If you are a diehard DC fan, you probably already know all about the entire history which has led to tonight’s international release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League. If, however, you are a little confused about what the fuss is and are wondering why we’re getting a whole new version of 2017’s superhero team-up, don’t fret, we’ve got you covered before you can watch all four hours of it for yourself on Binge.
Zack Snyder and the start of the DCEU
Back in 2008, the same year in which Marvel Studios kickstarted the MCU with the first Iron Man film, the folks over at Warner Bros. DC started looking to reboot the Superman franchise rather than continue on from 2006’s Superman Returns, which starred Supanova alumnus Brandon Routh. At the time, DC was kicking goals with Christopher Nolan’s enormously successful Batman series starring Christian Bale, and naturally had Nolan pitch them a concept for a Superman reboot whilst he was working on The Dark Knight Rises.
Rather than assume directorial duties himself, Nolan signed on as producer and proposed that his friend, 300 and Watchmen director Zack Snyder, should be the man for the job. Snyder was signed in 2010 and filming began on Man of Steel in 2011, with Henry Cavill as the new Supes.
In 2013, only a few short months after Man of Steel was released, Warner Bros. announced that the MoS follow-up directed by Snyder would not be a solo sequel, but rather it would introduce DC’s other heavy hitter, Batman, in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. This move would also signal the start of a shared cinematic universe, dubbed the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) in the same vein as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which had already released their first Avengers team-up film after a series of solo films.
2017’s Justice League
Curiously, Warner Bros.’s 2017 film was not the first time they’d attempted a Justice League. Ten years earlier, there were plans for another live-action JL that was supposed to have been helmed by Mad Max director George Miller. Unfortunately, those plans fell apart due to production delays, but Warner Bros. decided to give it another shot in 2014, even before work on Batman V Superman was finished, and tapped Snyder to continue the story he had begun in Man of Steel.
Originally, Justice League was planned as a two-part film, with Part 2 slated for release in 2019. When Batman V Superman finally hit cinemas in 2016, however, reviews were mixed and the next DECU outing, Suicide Squad, also suffered some troubling critical reactions. Warner Bros. decided to drastically rethink their plans for their burgeoning cinematic universe, and Justice League was reconceived as a single film, with Justice League Part II indefinitely delayed in favour of a solo Batman film starring Ben Affleck (which would eventually become the new The Batman film starring Robert Pattinson).
Filming began on Justice League in April 2016, and principal photography had already been completed by the end of that year. It was during post-production in 2017, however, that sadly Zack Snyder suffered a personal tragedy and had to step away from putting the final touches on the film.
As would soon become apparent, subsequent rewrites and reshoots undertaken in Snyder’s absence would drastically change the original plans he had in mind for the movie and leave several characters out of the story altogether. Despite being credited as the director on 2017’s Justice League, only about twenty minutes of the original film’s 120 minute run time were actually filmed by Snyder himself.
#ReleaseTheSnyderCut
Almost as soon as the theatrical cut of Justice League hit cinemas, word began to spread concerning the last-minute reworking of the movie. Rumours circulated concerning the existence of a completely different rough-cut that was put together by Snyder before he left the project. These rumours were later confirmed in 2019 by Aquaman actor Jason Momoa who revealed that he had actually seen the infamous Snyder cut in its entirety.
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After months of fan campaigning, in May last year Warner Bros. revealed that they would indeed allow Zack Snyder’s original vision for the film to see the light of day via their new streaming service, HBOMax, and gave him an additional $70 million US to achieve his desired visual effects and film a few last reshoots. Snyder has also revealed that, out of that budget, he would not actually be getting any money himself, as he deliberately forwent any further remuneration in favour of getting complete creative control over the final product.
So it’s a completely different movie?
In a nutshell? Yes.
If you’ve seen the 2017 Justice League, you’ve only seen about twenty minutes of the massive four-hour runtime for Zack Snyder’s Justice League, leaving you with a good 3 hours and 40 minutes of never-before-seen footage, multiple characters who never featured in the original release (including DC’s big bad Darkseid, Martian Manhunter and more), as well as multiple differences in the final story.
And now, with only hours left, Australian audiences can finally see it for themselves on Binge from 6pm AEDT on Thursday, 18 March.
