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Zack Snyder's Justice League

Zack Snyder's Justice League, often referred to as the "Snyder Cut", is the 2021 director's cut of the 2017 American superhero film Justice League. It presents Justice League - the fifth film of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name - as director Zack Snyder had intended it before he left the production. Like the theatrical release, Zack Snyder's Justice League follows the Justice League - Batman (Ben Affleck), Superman (Henry Cavill), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), Cyborg (Ray Fisher), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), and the Flash (Ezra Miller) - they attempt to save the world from the catastrophic threat of Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds), Darkseid (Ray Porter), and their army of Parademons.

Justice League, released by Warner Bros. in 2017, suffered a difficult production. Its script underwent major changes before and during production between 2016 and 2017. In May 2017, Snyder stepped down during post-production following the death of his daughter, and Joss Whedon was hired to finish the film, completing it as an uncredited director. Whedon oversaw reshoots and other changes that incorporated a brighter tone and more humor, and cut the runtime down significantly in accordance with a mandate from Warner Bros. The theatrical Justice League received mixed reviews and was a box-office bomb, leading Warner Bros. to re-evaluate the future of the DCEU and focus development on individual films.

As details surfaced about the film's troubled production and its state before Snyder stepped down, many fans expressed interest in an alternate cut more faithful to Snyder's vision. Fans and members of the cast and crew petitioned for the release of this, which they nicknamed the Snyder Cut. At the time, industry insiders regarded the release as unlikely. However, Warner Bros. decided to move ahead with it in February 2020; in May, Snyder announced that the original cut would be released as Zack Snyder's Justice League via the streaming service HBO Max. It cost around $70 million to complete the visual effects, score, and editing, with new material filmed in October 2020. The cut was originally planned to be released as both a miniseries and a four-hour film, but plans for the miniseries were scrapped by January 2021. The film is dedicated to the memory of Snyder's daughter, Autumn.

Zack Snyder's Justice League was released via HBO Max on March 18, 2021. Critics generally considered the film an improvement over the 2017 theatrical release.

Thousands of years ago, Darkseid and his legions of Parademons attempted to conquer Earth using the combined energies of the three Mother Boxes. The attempt was foiled by a unified alliance of the Olympian Gods, Amazons, Atlanteans, the humans, and a Green Lantern. After the alliance repelled Darkseid's army, the Mother Boxes were separated and hidden in different locations. In the present, Superman's death has triggered the Mother Boxes' reactivation and the appearance of Steppenwolf, one of Darkseid's servants, on Earth. Steppenwolf aims to regain favor with his master by gathering the boxes to form "The Unity".

Steppenwolf retrieves one Mother Box from Themyscira, prompting Queen Hippolyta to warn her daughter Diana. She informs Bruce Wayne, who has been looking for other metahumans, such as Arthur Curry, to form a team, but Arthur refused to join him. Bruce then goes to recruit Barry Allen, while Diana locates Victor Stone. While initially refusing, Victor later joins after his father Silas and several other S.T.A.R. Labs employees are kidnapped by Parademons seeking the Mother Box protected by humanity. Steppenwolf attacks an Atlantean outpost to retrieve the next Mother Box, forcing Arthur into action. The team receives intel from Commissioner James Gordon, leading them to Steppenwolf's army in an abandoned facility under Gotham Harbor. Although the group rescues the kidnapped employees, the facility is flooded during combat, which traps the team until Arthur helps delay the flood so they can escape. Victor retrieves the last Mother Box, which he had hidden, for the group to analyze. He reveals that Silas used the Mother Box to rebuild his son's body after a car accident, where Victor's mother was killed. The group decides to use the Mother Box to resurrect Superman to help them fight off Steppenwolf's invasion.

Superman's body is exhumed by Cyborg and placed in the amniotic fluid of the genesis chamber in the Kryptonian scout ship kept in the S.T.A.R. Labs, along with the Mother Box which Barry activates, successfully resurrecting Superman. However, Superman's memories have not returned, and he attacks the group after Victor accidentally launches an attack at him. Lois Lane arrives and Superman calms down, leaving with Lane to his family home in Smallville, where he regains his memories and reunites with his mother, Martha. Steppenwolf attacks S.T.A.R. Labs to retrieve the last Mother Box, with Silas being killed while marking the Box. Deducing its location, and without Superman, the five heroes travel to where Steppenwolf aims to unite the Mother Boxes. The team fights their way through the Parademons to reach Steppenwolf but cannot distract him enough for Victor to separate the Mother Boxes. Superman arrives and overpowers Steppenwolf, but the Boxes cause an explosion. Barry goes back in time with his superspeed, allowing Superman and Victor to separate the Mother Boxes. Arthur stabs Steppenwolf, and Diana decapitates him, throwing his body through a portal to Darkseid's planet, Apokolips. Darkseid assures his servant DeSaad he will return to Earth to complete the "Anti-Life Equation".

After the battle, Bruce, Diana, and Alfred Pennyworth agree to set up a base of operations for the team at the former Wayne Manor, with room for more members. As the team establishes, Diana continues being a heroine, Barry acquires a job in Central City's police department which impresses his father Henry, Victor is inspired by a message from his father to use his abilities for good, Arthur continues protecting people on the seas, Superman resumes his life as reporter Clark Kent and as protector of Earth, and Bruce gets the Kents' house back from the bank.

Lex Luthor, who escaped from Arkham Asylum, is visited by Slade Wilson, to whom Luthor reveals Batman's secret identity. Bruce has a dream set in a post-apocalyptic world, where he, Victor, Barry, Mera, Wilson, and the Joker are found by an evil Superman. Bruce is awakened by Martian Manhunter, who thanks him for assembling the team and says that they will be in contact in preparation for Darkseid's next plans.

History

Following the release of Man of Steel (2013), director Zack Snyder outlined the basis of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), which centered around a five-film arc including Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and a Justice League trilogy. Snyder's original vision was to have Batman v Superman be the darkest in the franchise, and have subsequent films become lighter in tone. However, Batman v Superman was poorly received, with criticism for its dark tone, lack of humor, and slow pace. Distributor Warner Bros. and Snyder re-evaluated upcoming DCEU films, particularly Suicide Squad (2016), which had already wrapped principal photography, and Justice League, which was a month away from filming. Snyder and screenwriter Chris Terrio rewrote Justice League to be lighter in tone. Cinematographer Fabian Wagner said Snyder wanted to "get away from the stylized, desaturated, super-high contrast looks of other films in the franchise."

Principal photography for Justice League began in April 2016 and wrapped the following December. Months later, multiple cuts of Snyder's Justice League were shown to Warner Bros. executives, in addition to friends and family of Snyder. A final run-time and picture lock were achieved, though the cuts had incomplete visual effects shots and partial audio mixing. Snyder said that he had multiple cuts that were essentially "done", only needing "a few CG tweaks" to complete. Forbes contributor and film screenwriter Mark Hughes reported that Snyder's cut was more than 90% complete, while The Daily Telegraph cited a visual effects expert as estimating that Warner Bros. would need another $30-40 million to finish the film. Warner Bros. executives who saw Snyder's cut felt that Snyder had made significant efforts to lighten the tone following the criticism of Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice. Despite this, Warner Bros. was unhappy with the results and insider reports indicated that it considered the cut "unwatchable".

After disapproving of Snyder's direction, Warner Bros. hired Joss Whedon, who directed the Marvel Cinematic Universe films The Avengers (2012) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), to rewrite the script and help with extensive reshoots. Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara mandated that Justice League's length was not to exceed two hours. Warner Bros. also decided not to push back the release date (which would have allowed the filmmakers more time to properly complete Justice League) so that executives could keep their annual bonuses and partly due to concerns that parent company AT&T might dissolve the studio after an upcoming merger. Snyder was expected to film the scenes that Whedon re-wrote, and they were working together to meet Warner Bros.'s requests when Snyder's daughter, Autumn Snyder, died by suicide in March, 2017. Snyder continued to work on Justice League for two months to distract himself, before stepping down in May. His wife Deborah Snyder, who was producing Justice League, also left the project.

Whedon assumed full control over the production, although Snyder retained directorial credit. Whedon added nearly 80 pages to the script, and Wagner estimates that Whedon's cut uses only about 10% of the footage that Snyder shot.Composer Tom Holkenborg completed his film score before being replaced by Danny Elfman halfway through post-production. The scenes that Whedon wrote or re-shot for the theatrical release featured a brighter tone and more humor, and reduced the level of violence seen in Snyder's darker direction. To meet the mandated runtime, more than 90 minutes of Snyder's footage was removed, but the result still adhered to the basic outline of the story. While the initial cut was poorly received by test audiences, the early screening of Whedon's cut scored as high as Wonder Woman (2017), so Warner Bros. decided to move forward with it. Though Snyder was initially open to Whedon rewriting the script, he became resistant because the studio gave Whedon more directing privileges; as he and his family were dealing with Autumn's death, Snyder did not challenge it.

Justice League was released theatrically on November 17, 2017. Critics described it as a "Frankenstein" film, obviously the work of two different directors with competing visions. After seeing Whedon's version in late 2017, Deborah Snyder and executive producer Christopher Nolan advised Snyder to "never see that movie", knowing it would "break his heart". Justice League grossed $657.9 million against an estimated $300 million budget. Against an estimated break-even point of as much as $750 million, Deadline Hollywood reported that the film lost Warner Bros. around $60 million. An anonymous Warner Bros. executive stated in February 2021 that even the studio did not like the "stupefying" changes brought to the finished film, criticizing the Black Clad and the Russian family as goofy and pointless additions to the film. The executive affirmed that the finished film felt "awkward" because the studio did not want to admit what "piece of shit" it had become. Due to the film's poor performance, Warner Bros. decided to move away from Snyder's vision for a shared universe of interconnected films and focus on standalone films and solo franchises instead.

Differences from the Theatrical Version

There are many differences between the theatrical Justice League and Zack Snyder's Justice League. While the basic framework of the story is the same, dozens of additional scenes, backstories, mythos, worldbuilding elements, new characters, and teases for upcoming films are present in Snyder's version but not the theatrical release. Zack Snyder's Justice League does not include any scenes shot by Whedon for the theatrical cut, and former Warner Bros. executives Jon Berg and Geoff Johns—who oversaw the production of the theatrical release—chose not to retain credit for Snyder's version.

Snyder has stated that his version of Justice League will not be set in the same continuity as Whedon's version. Jason Momoa said that James Wan's Aquaman (2018) takes place after Zack Snyder's Justice League rather than Whedon's version. Similarly, Wonder Woman (2017) director Patty Jenkins said that no DC director considers Whedon's Justice League canonical, and that she had worked with Snyder to ensure Wonder Woman maintained continuity with his film.

Immediately after the theatrical release of Justice League, which later gained the derisive nickname "Josstice League", fans created an online petition to release the "Snyder Cut" that gained more than 180,000 signatures. The movement, which used the hashtag #ReleaseTheSnyderCut on social media, began before fans had any knowledge that a cut of Snyder's Justice League film actually existed in any capacity. The movement was ignited by the mixed reviews of the theatrical cut, as fans knew that Snyder left directorial duties and the final cut of the film in the hands of Whedon; thus, they assumed that Whedon created an inferior film. The circumstances have been compared to the situation of Superman II (1980). Both involved a director who was replaced before completion, which led to a second director coming in and making substantial changes. Richard Donner had been able to complete his Superman II cut in 2006. Some assumed that an alternate cut of Justice League was inevitable because some of Snyder's films have been re-released in extended cuts for home media (such as Watchmen (2009) and Batman v Superman), which some critics see as superior to the theatrical versions.

Members of the Justice League cast and crew showing support for the Snyder Cut's release included actors Jason Momoa, Ciarán Hinds, and Ray Fisher; photographer Clay Enos; storyboard artist Jay Oliva; cinematographer Wagner; and Ben Affleck's stunt double Richard Cetrone. On the two-year anniversary of the theatrical cut, cast and crew voiced support through social media. Other film- and comic book-industry figures not related to Justice League have also supported the release of a "Snyder Cut", including filmmaker Kevin Smith, television producer Steven S. DeKnight, and comic book writers Rob Liefeld, Robert Kirkman, and Jerry Ordway. Other figures were less optimistic. Shawn Robbins, chief analyst for Boxoffice Pro, suggested the size of the movement was too small to make an impact, stating, "another cut of Justice League just doesn't seem to be something many outside the die-hard fan base are clamoring to see." Industry insiders also called the Snyder Cut's release unlikely. Writer Mario F. Robles, based on his industry connections, said Warner Bros. did not trust Snyder's vision and was not willing to spend millions to finish his cut. Throughout the movement, members of the media referred to the Snyder Cut as "fabled" or "mythical".

Members of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement engaged in acts of fan activism to promote it. In June 2018, fans reached out to executives at AT&T following a merger between the company and Warner; in June 2019, they reached out to new Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff, who replaced Tsujihara after his resignation, following that up a month later with a mass letter-writing campaign; and in July 2019 they reached out to the parent company of Warner Bros., WarnerMedia, after the announcement of its new streaming service HBO Max. Ahead of the 2019 San Diego Comic-Con, a fan launched a crowdfunding campaign with half of the funds to be spent on an advertising campaign (including billboards and a flying banner ad promoting the Snyder Cut), and the other half to be donated to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP). For a similar campaign at the 2019 New York Comic Con, the movement purchased ad space on two billboards over Times Square featuring quotes from members of the cast and crew. In December 2019, the movement rented another flying banner ad, this time passing over Warner Bros. Studios and directly asking Sarnoff to release the Snyder Cut. In January 2020, the movement bought four minutes of ad space advocating for the film's release on a digital banner wrapped around the interior of Riverside Stadium during the FA Cup. Their efforts garnered praise from Snyder and from the AFSP.

However, members of the movement have also been described by members of the media as "toxic" for harassing, threatening, and cyberbullying those who express opinions about the Snyder Cut that are contrary to their beliefs. Yohana Desta of Vanity Fair broadly described the act of fans demanding an alternative cut as a "modern pattern of audience demand that is actively making fandoms more toxic", and compared it to the 2017 harassment of Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) actress Kelly Marie Tran. In September 2018, former DC Entertainment president Diane Nelson deleted her Twitter account after substantial online harassment by members of the movement. Warner Bros. telephone operators, inundated with regular calls about the "Snyder Cut", were trained to treat these inquiries as prank calls. Members of the movement tracked down Justice League stuntman Richard Cetrone to ask him questions about the Snyder Cut, only to digitally alter his response and spread on social media a fake text message that appeared to support their cause.

Brandon Katz of The New York Observer said that the movement was composed of "both toxic DC fans that hurl vitriolic harassment at any and all opposition, and supportive moviegoers that genuinely enjoy Snyder's style and are just hoping to see the conclusion of his trilogy that began with 2013's Man of Steel. As with any contingent, there are both extremists and level-headed individuals in its ranks." Bob Rehak, Swarthmore College Associate Professor and Chair of Film and Media Studies, said that fandoms such as #ReleaseTheSnyderCut revolt when a major change is made to something they love, and that this reaction usually comes from a smaller subsection of the fandom, which "[paints] the whole community with a really broad brush."

Revival

In March 2019, after months of speculation, Snyder confirmed his original cut did exist, and stated that it was up to Warner Bros. to release it. In November, an insider claimed that Warner Bros. was unlikely to release Snyder's version in any form, calling such hopes a "pipe dream". However, the following month, Snyder posted a photo in his Vero account, showing boxes with tapes labeled "Z.S. J.L Director's cut", with the caption "Is it real? Does it exist? Of course it does." According to Snyder, he initially imagined that his cut would never see a release, but snippets could potentially be included in a documentary. Robert Greenblatt, then-WarnerMedia chairman and head of HBO Max, stated that discussions surrounding the release of Snyder's Justice League began in late 2019, and that they lasted a few months. The studio first approached Snyder to release his cut unfinished as he had left it, but Snyder objected to do so and insisted on either finishing it or not completing it, leading Warner to take some months before figuring out that Snyder wanted to give what the audience desired. According to Snyder, WarnerMedia decided to move forward with the Snyder Cut in February 2020, after chairman Toby Emmerich acknowledged the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement and reached out to Snyder.

The Snyders invited executives from Warner Bros., HBO Max, and DC to their home to view the Snyder Cut. Snyder also presented ideas, which included potentially releasing the cut in episodes. Impressed, the executives decided to let the project proceed. Snyder began to reassemble the film's original post-production team to finish the cut. The effort was almost thwarted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which was escalating around the time, but the Snyders pushed to continue with it. Snyder notified the original cast of the undertaking between April and May 2020; according to Snyder, Fisher initially thought he was joking. On May 20, 2020, Snyder announced during a Q&A after an online watch party of Man of Steel that his cut of Justice League would be released as Zack Snyder's Justice League on HBO Max in 2021. Greenblatt said WarnerMedia tried to get the news out "as quickly as possible" before HBO Max launched on May 27.

Snyder, who had not yet seen the theatrical cut, described his cut as "an entirely new thing, and, especially talking to those who have seen the released movie, a new experience apart from that movie." The Snyders felt that being able to finally finish Justice League would bring them closure, and were excited by the prospect of expanding the film's character development. At that point, it was unclear what format Zack Snyder's Justice League would take for the release, whether as a four-hour-long film or a six-part miniseries. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that it was expected to cost $20–30 million to complete the visual effects, score, and editing. However, Greenblatt indicated the release would be "wildly expensive" and cost more than the reported $30 million to complete. On June 23, 2020, Sandra Dewey, president of productions and business operations for WarnerMedia, stated in an interview that they are aiming for an "early to mid-2021" release.

Initial reports indicated that there would be no new material filmed, as Snyder was not given permission by WarnerMedia. However, on September 23, 2020, it was revealed that Snyder was preparing to shoot additional footage in October. Affleck, Cavill, and Fisher reprised their roles for the shoot. With the cost of the additional shoot, the budget was estimated to have increased to around $70 million. The additional shoots began by October 6. Later that month, Amber Heard, Jared Leto, and Joe Manganiello joined the cast to reprise their DCEU roles as Mera, the Joker, and Deathstroke, respectively. Snyder also directed an additional scene with Miller over Zoom while Miller was filming the third Fantastic Beasts film (2022) in London by sending crew drawings and diagrams of how he wanted the scene to look. Snyder's video feed played through a stand on a table enabling him to direct Miller and the crew, who filmed the scene on his behalf. Snyder stated that only four to five minutes of new footage was shot during additional photography. In January 2021, Snyder confirmed that work on the cut had been completed.

Music

Tom Holkenborg, also known as Junkie XL, composed the film's score; he had previously completed an entire score for the theatrical version of Justice League, before being replaced by Danny Elfman following Snyder's departure and Whedon's arrival. When Holkenborg was rehired to score the film in early 2020, he decided to restart and make a brand new score for the film, which consists of fifty-four tracks and is three hours and 54 minutes long.

The first track from the score, "The Crew at Warpower", was released on February 17, 2021. Holkenborg has described this score as a "national anthem" for Snyder's Justice League and has confirmed this plays during the 10 minute intermission halfway through theatrical screenings of the movie. A second track, "Middle Mass", was released on March 12, 2021. Holkenborg described the score as "fully electronic [at times], and at other times fully orchestral", incorporating elements of rock and trap. The album released via WaterTower Music on March 18, 2021, the same day as the film's release.

Allison Crowe's cover of the Leonard Cohen song "Hallelujah" will play during the end credits as a tribute to Autumn Snyder.

1. "Song to the Siren" (performed by Rose Betts)

2. "A Hunter Gathers"

3. "Migratory"

4. "Things Fall Apart"

5. "Wonder Woman Defending / And What Rough Beast"

6. "World Ending Fire"

7. "Middle Mass"

8. "Long Division"

9. "No Paradise, No Fall"

10. "The Center Will Not Hold, Twenty Centuries of Stony Sleep"

11. "As Above, So Below"

12. "No Dog, No Master"

13. "Take This Kingdom by Force"

14. "A Splinter from the Thorn That Pricked You"

15. "Cyborg Becoming / Human All Too Human"

16. "The Path Chooses You"

17. "Aquaman Returning / Carry Your Own Water"

18. "The Provenance of Something Gathered"

19. "We Do This Together"

20. "The Will to Power"

21. "Smoke Become Fire"

22. "I Teach You, the Overman"

23. "A Glimmer at the Door of the Living"

24. "How We Achieve Ourselves"

25. "The Sun Forever Rising"

26. "Underworld"

27. "Superman Rising, Pt. 1 / A Book of Hours"

28. "Beyond Good and Evil"

29. "Monument Builder"

30. "Monument Destroyer"

31. "Urgrund"

32. "So Begins the End"

33. "The House of Belonging"

34. "Earthling"

35. "Flight Is Our Nature"

36. "Indivisible"

37. "And the Lion-Earth Did Roar, Pt. 1"

38. "And the Lion-Earth Did Roar, Pt. 2"

39. "Superman Rising, Pt. 2 / Immovable"

40. "At the Speed of Force"

41. "My Broken Boy"

42. "That Terrible Strength"

43. "An Eternal Reoccurrence of Change"

44. "We Slay Ourselves"

45. "Your Own House Turned to Ashes"

46. "All of You Undisturbed Cities"

47. "The Art of Preserving Fire"

48. "The Crew at Warpower"

49. "The Foundation Theme" (from Zack Snyder's Justice League)

50. "Batman, a Duty to Fight / To See"

51. "Batman an Invocation to Heal / To Be Seen"

52. "Wonder Woman, a Call to Stand / A World Awakened"

53. "Flash, the Space to Win / Our Legacy Is Now"

54. "Hallelujah" (performed by Allison Crowe)

Release

Zack Snyder's Justice League released on March 18, 2021 on HBO Max. Unlike the theatrical version which was rated PG-13, this version carries an R-rating for "violence and some language". Snyder confirmed that WarnerMedia and HBO Max was working on other distribution plans for the cut in international markets where HBO Max is not available. The film will be available on Crave in Canada, exclusively on HBO services in select European countries as well as on the HBO Go service in select Asian countries. In Latin America, the title will premiere exclusively on HBO Max when the service launches in the region later in June 2021. In New Zealand, the film premiered on Sky's Neon streaming service. In Australia, the film premiered on Binge. In the United Kingdom, the film was released on Sky Cinema and the streaming service Now.

WarnerMedia later announced that Zack Snyder's Justice League would be available to watch worldwide alongside the United States on March 18, 2021 (with the exception of China and Japan where the release dates are to be determined). The film will be available via several video on demand options, various streaming services in addition to HBO and HBO Go. In France, DC Comics France first announced the release for April 22, 2021 but later stated that the movie will be available on the day of its worldwide release date, through digital services such as the iTunes Store, Prime Video, YouTube, Rakuten TV and many more. The film will release in India through digital services such as the iTunes Store, Google Play Movies, Hungama Play, Tata Sky and YouTube and in pay-per-view model through Book My Show Stream.

Snyder has expressed his interest on screening his film in IMAX theaters in the markets once the COVID-19 pandemic gets under control. Snyder has said for the theatrical release, he added a 10 minute intermission halfway into the movie with The Crew at Warpower score playing in the intermission. For the digital release, Snyder revealed that the film will be divided into six chapters, starting with Chapter 1: Don't Count on It, Batman, then Chapter 2: The Age of Heroes, Chapter 3: Beloved Mother, Beloved Son, Chapter 4: Change Machine, Chapter 5: All the King's Horses, and Chapter 6: Something Darker as well as an epilogue titled "A Father Twice Over". The cut was filmed in and will be released in an open matte 1.33:1 aspect ratio alongside IMAX 1.43:1. The cut will also be available to stream in 4K, HDR (in both HDR10 and Dolby Vision), and Dolby Atmos on HBO Max.

While the cut was originally planned to release as a four-part miniseries in addition to a single film, Snyder said on Vero in January 2021 that the cut would be released as a "one-shot". WarnerMedia later confirmed this in a press release, describing Zack Snyder's Justice League as a "full-length Max Original feature film". The film will be dedicated to Autumn Snyder's memory. A black and white version of the cut, entitled the Justice Is Gray Edition, is also planned for release.

On March 8, 2021, ten days prior to the scheduled debut of the film, HBO Max accidentally released the film to some viewers when attempting to watch Tom & Jerry, although the cut's full runtime was locked to Tom & Jerry's 101 minutes; viewers quickly managed to bypass the bug. After more than two hours, it was later fixed.

Marketing

Alongside the announcement of Zack Snyder's Justice League, HBO released posters depicting the six members of the Justice League. Although these posters had previously been used for the theatrical film's marketing campaign, the HBO ones featured a black-and-white filter and strongly emphasized Snyder's name. Chris Agar of Screen Rant called the filter "a stark contrast from the colorful Justice League posters that were prevalent in the buildup to the theatrical release, which is most definitely an intentional choice to separate the two versions of the movie."

Snyder announced on May 22, 2020 that a trailer was in the works. A brief teaser, featuring Wonder Woman, a voiceover of Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, and the reveal of Darkseid, was released on June 18. On July 25, 2020, an official clip was released with the reveal of black suit Superman during Justice Con 2020. On August 22, 2020, the first teaser was released during the DC FanDome event. It was well received from audiences and critics alike. In early November, the original teaser was temporarily removed from HBO Max's social platforms due to the expiration of the rights to the song "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen which was used in the trailer. On November 17, 2020, the three year anniversary of the theatrical cut's release, an updated version of the teaser with new footage was uploaded in black and white on Zack Snyder's Vero account and in color on HBO Max's social media accounts.

Snyder released three new promotional posters titled "Fallen", "Risen", and "Reborn" on January 29, 2021, with the posters confirming the final release date of March 18, 2021. An official synopsis was also revealed. On February 14, 2021, a two-minute trailer was released. A scene at the end of the trailer in which Leto's Joker says "We live in a society" garnered considerable commentary due to the line's status as an internet meme commonly associated with the Joker. On March 2, 2021, Snyder released another set of series of promotional posters through his social media accounts. Beginning from March 4, 2021, posters of each individual member of the League were uploaded on a daily basis along with new footage centered around the particular hero. This concluded with a teaser featuring the film's villains, Steppenwolf and Darkseid, and a poster for the latter. On March 14, the final trailer was released.

Snyder expressed interest in December 2020 on writing a tie-in prequel comic book centered on Batman and the Joker to accompany the film, set in the post-apocalyptic Knightmare world and revealing how the Joker murdered Robin before the Joker steals a Mother Box under Cyborg's calculations so the Flash can warn Bruce Wayne in the past. Snyder later proposed a comic book miniseries set before Batman v Superman which fleshed out Robin's death in detail and Batman's descent into a far more vicious approach on crime-fighting before meeting with Superman. Despite the discussions, Snyder confirmed in February 2021 that DC turned down his proposal.

On March 16, 2021, DC published three "Zack Snyder's Justice League" variant covers for the comic book series Justice League, issue 59, written by Brian Michael Bendis, pencilled and inked by David Marquez and colored by Tamra Bonvillain.

Reactions

The announcement of Zack Snyder's Justice League was celebrated by the #ReleasetheSnyderCut movement, with many fans expressing their enthusiasm on social media. Some Snyder fans uploaded videos of them destroying their DVD and Blu-ray copies of the theatrical cut. Many industry figures, such as cast members of Justice League, expressed their gratitude to the fans who supported the release of Snyder's version of the film. However, some journalists expressed concern that WarnerMedia was conceding to fans who had engaged in forms of harassment and trolling during the movement, which they feared would set a negative precedent. Screen Rant wrote that it sent the message that fan pressuring can work to influence film studios, networks, and streaming services. In response to this concern, HBO Max CEO Tony Goncalves reiterated the passion of the fandom and denied such claims, affirming that as a business they listen to demand from consumers.

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