HBO Max may have only launched a couple of weeks ago, but the latest entrant into the streaming wars has already generated massive publicity thanks to the huge reveal that the Snyder Cut of Justice League would finally become a reality and head exclusively to WarnerMedia’s fledgling service at some point in 2021.
There’s already an impressive library of content available, one that’s only set to grow much bigger over the next couple of years, and you would have expected that DC comic book adaptations would have been a huge part of their marketing strategy in order to convince fans of the genre to sign up in significant numbers.
However, people have already voiced their discontent about the lack of DC titles that were available at launch, and despite the Snyder Cut news sending the internet into meltdown, it looks like a large selection of Warner Bros.’ comic book properties are already set to leave HBO Max, despite the service only having been available for two weeks.
On the ‘Last Chance’ page, a surprisingly high number of DC movies are listed to be disappearing at the end of June, including Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, although you can kind of understand why they’d be keen to get rid of the theatrical version as soon as possible given recent developments.
Not only that, but Wonder Woman, Suicide Squad, Batman, Batman Returns, Batman Forever, Batman & Robin, The Lego Batman Movie, Catwoman, Jonah Hex and The Losers are all scheduled to depart, too, leaving Joker, Aquaman, Shazam! and Green Lantern as the only DC movies available on HBO Max from July onward.
It looks highly unlikely that they’ll be gone forever, but it nonetheless seems a little strange that the company seem to be getting rid of the vast majority of their comic book properties having only gone live at the end of May, but maybe WarnerMedia are just playing the long game as they try and establish HBO Max as a viable rival to the market dominance of Netflix and Amazon.
