Zack Snyder had an ambitious 5-movie plan for the DCEU. Starting with 2013’s Man of Steel, that continued into Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and was supposed to be followed by a Justice League trilogy.
Midway through making the first of those movies, Snyder had it wrestled away from him by Warner Bros. and The Avengers director Joss Whedon was tasked with writing and ultimately directing extensive reshoots. That version of the 2017 blockbuster didn’t work, and after years of fans campaigning for the studio to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut, the four-hour Zack Snyder’s Justice League arrived on HBO Max in 2021.
The movie left the door open to a sequel, but it’s never materialised, even as those same fans continue to demand that Warner Bros. #RestoreTheSnyderVerse.
Talking to Josh Horowitz, Snyder shared his take on whether he could still make those sequels. “I would never say that there’s no way,” he started. “I would never because I was on the ride that created Justice League. And if you were in my shoes, there were numerous times, dark times, when I would say there is no chance that there will ever be my version of Justice League. It will never exist, and it can’t.”
“Cost, politics, everything stood against it, and yet it exists. And you know, I think the fans should never forget that they did that,” he continued. “They also raised a ton of money for suicide prevention, and they really did a lot of good. I think that they catch a lot of flak for being toxic or whatever, but they literally saved human lives. So, you can go f*** yourself if that’s what you think.”
Pushed on whether he’d consider turning those movies into a comic or animated feature, Snyder replied, “We’ve absolutely talked about it quite a bit. I mean, we live in a world where all that’s possible, and whatever form it would take, that would be amazing.”
Something that obviously goes against Snyder’s hopes is that the DCEU has been rebooted as James Gunn’s DCU. Superman served as a clean slate for the franchise, and the Man of Steel helmer shared his candid thoughts on what DC Studios has done with its characters thus far.
“I mean, James has been very kind. I wish them all the best. [My] three movie trilogy is a weed that just won’t die, and so it grows on its own. It has its own life and i not concerned with James’s Superman, which is amazing. I can’t wait to see the next movie, and it’s just awesome. It just really to me it’s it’s just not the same thing. It’s just like a different thing.”
“James is singular in his storytelling in his ability to channel a mythological pop culture into what I would consider an iconic and very particular point of view that’s both poignant and funny. He’s the best at it that I can think of, and I think that he’s a great steward of that world. That’s great for fans.”
There are clearly no hard feelings on Snyder’s part. Still, it is a little surprising that Gunn hasn’t given the filmmaker a chance to end the SnyderVerse once and for all with an animated series or movie that could go straight to HBO Max (it would surely be just as, if not more, successful than, say, Creature Commandos).
For now, nothing is officially in the works. Details on Snyder’s plans for his Justice League sequels have been revealed, though, and you can learn more about them here.
You can watch the full interview with Snyder in the player below.