Zack Snyder recently admitted that it’s up to the fans to decide which version of Justice League they want to embrace as official DCEU canon, but they made that decision a long time ago. Even some of the franchise’s contracted filmmaking talent have revealed that they don’t consider Joss Whedon’s theatrical edition as something they need to rely on as a reference point, but then again, the continuity of Warner Bros.’ comic book output has always been pretty sketchy to begin with.
On that note, tipster Mikey Sutton is now reporting that future Wonder Woman and Aquaman movies are going to ignore the SnyderVerse timeline, which wouldn’t come as a surprise seeing as that’s pretty much what they’ve been doing already. Both of Patty Jenkins’ blockbusters have been prequels, which has kept the director and star Gal Gadot free to tell any sort of story they want without having to provide connective tissue, while Jason Momoa’s first outing as Arthur Curry barely acknowledges events outside of its own narrative.
“The Wonder Woman and Aquaman franchises are not going to be rebooted,” says Sutton. “They will simply ignore the continuity of the Snyderverse and make no references to them.”
Thinking too hard about DCEU canon is only going to cause headaches in the long run, especially with The Suicide Squad softly rebooting the titular team at the same time the future of the SnyderVerse is under such intense scrutiny. Harley Quinn interacted with Ben Affleck’s Batman and Jared Leto’s Joker, so she’s definitely part of the main timeline and is even referenced in the Snyder Cut, but the series has focused less and less on these sort of connections and references as time goes by, so they could ultimately end up meaning nothing. Not to mention that Birds of Prey is essentially a standalone spinoff that doesn’t really have much to do with any previous films.
Box office returns have shown that Wonder Woman and Aquaman don’t need surprise guest stars to thrive, and if you went in cold to either movie the first time, you’d have no idea it was even part of a shared universe to begin with.
