Second Chances

Hey, remember the "Justice League" movie?

That's Ok, I don't blame you. While Marvel Studios and their cinematic universe have created a cultural icon that has redefined the meaning of success in Hollywood, their Distinguished Competition has largely lagged behind. Their attempts to keep up with Marvel's unstoppable franchise freight train have been continually hindered by stumbles both in and out of their control.

After the abject failure of 2011's "Green Lantern," Warner Bros. put all their chips onto the only other launching point for a cinematic universe of their own, Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel."

This had the unfortunate side effect of effectively making Zack Snyder the architect of their entire cinematic universe.

Now, I like Snyder as a director in certain cases. If you want cool, flashy, shallow, and violent Snyder is your guy. He is exactly the kind of director I want for movies like "300."

He's also exactly the kind of director I don't want when adapting a paragon of truth, justice, and the American way.

But I digress.

With no better options on hand, Zack Snyder was put in charge of setting up the D.C. Cinematic Universe in the wake of "Man of Steel."

This resulted in a sequel that gave Batman top billing, introduced Wonder Woman, and literally stops the movie at one point to tease Aquaman, Cyborg, and The Flash in the most blatantly shameless spin-off foreshadowing since "Iron Man 2."

It was messy, but it got the job done. Just a year later, we got "Justice League."

Kind of.

While Zack Snyder directed both "Man of Steel" and "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice," a personal tragedy led to him leaving the director's chair for the third installment. Instead, Joss Whedon was brought in to finish the film, resulting in the reshoots that gave us, among other things, Superman's infamous CGI-ed upper lip (as Henry Cavill was contractually obligated to keep his mustache for his role in "Mission: Impossible - Fallout").

Joss Whedon's "Justice League" was not a good movie. It was probably as good as it could have been under the circumstances, but that's not saying much.

Thus, in the pursuit of greener grass, diehard fans of the D.C. Cinematic Universe (yes, they exist) launched a campaign to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut,

convinced that there was a nearly finished cut of the movie that represented Snyder's original vision.

Since then, the call for a do-over on "Justice League" has been something of a long-running joke. A sisyphean task that nobody could have ever reasonably expected to accomplish. After all, since the original's mediocre reception Warner Bros. has spent a lot of time trying to change gears and put Snyder's grim-and-gritty sensibilities behind them.

Henry Cavill has moved on to grimacing and swearing over on Netflix's "The Witcher." Ben Affleck has passed Batman's cape and cowl over to Robert Pattinson for another reboot. The Wonder Woman and Aquaman franchises have enjoyed moderate success by embracing the fun and colorful side of super-heroics. Ray Fisher's "Cyborg" movie was supposed to be released last April, but so far doesn't seem to even have a director yet and Ezra Miller's "The Flash" may end up altering reality if it ever gets released.

All of this adds up to Warner Bros. gradually erasing Snyder's influence on the D.C. Universe. Each step moving farther away from "The Snyder Cut."

But that was before a global pandemic shutdown Hollywood.

With Warner Bros. looking to launch HBO Max as a streaming service to rival Netflix and Disney+, they need an attention grabbing draw to reel people in with. Something that's particularly difficult during a time where studio productions are on hold until the industry figures out how to keep movie sets virus free.

With that in mind, pulling Snyder's unfinished cut of "Justice League" out of the attic makes sense. Most of the project has already been filmed, so much of the remaining work is a matter of post-production that can largely be done at home.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. had already approached Snyder about re-visiting "Justice League" last November, before the pandemic hit U.S. shores, but the timing has definitely been fortuitous.

It's unknown what form Snyder's "Justice League" will ultimately take. Snyder reportedly envisioned a four hour cut of his original movie, which would never be doable in theaters but may have a shot on a streaming service, either in one large chunk or divided into installments.

It's also unknown how "The Snyder Cut" will effect Warner Bros.' plans moving forward. Which version of events will Ezra Miller's Flash remember during his eventual movie? (Though, considering The Flash's habit of crossing realities, maybe it will be both.) Either way, it will be interesting to see what Snyder comes up with, if only to see the differences in the way two different film makers approach the same material.

Travis Fischer is a news writer for Mid-America Publishing and probably won't like the Snyder Cut, but will watch it anyway.