A lot can transpire in the space of a fortnight.
Justice League has come and gone and the first teaser trailer for Avengers: Infinity War is now available for all to see, praise the gods, but the comic book community is still longing for one, fabled artifact: Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League.
Forget the Mother Boxes and reality-altering Infinity Stones; Snyder’s director’s cut has spawned a number of conflicting reports, one impassioned petition over at Change.org (now at 150,000 signatures and counting) and a worldwide investigation, as curious fans begin scouring the four corners of the Internet in search of clues and nixed deleted scenes.
That search is still very much ongoing, of course, and that’s despite Justice League‘s VFX artist claiming that Zack Snyder’s initial cut doesn’t actually exist. The latest twist in the saga once again comes from Reddit, so it’s best approaching these allegations with a heightened sense of caution. According to the ‘DC_Cinematic’ subreddit though, Snyder’s cut exists “in an unfinished but relevant form.
“This was not simply an assembly cut derived from principal photography, but a rough version that had a lot of finished FX and music,” says the post.
Now, before we get too excited, it’s important to stress that Reddit rumors often evolve into their own unique beasts – beasts that essentially border on fan fiction.
But let’s entertain this allegation for just a moment. It supposes that Justice League‘s director’s cut does exist somewhere in the bowels of Warner Bros., and would likely cost millions to complete given it is very much a “rough version” with a lot of unfinished VFX. Whether that edition is ever released publically is another question entirely, but it does present some food for thought.
Then again, Zack Snyder officially stepped down back in May, six whole months before Justice League‘s theatrical release. With that in mind, it’s more likely that Snyder presented Warner Bros. with a skeleton of the film before handing the reins over to Joss Whedon. The former was off Justice League for most of 2017, after all, so we can’t imagine his vision was even close to completion before Whedon climbed on board.
The takeaway? The chances of Warner Bros. releasing some magical alternate cut of Justice League are slim to none, but we can at least hope for some form of extended edition that adds all of those deleted scenes back into the equation.
