Superman’s arc in the cinematic cut of Justice League was predictable and unfulfilling. Fans saw his resurrection coming a mile off and nobody was surprised to see him return from the grave on the opposite side to Batman and co. before reconciling with the team just in time for the final battle. Many were left disappointed by the Man of Steel’s depiction, but it sounds like the much-anticipated Snyder Cut of the movie will use the character in a more ambitious way.
Zack Snyder recently discussed how his take on the iconic superhero will be different to the version we saw in theatres and his comments suggest that his Justice League trajectory will be far different to the one Joss Whedon sent him on when Warner Bros. handed him the directorial reins. Speaking to Beyond the Trailer, the Batman V Superman filmmaker said that Supes will ultimately reach his “pinnacle” during the Snyder Cut.
“I love the idea of Superman going on a journey with his character. I love the idea of Superman having to reconcile his morality, reconcile his place on Earth, reconcile love affair with Lois and how that affects the way he relates to humanity and all those things as we all do with the normal relationships we all have in our daily lives. So I think that when you see Superman grapple with those things, he becomes a lot more relatable.
“When I see Superman having to figure out what to do, I now can go like, ‘Wow, if I was Superman…’ Superman is such an abstract character, in his powers and what he’s able to do. Anytime you can bring him back down to Earth, he becomes a lot more relatable, and for that he’s more interesting. A huge respect for his moral code, and I think his ultimate place as the top of the pyramid of the DC superhero world. In the end he has to achieve that pinnacle.”
Seemingly, the director’s cut of Justice League will delve deeper into the implications of Superman’s resurrection and how it changes him as a character. In Man of Steel and Batman V Superman, Snyder introduced film fans to a much darker take on Supes than they were accustomed to, but perhaps his plan was always to take the hero full circle and present him in a more traditional way by the end of his DCEU arc. With the Snyder Cut due to hit HBO Max next year, it won’t be too long before we find out for sure.
It sounds like there’s a wealth of pre-filmed footage that Snyder and his creative team can spruce up and work into Justice League for the director’s cut, but there’ve been conflicting reports about whether Henry Cavill will suit up to shoot additional Superman content. With any luck, he’ll at least have time to re-shoot that opening sequence with the dodgy CGI mouth.