Justice League: everything you need to know about the Zack Snyder cut

You may have noticed there's a lot of talk online about a new cut of DC comic book movie Justice League.

Released in 2017, Justice League was initially helmed by Watchmen and Man of Steel's Zack Snyder, before he had to leave owing to personal tragedy. Joss Whedon was then brought in to complete the project and oversee reshoots.

Fans have long been clamouring for Snyder's original cut of the movie, and it seems like they'll finally be getting it. Here's everything you need to know.

How did the Snyder cut of Justice League come about?

Upon its release, Justice League was panned for veering haphazardly between Snyder's recognisable darkness and Joss Whedon's quiptastic humour (a byproduct of the reshoots that were designed to create more levity). Despite the presence of Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and (in his DC movie debut) Jason Momoa as Aquaman, the film was deemed a flop.

Fans, therefore, started to get vocal on social media, demanding that Snyder's original cut see the light of day. ("You probably saw one-fourth of what I did," Snyder said of the finished product.) A Change.org petition for Warners to release Snyder’s version had already garnered over 100,000 signatures less than five days after the movie’s release.

Further propelled by the hashtag #ReleaseTheSnyderCut, the movement gathered momentum, and in November 2019, even the film's stars began to join in.

Remarkably, the movement had an impact, Warner Bros chief Toby Emmerich proving favourable to the eventual release of Snyder's edit. As quoted in The Hollywood Reporter, he asked Snyder, "This is real. People out there want it. Would you guys ever consider doing something?"

In May 2020, Snyder confirmed that his own cut was a go, following a screening of his 2013 Superman movie Man of Steel. From comic book pipe dream to reality: several years on, we're going to see what Snyder had intended for Justice League all along.

How will the Snyder cut differ from the theatrical release of Justice League?

Snyder's original edit of Justice League was four hours long, but Warner Bros asked him to edit it down to two hours. Snyder struck a compromise with a two hour, 40-minute cut, but the suicide of his daughter compelled him to leave the project in post-production. Whedon then took over, and the rest, as they say, is history.

It's alleged by The Hollywood Reporter that an extra $20 to $30 million is being ploughed into the project, and that Snyder is assembling key cast and crew members to make relevant tweaks. This is said to include stars Affleck, Gadot and Henry Cavill, plus cinematographer Larry Fong. Additional tweaks are rumoured to be occurring in the scoring and visual effects areas.

The Hollywood Reporter indicates that the character of Darkseid will also be present. Created by Iron Man designer Jack Kirby, Darkseid was teased in the nightmare sequence from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. However, the character's cameo in Justice League (as played by Roy Porter) was cut when the movie went through re-editing and reshoots under Whedon.