Zack Snyder has always been a filmmaker with R-rated sensibilities, despite much of his work being released into theaters with PG-13 branding. To illustrate that point, the only two of his nine features to date where his original vision remained undiluted and still family friendly are Man of Steel and the animated Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole.
The Extended Cut of Sucker Punch, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice‘s Ultimate Edition and HBO Max’s Justice League were all R-rated and reflective of the director’s intended creative intentions, while Dawn of the Dead, 300, Watchmen and Netflix’s Army of the Dead are geared specifically towards older viewers.
It’s no surprise, then, that he was constantly battling with Warner Bros. over his DCEU efforts, with Snyder admitting that the top brass hated Batman v Superman. Not to mention that he faced pressure before he departed Justice League to lighten the tone and add more comedy into the proceedings. To that end, we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones who told us Ben Affleck would be returning as Batman in The Flash long before it was confirmed – that if the SnyderVerse were to be restored, its architect plans on taking things in even darker and more violent directions with future movies.
Of course, WB and DC Films have a mixed history in such territory, with Joker becoming the highest-grossing R-rated pic of all-time only for Birds of Prey to bomb at the box office just a few months later, but given the sheer level of investment required to bring the SnyderVerse to life, it’s understandable why the studio refused to budge on alienating a significant part of the audience when iconic characters like Batman and Superman were involved.
