577 days. It’s been 577 days since Warner Bros. released “Justice League” in theaters. And in that time, the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign has continued to go strong. Just when you think that perhaps the folks that are begging WB to release Zack Snyder’s original version of “Justice League” would call it quits, there’s some new information that keeps them going even more. And this time, we have Zack Snyder himself to thank for reigniting the fire that will likely continue for another 500 days or more.
Over on Vero (the social media network that surely is being kept alive thanks to Snyder and his fans), the filmmaker decided to celebrate Father’s Day by releasing a new image that has never been seen from his version of “Justice League.” And boy, oh boy, is it an image. In the black and white photo, we see that Darkseid is the villain that was later changed to Steppenwolf in the final “Whedon Cut” of the film.
Rumors of Darkseid’s involvement were hardly unfounded. From the Apokolips tease in ‘BvS’ to the fact that Steppenwolf and Motherboxes were even used, the powerful Darkseid was clearly the big bad that Snyder was building towards. But now, there’s visual proof.
Not only that, but another image was released, this time featuring Cyborg having some sort of “Knightmare”-type sequence, similar to what Batman experienced in ‘BvS.’ Poor Ray Fisher. That guy signs on to star in a massive superhero franchise film and because of “Justice League’s” box office failure, is gone even before fans got to really know him.
Look, I’ve made my feelings about the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut known many times before. While I totally understand fans’ desire to see what Snyder would have done with “Justice League,” I don’t necessarily agree with them that A) the “cut” they’re imagining even exists (more than just an assembly cut, that is) and B) WB would even bother with re-issuing a cut of a film that was a critical and box office failure, especially in light of the studio’s insistence that it’s moving away from Snyder’s vision for the DCEU.
That being said, I also feel a bit bad for these folks as well. Not in a condescending way, but in a sympathetic way because of how Snyder is the person that seemingly keeps giving these people false hope. I enjoy behind-the-scenes pictures, storyboards, and “what if?”-style discussions as much as the next comic book nerd, but I also feel like all the filmmaker is doing is stringing these fans along, giving them the idea that all it takes is a loud enough voice for WB to spend the money to bring the “Snyder Cut” to people.
Long story short, if you want to keep the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut going, more power to you. But I really do wish that the studio or Snyder would put an end to this madness.
Here are some of the tweets with the pictures that were released, with some added context from fans:
https://twitter.com/JesabelRaay/status/1140385639537364992
https://twitter.com/rehsifyar/status/1140393876907352064
https://twitter.com/nexuspong/status/1140457025639342080
https://twitter.com/Ray__Porter/status/1140437833724747776
https://twitter.com/nexuspong/status/1140360078899331072
