Patty Jenkins recently admitted that none of the filmmakers working on the various DCEU projects in development considered the theatrical edition of Justice League to be canon, which is definitely a sentiment shared by the fans. Most of us were under the impression that the Snyder Cut would explode onto HBO Max in March, give audiences the epic superhero blockbuster they initially wanted over three years ago, and the second attempt at the movie would slot seamlessly into the franchise’s established continuity.
However, a lot has happened since Warner Bros.’ all-star team first appeared on our screens, with Aquaman and Shazam! launching two new standalone franchises, Birds of Prey bombing at the box office and Wonder Woman getting a sequel. Trying to retrofit a four-hour miniseries so that it connects to the rest of the mythology half a decade after first calling action sounds like an impossible task, then, and in a recent interview, Snyder admitted that he hasn’t really even bothered trying, with Justice League now sitting on the fringes of the shared universe.
“I would say, at this point for me, I think that Justice League is slightly elsewhere. Just because with this version of Justice League, I kind of just do my own thing a lot more than I did in the other DCEU films.”
The filmmaker went on to say that the idea of an entire interconnected set of stories never even crossed his mind when he was developing Man of Steel and Batman V Superman, so the various talents at the helm of the rest of the DCEU’s output shouldn’t find themselves beholden to things that happened in Snyder’s efforts.
“The only thing that I considered was the photograph that I knew was going to be in Patty’s movie. We shot that, I took it, I put it in my movie and in her movie, so those things worked out pretty nicely.But other than that, I was like, ‘Look, I’m going to give you an Aquaman, I’m gonna give you a Flash, do with them as you please’. I’m gonna use them in Justice League, but whatever filmmakers come along, James Wan, I just want you to go and go nuts.”
The DCEU has never exactly been renowned for the sort of intricate worldbuilding that’s characterized the MCU, and with The Flash set to wipe the slate at least partially clean, there’s not really even any need at this point in time to have the Snyder Cut of Justice League try and join any narrative dots to the likes of Wonder Woman 1984.
