they all (including DC) eventually figured out that Zack was right in trying to do something different. Trying to copy the MCU has led to the downfall of Sony, Fox, and DC...leading Fox to sell the rights to their characters back to Marvel, and Sony being forced to share. The only reason Warner Bros. didn’t sell their characters, is because unlike Fox and Sony, they own all the characters under the DC name. I wouldn’t sell either. Nevertheless, Zack was right to want to do something different. To keep the story contained and less-expansive. To focus on telling a good story revolving around 2 good characters with a few supporting cast members, and to make it grounded in realism centered in our world today.
Everybody was so blinded by what Marvel was doing, that they completely missed the point of Snyder’s story. It was never meant to be fun. It was never meant to be “comic book accurate”. It was never meant to pander to the mainstream audience. It was meant to show how the Justice League could work in the real world, and how our world would look if these types of people existed within it. It was a meta-narrative. It wasn’t supposed to be comic-accurate. It wasn’t supposed to compete with Marvel, because it was something else entirely. It’s why Zack showed the heroes killing. It’s why Superman snaps Zod’s neck and destroys Metropolis while fighting him. It’s why Batman kills throughout BvS. In order to have the “no killing rule”, shouldn’t it be important to show why they feel that way? Shouldn’t they have motivations for acting the way they act? Shouldn’t the heroes grow and evolve and show some sort of flaw in their character? Well it depends on which of the two options you are going with. Zack obviously picked option number two, and went for it all the way. Had he been allowed to complete his story, we no doubt would have witnessed Batman and Superman evolve into the heroes we know and love today, but unfortunately, in a world accustomed to the ways of the MCU, people just simply weren’t ready for intelligent, deep, and morally complex superhero films that dealt with normally pristine characters like Superman.
And that’s the cold hard truth.
Taking everything I said above into account, it should be clear that the Justice League that was released in theaters was a far cry from what Zack was trying to accomplish theatrically, thematically, and visually and was a complete farce. Now I actually enjoyed the Justice League we got in theaters. Was it perfect? No. Was it good? Not really. Was it bad? Nah. It was just...meh. And that’s what you get when you try to take a dark, gritty, and realistic take on god-like superheroes trying to fit in the real modern world, and turn it into a bright, colorful, fun action flick with a few quips and an end credits sequence...basically a Marvel film with a DC skin over it. Regardless, it was obvious that the film endured heavy tampering by the studio, and when you start to look into what was being planned before ol’ Zack was taken off the project, you start to realize what we actually missed.
Now Zack hasn’t even seen the theatrical cut of Justice League. He said as much in a response to a fan tweet asking him if he’d seen it. I don’t blame him. Warner Bros. really screwed him and his career. They
Yeah. I wouldn’t have watched the film either.
In fact, he has been actively campaigning on his own behalf and releasing as much behind the scenes footage, set photos, and other details as legally possible per his non-disclosure agreements he signed with the studio. He has repeatedly said that his version of the Justice League exists, and that he is still working on it as we speak. He is trying to finish it while simultaneously working on other project. This is a man who genuinely cared about the films and characters he was crafting, and in this genre...that’s hard to find. It’s because of these little easter eggs he has been dropping all over the internet, that I was able to finally decipher what his original story was, and what his plans were for his mini-DC universe. Below this, I’ll post some of the screenshots, set photos, and various other goodies dropped by Zack all over the internet, but what I really want to talk about is the T-Shirt he made for Suicide Prevention Awareness. That is the grand-daddy of them all. The grand-poobah. The big poppa.
...For on the design of this T-Shirt, ol’ Zack-y-boy completely gives away the entire beginning, middle, and end of his 5-part saga, as well as his intentions behind the story itself.
On January 10th, 2019, Zack Snyder released a tweet of a T-Shirt design with a very curious logo on the front with all sorts of symbols and words, and on the back a quote that read:
“ All the Gods, All the Heavens, All the Hells are within you "
I know, chilling right? Anyways, while the quote on the back was almost certainly directly related to the cause, the logo on the front was what everyone couldn’t stop talking about for its cryptic nature and curious layout. As expected, fellow nerds and comic book fans alike immediately went to work trying to decipher this insanely mysterious piece of work. While some of the answers were uncovered, many remained a mystery...until now.
Let’s break it down shall we?
Superman is at the top because the entire story revolves around him. Everything that happens and was supposed to happen in Snyder’s Justice League was directly tied to Superman and his story. He is also the beacon of hope and the most important character in the league...hence his position at the top of the tree.
To the left and right of Superman are two meta humans originating from hidden worlds they don’t feel like they belong to. Below them, the flash and cyborg are represented by the accidents that both killed their previous lives and gave birth to new ones...and at the bottom of it all, there is bruce wayne, acting as the foundation of it all. He was also the one who “founded” the justice league (in the film) so this makes sense. Without him, there is no league.
One of the more curious pieces to this puzzle is the image of the infant at the very bottom of the image. This is because the entire story arc would have ended with Lois and Clark Conceiving a child and naming him Bruce. This is because Bruce would be the one to sacrifice himself to save Lois (probably) in the final film (more on that later). This would make complete sense and would tie everything together nicely in regards to Batman’s role in the story. It would explain the scene in Batman v Superman where he is visited by the time-traveling flash who tries to warn him that Lois “is the key” and that “he was right about him”...”him” being Superman of course. Now that second part is a little more curious because we don’t exactly have any confirmed evidence of what Zack was planning for the two films in-between BvS and the final Justice League movie, but we have gotten a lot from supposed leakers and employees who worked on set of Zack’s justice league. More on that in a bit.
Now when you cross examine the entire image to Kabbalistic Tree of Life, something extraordinary happens. Take a look at them side by side and notice how insanely similar they are. This was done on purpose, and understanding their relations is the key to understanding the entire Snyderverse. Let’s break it down number by number.
1 represents “the crown” and coincides with Superman as he is the first and most important of them all. Again, the story begins (and ends) with him...as we will see in number 10.
2 represents Neptune which, in turn, represents wisdom. This coincides with Aquaman’s symbol...which makes complete sense after seeing his standalone film, which released in theaters last December. In that movie, we saw Aruthur mature and grow into a man and gain the “wisdom of a king”.
3 represents Understanding, which coincides with Wonder Woman. This also makes complete sense after viewing her standalone film and seeing her struggle with the reality of the world and how harsh it is. By the end of the movie, she had to get over her anger at humanity and grow into understanding.
Numbers 4 and 5 coincide with the tower and the building in the middle. Both have lines that point towards the center of the tree of life. This would seem to indicate that the “broken chain” on Zack’s image would coincide with the masculine right pillar of mercy and the DNA strand would coincide with the feminine left pillar of judgement. Both of which match up with the story arcs and character development set up by each of Aquaman’s and Wonder Woman’s solo films. It should also be noted that Zack had a hand in the production of each film...as he was still involved with Warner Bros. and that Universe at the time.
In the middle of the tree of life, there is a dark circle which is labeled as death. This would explain why there is a sword piercing through the Omega symbol in the middle of Zack’s image. In the comics, the Omega symbol is associated with the “anti-life” equation...or death itself. The sword piercing through death would then represent number 6…”beauty”...which is often the word used to describe the opposite of death which is life itself.
With Number 7 representing “Victory”, it is easy to see why “Victor Stone” would be placed in that location...not to mention the fact that Victor (in both the comics and the films) is known across the country for being a winner in all aspects of life, but especially football.
8 Represents “splendour” and looking at the definition, it’s easy to see why the Flash takes this spot. Google’s definition of Splendour is as follows: “Magnificent and splendid in appearance” and once you’ve seen the speedforce in action...that is exactly how you would describe it.
As stated earlier, number 9 represents “foundation” where Batman’s symbol lies. He is the foundation of the League. He is the organizer and prime strategist, and he plays an integral role in the story...and if my suspicions are true (I’m very confident they are) he would prove to be the most important character...second only to Clark himself. For he would have sacrificed himself at the very end to protect Lois and prevent the “Knightmare” scenario he saw in BvS.
All of this leads to number 10, which symbolized the birth of a new kingdom...which is of course Clark and Lois’s son, who they would call “Bruce”. This is how the end of the epic 5-film story would have played out. It begins with Superman, it revolves around Superman, and it ends with Superman. It was always meant to be this way. Contained.
Now outside of the tree of life, there are a few more interesting aspects that (surprisingly) haven’t been discussed at all on the internet. AC-23 3:5 is almost certainly a verse taken from the Bible, as that is how verses are always referred to.
The only book that resembles the verse given by Zack would be “Acts Chapter 23- Verses 3 through 5” and upon further investigation this does seem to be the case. The verse reads:
And all other versions of the Bible say the same thing but using different writing styles...so the content is the same across all of them. This is extremely telling and meaningful. This verse directly represents the persecution that Zack had been under after BvS and the hypocrisy of the general public in calling for his firing. This excerpt for the Bible can be interpreted literally as Such:
“ God shall smite thee. God Shall punish thee. God is just and he will not suffer such a manifest violation of all the laws of a fair trial to pass unavenged. In this story, Paul was surrounded by enemies...all of which were seeking his life...and he knew that making such a declaration would only anger them further and make them more thirsty for his blood. However, Paul knew that the fact he could address the president of the council with such ferocity and vigor only showed his innocence and the fact he was conscious of it. "
This is extremely interesting as it explains why Zack is acting the way he is. It explains the leaks. It explains the constant interaction with fans and his cries of injustice. It’s because he’s innocent...and he knows it. Zack has gotten * a ton* of flack for being so constantly vocal about his injustice online but he’s doing it because he knows the truth will eventually come out.
And he’s right.
Thousands of people all around the country and the world are starting to wake up to the realization of what really happened and what we really missed out on with his story. It’s why 20,000 dollars was raised by the fans to advertise the release of the Snyder Cut at this year’s San Diego Comic Con. It’s why the movement is not only NOT dying...but is actually picking up steam as the years go by...because there is a genuine interest in seeing what Zack’s movie would have looked like.
Now taking everything I said above into consideration, we can begin to put the pieces of the puzzle together and when we do, we start to realize just what we really missed out on by Warner Bros. abandoning Zack in favor of going the MCU route. However there was still a question of those final two films and what would have happened after the first Justice League film...will we ever know?
Actually...yes. And we probably already do.
On Kevin Smith’s podcast, Fatman Beyond he details his experience traveling to the UK to be on set of the new Star Wars film: The Rise of Skywalker. While touring the set, he met a few crew members who claimed they worked on both versions of Justice League and got inside information on where the story was heading. These particular people had access to previsualization materials and other aspects of the Justice League trilogy plans. Smith says that he was told by these individuals that, in Snyder’s version of Justice League, the film’s ending was similar to the one we see now, but with one major difference. As Steppenwolf zooms up the boom tube back to his home planet of Apokolips after being defeated by the league, Darkseid appears at the other end and glimpses the league staring directly back at him.
“ [The League] saw Darkseid, and Darkseid saw them. Boom Tube closes, and that’s the end of the fucking movie. With them knowing there’s something out there, and we have to go. "
In addition, Smith says that the famous shot of Alfred in the Justice League trailer talking to an unknown character was supposed to be the scene where green lantern returns...not the re-emergence of Superman. A crew member he talked to said he worked on that scene and said they had green lights that were flashing onto alfred to give him a green glow. This would have opened the doors for a sequel set off-earth.
“ Justice League 2 was going cosmic as they take the fight to Apololips...and the Lantern Corps was involved. "
Smith goes on to assert that the end of Justice League 2 would have been defeat, and he uses The Empire Strikes Back and Infinity War as references. Darkseid would have defeated the Justice League, then immediately gone back to Earth to completely desecrate the world...forming the one we see in Batman’s Knightmare in BvS. This would have led directly into the third and final film, where the heroes would carry out one last-ditch effort to reverse their defeat and protect the future of mankind...culminating in a climactic showdown between the league and Darkseid.
“ That was going to be the entire third movie...the heroes’ last stand against Darkseid and the forces of Apokolips...holy fuck!”
Now using that information along with everything discussed above, we can finally lay out a cohesive roadmap for what Snyder was trying to accomplish with these films.
Yeah...I’m not crying, you’re crying.
What words would you use to describe that story? Beautiful? Epic? Moving? Perhaps. Perhaps you would use all of those and more...this sort of story definitely deserves it, but the word I would have used to describe this supposed masterpiece is groundbreaking. A story of this sort of Epicness and scale would have been truly earth-shattering and genre-changing, and at the very least, it would have been a clean breath of fresh air in a genre that, at the time, was starting to get a bit stale and MCU-saturated. Yes, the MCU has had an absolutely incredible run of films, but the biggest mistake is in trying to copy or replicate what they have done...because it can’t be. That would literally being like trying to catch lightning in a bottle twice. Even the MCU knows that it can’t top what it did in Endgame. What Zack was trying to do was brilliant in of itself, and it would have given DC and Warner Bros. a clear identity and legacy. Zack knew that nothing lasts forever. Actors age, and so do audiences. What he was trying to accomplish was smart and simple and brilliant:
Take a team comprised of the most beloved superheroes known to existence, give them an epic story told across 5 3-hour long films and culminating in the biggest showdown ever witnessed on screen, and conclude it immediately... wrapped up nicely and tied together with a neat little bow. Basically doing in 5 movies, what it took the MCU 22 to accomplish.
And looking at the evidence and testimonies of the folks who worked on set, and those who were able to witness the rough pre-screening of the Snyder cut, I am starting to believe that it absolutely would have worked out that way. Both studios would have had their masterpiece in epic storytelling, and no one would have ever had any justification in trying to compare them to each other, because although their end products were very similar...the route in which they would have taken to get there were extremely different indeed.
So in short, yes...I do support the promotion and release of the Snyder Cut. Yes it is true we will never get to see the final two films in Zack’s story, but we deserve to know what we truly missed out on two years ago. We the fans were completely and utterly cheated out of a comic book experience unlike anything we have ever seen or will ever see again. All in the vain effort of copying something that had already been done with the MCU. I think it is already one of the biggest missed opportunities in Hollywood, and one of the largest Hollywood-related injustices in recent memory. Superman happens to be my favorite superhero of all time...as the first comic I ever read was a Superman title. Through him, I had been indoctrinated into the DC mythos at a very young age, and consequently grew up loving the entire pantheon of DC heroes and villains and stories. I, as a fan of DC comics, deserve to see the Snyder Cut, and at the very least I deserve to know what really happened. If DC ever wants to completely repair their image...they will have to release these details at some point...and with the appointment of a new CEO, perhaps we finally will. The time has come for them to divulge what really happened to Snyder and give him justice for his extremely unfortunate plight. The time has come to release the Snyder Cut. As Superman said in the theatrical release of Justice League….
“I’m a believer in truth...but i’m also a big fan of JUSTICE.”
Below, you will find a comprehensive gallery of some of the biggest Snyder Cut tweets, fan interactions, leaks, clips, and anything else to convince you unfortunate few who still believes this is a false pipe dream. If any major news drops about the Snyder Cut, you can be sure to read about it on my page.
Until then….
https://twitter.com/Woke_master/status/1110270110084665344
- Woke_master
