DC fans were overjoyed when it was announced by Warner Bros. that the Justice League Snyder Cut is set to be released on HBO Max next year. At long last, we’ll be able to see Zack Snyder’s original vision for the superhero team-up movie in tact, rather than the muddled, critically reviled theatrical version. The thing is, though, the theatrical cut is the one that’s treated as canon. So where does the Snyder Cut fit into DCEU continuity?
The filmmaker himself was asked this question while speaking with Beyond the Trailer’s Grace Randolph. Snyder made it clear that he doesn’t consider his Justice League as necessarily forming part of the DCEU’s timeline and encourages fans to look at it from the perspective of the multiverse. It’s clear that the director sees his three DCEU films – Man of Steel, Batman V Superman and Justice League – as occupying their own continuity.
“For me, where the movie falls, it really starts to represent its own path. It’s kind of separate now from what I would say the DC cinematic universe [is] in continuity. I think it’s divergent, in that way. And I think that’s a good thing. The power of DC, and one of its cool strengths, is the sort of multiverse concept … They also put filmmaker’s first and they say, ‘We want to hear your individual voices. Take these characters and do a run. Show us what you would do.’ In the great tradition of comic book writing, and runs that have been done with all of these amazing characters. … And so, for me, I think Justice League, I’ve heard someone say, ‘Oh, you’re entering the Snyderverse now.’ And frankly, this notion that, what you will see in Justice League, Batman v Superman and in Man of Steel, there’s continuity across those three movies. They are really, because I made them, that’s my main focus is to satisfy that narrative structure [and] continue that story.”
Snyder’s way of looking at his Justice League is probably the healthiest way of approaching it, otherwise we’d go crazy trying to make everything fit together. Asking us to think of it as if all three of his films exist outside the DCEU is a bit of a bigger deal, but it is the simplest option. Fans have already noted how Wonder Woman 1984 having Diana being a hero in the 1980s clashes with the idea from BvS that she stayed hidden throughout the 20th century, for example.
It seems Snyder’s thoughts are being echoed by the studio, too, as they seem very keen to dip into the multiverse. The big headline news of late is that Michael Keaton’s Batman will be returning in The Flash movie, which is probably the tip of the iceberg. DC’s past is being embraced, then, which maybe bodes well for future “Snyderverse” projects, perhaps with Ben Affleck or Henry Cavill, if the Justice League Snyder Cut is a success.
