All the evidence that Zack Snyder's Justice League cut is coming

Justice League feels like a world away from the recent Worlds of DC efforts, but it hasn't left the minds of fans.

The critical and commercial failure of the team-up movie led to a change of focus to more standalone offerings. Success has followed with Aquaman sailing past $1 billion, Shazam! impressing the critics and Joker (not quite Worlds of DC) exceeding every expectation.

But some fans are convinced that Justice League's failure could have been avoided and that there's a better version out there.

Enter the Snyder Cut.

Zack Snyder stepped away from Justice League during production, following his daughter's death. Joss Whedon took over as director and oversaw reshoots that were said to add more humour and a lighter tone.

According to producer Charles Roven, Whedon was only responsible for "15, 20% of the movie". Whatever Whedon brought to the movie, the result was an overstuffed mess that didn't satisfy DC fans or potential newcomers to the franchise.

So began a fan campaign to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut that, for the most part, has been without official support... until now.

Snyder has been regularly releasing teasers of scenes from his version of the movie that didn't make the final cut, while also admitting that his original plan for Justice League was never actually filmed.

However, calls for the Snyder Cut to be released were ramped up in August when Jason Momoa confirmed that he had seen it, calling it "ssssiiicccckkkkkk" (his spelling, not ours). He followed this up by saying that the "public needs to see it", but neither of those was a public endorsement of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign.

That came on November 8 when Momoa shared a still of Aquaman stabbing Steppenwolf on Instagram with the campaign hashtag – and more was to follow.

View full post on Instagram

On the two-year anniversary of Justice League's release on November 17, Gal Gadot and Ben Affleck both tweeted their support of the campaign, with Snyder sharing their posts and lending his support to the campaign for the first time.

"This ancient Amazonian can’t be wrong," he wrote. "Neither can Batman."

View full post on X

View full post on X

Now, this could all be a coincidence and, according to The Hollywood Reporter, "no announcement of a release of any such cut is imminent".

But it's hard to shake the feeling that everything has been too orchestrated and planned, especially when you consider that the stars could have shared their support for the campaign at any time.

A two-year anniversary isn't exactly a notable occasion, so it feels coordinated when you fold in the fact that Snyder shared both posts from Gadot and Affleck. He's tweeted his thanks for the campaign before, but hadn't got involved officially until those posts.

So perhaps it's either an attempt to get more eyes on the campaign to convince Warner Bros to release it, or the Snyder Cut is already on the way somehow and this is the start of the promotion.

A theatrical release seems unlikely, given the costs involved and the fact that however big the campaign gets, the Snyder Cut has a niche appeal that won't necessarily attract a bigger audience.

What has been mooted a lot is a release on HBO Max – WarnerMedia Entertainment's upcoming streaming service – when it arrives in May 2020. That feels like a better home for an alternate cut, if Warner Bros didn't want to spend the money on a cinema or home entertainment release.

For now, we still can't say for certain that the Snyder Cut will see the light of day, but everything feels like it's pointing to an imminent release.

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) [DVD] [2020]

£6 at Amazon

Wonder Woman 1984 [DVD] [2020]

£4 at Amazon

Zack Snyder's Justice League [DVD] [2021]

£5 at Amazon

Joker [DVD] [2019]

£5 at Amazon

Shazam! DVD [2019]

£4 at Amazon

Aquaman [Blu-ray] [2018]

£7 at Amazon

DC 5 Film Collection [DVD] [2018]

£11 at Amazon

Wonder Woman [Blu-ray + Digital Download] [2017] [Region Free]

£4 at Amazon

Justice League [4k Ultra HD + Blu-ray + Digital Download] [2017]

£10 at Amazon

The Dark Knight Trilogy [Blu-ray] [2013] [Region Free]

£16 at Amazon

The Superman 5 Film Collection 1978-2006 [Blu-ray] [1978] [Region Free]

£15 at Amazon

Superman Animated Movie Collection [DVD] [2013]

£12 at Amazon

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Ultimate Edition

£30 at Amazon

Digital Spy now has a newsletter – sign up to get it sent straight to your inbox.

Want up-to-the-minute entertainment news and features? Just hit 'Like' on our Digital Spy Facebook page and 'Follow' on our @digitalspy Instagram and Twitter accounts.

Ian Sandwell

Movies Editor, Digital Spy  Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor.  Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world.   After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.