That’s All Folks!
Crusader fans got what they wanted. Zack Snyder’s four-hour version of Justice League has been released and it’s a hit. Even detractors admit it’s a vast improvement over the theatrical cut, others just flat out enjoyed it, and many absolutely loved it.
Of course, this means the clamor has started for Snyder to be allowed to realize his vision and complete the story with two more movies. Beyond that, the noises around the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad are intensifying. That movie, you will remember, was similarly butchered by the studio, now notorious for its incompetent tinkering. Eventually, they gave the final edit to a trailer production house and the promise of the movie from early views and trailers failed to materialize.
Fans who feel empowered are becoming increasingly vocal. Well, bad news, fans. Warner Bros. says it’s over and that is your lot. It’s done.
WarnerMedia Studios CEO Ann Sarnoff confirms the SnyderVerse is now finished and, just like Walter Hamada said, a narrative dead end. When asked by Variety, she flat-out killed any further ideas of Snyder restorations:
“I appreciate that they love Zack’s work and we are very thankful for his many contributions to DC. We’re just so happy that he could bring his cut of the ‘Justice League’ to life because that wasn’t in the plan until about a year ago.
With that comes the completion of his trilogy. We’re very happy we’ve done this, but we’re very excited about the plans we have for all the multi-dimensional DC characters that are being developed right now.”
Plans Within Plans
So they have a plan? First time for everything! Whereas the theatrical cut of Justice League and the failure of Wonder Woman 1984 should have killed the franchise, there is still an Aquaman sequel to come along with The Flash. This is before we even get to Joker and Matt Reeves The Batman. What a mess the DCEU is. Snyder won’t be getting the chance to tidy things up:
“We’re always going to listen to our fans, but we are in service of the broadest fanbase and we owe them an integrated, holistic strategy. We are the shepherds of the franchise and hopefully when the fans see what we’ve got in store they’ll know that DC is in good hands across many different platforms with many different creators. We want different voices in the mix.
For certain fans that want singular voices, they may be disappointed, but we would ask them to be patient and see what we’ve got in store because perhaps the newer voices in the mix will have just as compelling stories to tell. On balance, you of course want to listen to your fans, but we do want to stay true to our vision and our mission for DC and build that out.”
She goes on to talk of a new and more unified vision for DC, with movies and TV shows interlinked across platforms. Regarding the Ayer Cut specifically:
“We won’t be developing David Ayer’s cut.”
Consider us told!
