It’s become clear that the theatrical cut of Justice League is drastically different from the version of the movie Zack Snyder was working on before leaving, but now it’s also clear that even Zack Snyder’s theatrical cut would have been something very different from what we know of as “the Snyder Cut.”
The troubled production of Justice League is a legendary topic at this point after the resulting movie bombed at the box office and constant social media clamor for the Snyder Cut has become a monkey on Warner Bros. back as they try to continue to release DC movies and leave Justice League in the rear-view mirror.
While the notion of a Snyder Cut initially saw a lot of resistance, the non-stop demand and constant leaks about Snyder’s original plan, and the cut’s level of completeness, slowly brought public sentiment around to the point that now (almost) everyone accepts that the Snyder Cut does exist.
However, there’s still a lot of confusion over what the “Snyder Cut” even is, and exactly what its contents are, as even some of Zack Snyder’s teases don’t seem to line up with the general perception of what the Snyder Cut was supposed to be.
There Were Multiple Versions of Justice League
One of the more complicated aspects of the whole Justice League situation, especially when we’re talking about the Snyder Cut, is there’s not simply the Snyder Cut and the Whedon Cut. Justice League went through numerous sweeping changes at various stages of production, meaning certain concepts from the version of Snyder was working on that made it through to the theatrical cut weren’t actually part of Snyder’s original plan for the Snyder Cut, and vice versa.
Zack Snyder and writer Chris Terrio had a Justice League script ready to go when Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice arrived in theaters, but the reception was so polarizing they were convinced to do a rewrite, namely to exclude a “really scary” element, as Snyder described at his Director’s Cut event back in March 2019, thinking “I guess it is crazy..like we’re fucking nuts. There’s going to be mass hysteria in the streets if we film this…apparently.”
This means the original pure Snyder + Terrio script was rewritten into a lighter and less polarizing version, which is the version of the script that was supposed to be used during production. However, on-set rewrites with Geoff Johns turned into a virtual third version of the script, which is basically Snyder and new DC Films head Geoff Johns, with less input from Terrio since they were happening on the fly. Eventually, Geoff Johns assembled a writer’s room, including Seth Graham Smith, Joss Whedon, and others, which further evolved that shooting script.
After Snyder left production following his family tragedy, Joss Whedon was given even more control as his rewrites ballooned to nearly 80 new pages for reshoots. The rule of thumb is a 2-hour movie is 120 pages. This lends a lot of credence to the seemingly low estimate from cinematographer Fabian Wagner that only 10% of Justice League is his original footage.
Zack Snyder’s Theatrical Cut Would Have Been Compromised
Because there were so many iterations of the Justice League story, it’s fairly easy to conclude one thing: Zack Snyder’s theatrical cut would have been heavily compromised from his original vision. He had already gone through one major rewrite before shooting started, but was also rewriting on-set, and if he had never left production, that trend would have continued through to November 2017.
That’s not to say Zack Snyder’s cut wouldn’t have been better than Joss Whedon’s. It likely would have seen a number of similar studio pushed changes, but Snyder would have resisted more, things like Henry Cavill’s mustache nightmare may have been resolved differently, maybe Snyder would have pushed to digitally add a beard instead of digitally remove a mustache, and the overall look and feel of the movie would have at least been more cohesive. However, a number of fan-favorite Snyder Cut elements would have already been cut.
Steppenwolf’s design was changed early in production from the scarier version seen in Batman v Superman and trailers indicate Darkseid had already been replaced by Steppenwolf in the history lesson flashback before Whedon took over. The move from the movie being set-up for Justice League 2 to a more stand-alone story also meant writing a new ending without a cliffhanger. These are just a few high profile examples of changes Snyder agreed to.
The biggest recent example of changes Snyder agreed to would be the recently teased black suit Superman. Snyder says his cut of the movie will have Superman wearing the black suit, but we know from set photos and deleted scenes that the movie was shot with Cavill always wearing a blue suit. Snyder even shot the classic Christopher Reeve style shirt rip ending scene with the blue suit. Snyder agreed to film the movie in the blue suit hoping to convince WB to convert to the black suit during post-production where the suit could easily be color corrected to the black and silver version as seen in the Death and Return of Superman arc in the comics.
While changing the suit to black was a possibility, looking at the sheer amount of pushback to Snyder’s ideas in Justice League, it’s hard to see him ultimately winning that battle, at least not as much as he wanted. Even if Superman wore the black suit, it likely wouldn’t be the entirety of the movie as he originally planned.
Snyder is Teasing Changes Older Than “The Snyder Cut”
In all the “what would/could have been” talks regarding Justice League and the Snyder Cut, the lack of knowledge or definition about what ‘The Snyder Cut" even is has obfuscated a major detail: Zack Snyder is teasing things that were already abandoned before he left Justice League’s production. Going back to the multiple versions of the Justice League script that existed over the course of production, which one is he actually teasing?
Without seeing the scripts themselves, there’s no way of getting an exact answer, but Superman’s black suit is the clearest indicator yet of what Snyder is now pushing. Snyder teased a color-changed picture of Cavill in the superman suit, changing it from blue and red to black and silver because a black suit wasn’t actually used on set, meaning the black suit would have been an idea from an earlier version of the script, at least as early as the first Snyder and Terrio rewrite script. Snyder said the black and silver suit is the suit Superman wears in his version of the movie, too, so it’s not merely a “what would have been.”
Add this to the fact that Ray Fisher said during a convention panel that Snyder shot “everything he wanted to shoot” and there was “enough for two movies.” Snyder also recently confirmed his assembly cut was five hours long. With so much in flux during production, even though Snyder already had a script and storyboards for his own version, it’s not inconceivable that Snyder got multiple versions of each scene, including versions that aligned more with his original vision for the movie. Snyder even said at his director’s cut event that he shot “a lot of” the original script, with the “really scary thing” (Darkseid killing Lois) being the only noted change.
This is where things get interesting. Since the Snyder Cut still needs work to finish, including VFX and minor pick-up shoots (such as Martian Manhunter), if he’s able to get funding to do that, it would make sense for him to take that opportunity to get things more in-line with his earlier scripts as well. This may not mean a full return to Darkseid killing Lois in the Batcave (not that it’s out of the question), but if $30-40 million is needed for VFX work, what’s a few million more to change Steppenwolf’s design back to his scarier look or some of the other things that have long been ruled out of even being in Snyder’s current 214-minute director’s cut.
There’s still so much up in the air with the Snyder Cut - Warner Bros. sources allegedly maintain it’s not going to happen, but support is growing after the entire cast (sans Cavill) and numerous members of the crew, as well as a number of high profile names (including former DC Entertainment President Diane Nelson) so it seems like it’s only a matter of time. The big question now is which version of the Snyder Cut will we see?
