Midway through the production of unwatchable,” free rein to sink their claws into the movie and reshape it into a shallow attempt to emulate the Marvel formula. The studio even hired Avengers director Joss Whedon to helm the reshoots.
Ever since the bitter disappointment of the theatrical cut, DC fans have been hounding Warner Bros. to release Snyder’s vision for the movie and they finally caved. Now that the Snyder cut is a reality, there have been some surprising announcements about its content.
It’s A Four-Part Miniseries
One of the biggest problems Snyder had before departing from Justice League was that Warner Bros. wanted the movie to be under two hours following the negative response to simply had too much story material to make a coherent two-hour version of it.
Reportedly, Snyder’s cut of Justice League will be released as a four-part miniseries with hour-long episodes as opposed to a single movie, although it will later be recut as a four-hour movie.
The Reshoots Are Costing Warner Bros. At Least $70 Million
The announcement of the release of the fabled Snyder cut was seen by many fans as a confirmation of the rumors that the cut was real all along, sitting in a vault waiting to be released like Jason Momoa teased. However, the release will require reshoots and Warner Bros. is pumping (at least) $70 million into those reshoots, more than double the projected $30 million investment.
The Snyder cut wasn’t complete as promised, but enough people want to see it that the studio is willing to stump up almost the entire budget of Birds of Prey to finish it.
Ben Affleck Is Shooting New Scenes As Batman
Ben Affleck’s sudden departure from the role of Batman was highly publicized, with the rampant backlash to the early DCEU entries taking a real toll on the actor’s personal life.
Although Robert Pattinson’s stint in the role has already begun, Affleck is returning to the role of Bruce Wayne in both the Justice League reshoots and the Flash movie, which will also feature Michael Keaton’s Dark Knight.
Jared Leto’s Joker Will Appear
Jared Leto has ed the Justice League reshoots, survived on cameos and Easter eggs alone.
Leto’s Joker seemed to be a thing of the past following the negative reception from fans and the immense success of Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker origin movie, so it’s surprising to see Leto return to the character.
Cyborg Is “The Heart Of The Movie”
After a personal tragedy forced Snyder to step down from Justice League and Warner Bros. was able to reshape it how they pleased, one of the first decisions they made was to sideline Cyborg in favor of better-known heroes like Batman and Wonder Woman.
In Snyder’s version, Cyborg is “finally getting to realize Snyder’s vision.
It’s “For Grownups”
When Forbes’ Scott Mendelson commented that the leaked teaser for Snyder’s cut of Justice League looked like the same movie as the theatrical cut, Snyder responded by saying, “You said you enjoyed the theatrical cut of Justice League like you enjoy your Saturday morning cartoons... Well this is made for grownups, so you’re not in the demographic.”
Snyder has attracted some online mockery for saying that a movie about Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman fighting an army of demons is “for grownups,” but it does hint that he’s drastically changing the tone of the film.
Steppenwolf Has Been Redesigned
As he appears in the theatrical cut of Justice League, Steppenwolf is yet another generic CGI comic book movie villain. A tweet that named him as one of the worst villains in the genre’s history was liked by Snyder’s replacement Joss Whedon shortly after the theatrical cut was released.
The character has been redesigned for the Snyder cut. The new design is similar to the previous one, but he looks much sleeker and more menacing now.
Geoff Johns And Jon Berg Aren’t Attached As Producers
Geoff Johns and Jon Berg, two producers who were once at the helm of the DCEU, are not attached to the new version of Justice League. This is reportedly unrelated to Ray Fisher’s ongoing dispute with Johns.
Rather, they’ve removed their names from the project out of respect for Snyder’s vision, because they had no involvement in the reshoots.
Darkseid Will Appear
Darkseid is essentially the Thanos of the DC Comics universe. It’s been rumored that Justice League was supposed to set up Darkseid as the puppet-master behind Steppenwolf ahead of his appearances in the sequels.
In the Snyder cut, Darkseid will actually appear on-screen. Ray Porter has been cast to play the iconic villain, performing the role through the use of motion capture.
It Exists
Frankly, the biggest surprise about the Snyder cut is that it actually exists. It may require some reshoots before it’s ready to release, but it’s certainly not the pipe dream that DC fans were told it was.
After all the money that the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign has raised for suicide prevention, the actual release of the Snyder cut just feels like the cherry on top.
