It’s been two years since “Justice League” was released in theaters. The movie underperformed, and for many, it felt like the final nail in the coffin of the DC expanded universe. Fans of Zack Snyder have remained optimistic, though, that one day they would get to see the director’s cut of the film. Snyder directed much of the movie, but eventually had to step away to deal with a tragedy in his family. As a result, “Avengers” director Joss Whedon stepped in to finish the film.
The final cut released in theaters was a weird mashup of both directors’ styles, and it wasn’t particularly satisfying for anyone. Since that initial release in 2017, there’s been an ongoing campaign to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut. That hashtag is a call for Warner Bros. to release a cut of the film that doesn’t feature any of Whedon’s work.
Now, the campaign has received a few pretty significant endorsements. Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck and Ray Fisher all tweeted out the hashtag yesterday, in what seemed like a coordinated effort to shed light on the campaign. Suddenly, Wonder Woman, Batman and Cyborg were all in support. None of the tweets provided any additional context, although Gadot and Fisher’s were both accompanied by black and white images.
It’s unclear exactly what brought this about, but it definitely brought the conversation about the campaign back to the fore. It’s especially striking considering that Gadot is the only one of the three that is still involved in DC. Her Wonder Woman sequel “Wonder Woman 1984” is set to be released on June 5.
Affleck, on the other hand, is probably done with Batman altogether. Matt Reeves is filling a solo movie about the Gotham vigilante with Robert Pattinson set to star. As for Fisher, his future with DC is still unclear.
Whatever the reasons for these tweets may be, it’s interesting to consider the way this effort has sustained itself in the two years since the film’s release. At this point, I think there are lots of people who aren’t huge Snyder fans who may also be interested in that cut of the film.
Would you watch the Snyder cut? Let us know in the comments below.
Joe Allen is a freelance pop culture writer based out of upstate New York. Follow him on Twitter.