One of the first new projects Warner Bros. announced in an attempt to entice viewers and lead them to their new streaming service HBO Max was a much-desired ‘director’s cut’ of 2017’s Justice League, aptly renamed Zack Snyder’s Justice League. The release promises to fulfill Snyder’s original directorial vision for the film after he had to leave the project midway through due to a family emergency.
Indeed, when Justice League was first released in 2017, it received largely negative reviews from critics. While stalwart fans of Snyder blamed this bad press on how the film was something of a ‘Frankenstein’s Monster’ (replacement director Joss Whedon had a very different style to Snyder, meaning the final film had major tonal dissonance), other viewers thought the film would’ve been poor whether or not Snyder managed to finish it. Snyder’s previous entries in the DC Extended Universe (DECU), 2013’s Man of Steel and 2016’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, were made without any other creative input, and still received negative responses.
Nevertheless, with hype building for the Snyder Cut’s eventual release on March 18, some fans are feeling attitudes towards the film may change. Considering the extra budget and run-time allocated to the film, as well as the exciting pre-release snippets offered by Snyder online, they’re beginning to get their hopes up and starting to believe that the Snyder Cut will be brilliant. Whilst many still aren’t believing this to be the case, it does raise an important if unlikely question: what happens if the Snyder Cut is actually incredibly popular and a massive success?
Following the poor response to 2017’s version of the film, Warner Bros. dramatically changed their approach to the DCEU. Instead of following in Marvel’s exemplary footsteps and having all the films share one-universe and be canon, they adopted a weirder approach. Now, some films are canon, some are not, and some lie somewhere in between.
Take 2018’s Aquaman and 2020’s Wonder Woman: 1984, for instance – both these films follow on from their titular characters’ introduction in the Justice League movie, definitely existing in the same universe. Both Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) and Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) allude to the Justice League film in some way, illustrating that all these films share a canon. But what about 2019’s Joker? Although discernibly not part of the DCEU (as Jared Leto’s version of the character already exists in that universe), higher-ups at Warner Bros have suggested the possibility of a sequel, given the film’s outrageous success, and have gone as far as to suggest other DCEU characters could tie into it. Therefore, Joker is currently not-canon but one day could be.
The matter is further complicated by 2022’s The Batman. Originally intended to be part a standalone feature for Ben Affleck’s Batman (and therefore part of the wider DCEU), the film has since shifted to be part of an isolated trilogy starring Robert Pattinson, telling stories that don’t intentionally intersect with other films. However, DC Films boss Walter Hamada suggested in an interview that this may change if the right ‘story’ presented itself. In other words, if Pattinson’s Dark Knight is a big enough hit, then the DCEU will, of course, get him to feature in other films.
In essence then, following the original failure of 2017’s Justice League, the DCEU has been reshaped away from it. Characters have been recast, film arcs have been moved around, and the ‘Universe’ is generally pretending it didn’t happen. 2017’s Justice League indicated that the DCEU would be building up to a battle against Darkseid; every DCEU film released since has ignored this idea.
So, what if the Snyder Cut is super popular? What if fans demand more of Snyder’s type of heroes? Is this at all possible if the DCEU has moved away from these versions of the characters? Well, despite Snyder openly stating he’s unlikely to work with Warner Bros. ever again, there is a way for the studio to retcon the Justice League to be canon again if fans demand it: the Flashpoint Paradox.
Set to be released on November 4th, 2022, The Flash is the next film in the DCEU to feature Ezra Miller as Barry Allen, and looks to be a loose adaptation of the comic storyline, The Flashpoint Paradox. In the comics, Allen uses his superspeed to run back in time to save his mother’s life, inadvertently changing history and therefore the world.
DC used this special event to retcon aspects of their comic world, introducing and altering characters, and Warner Bros. could do the same thing with this film. Fans want Pattinson’s Batman to be canon? Make the change in Flashpoint. They also want 2016’s Suicide Squad to have never happened? Erase it from history in Flashpoint. They even want Michael Keaton’s version of Batman to appear and do a Batman Beyond type film? Set it all up in Flashpoint. Whatever audiences like in the Snyder Cut, Warner Bros. can make it happen through 2022’s The Flash – they get the chance to pick and choose.