The SnyderVerse. A very controversial topic. It evokes electronically and physically loud voices both for and against its existence even years after it has very clearly ended.
Then, Gunn posted a picture with Snyder to his X account.
Naturally, the internet exploded. What could Zack Snyder and James Gunn possibly be doing together? Are they working on a partnership? Is Snyder directing a new movie? Is the whole SnyderVerse returning? The duo, of course, knew exactly what they were doing. Gunn even said so in an interview with ScreenRant.
“I was just talking to Zack as a friend, so we were just hanging out and then we're like, 'Let's take a picture together.' We knew full well what we were doing... We thought it was funny. He thought it was funny, I thought it was funny. And that's it.”
Basically, they were trolling all of us. However, like everyone else, the picture got me thinking. Obviously, Gunn is not going to hand the reins he currently holds over to someone else, especially someone who he essentially replaced, but, if Snyder came back, what could it be for? It’s possible that Snyder could direct a standalone project within the DCU, but then an idea dawned on me.
Gunn is clearly perfectly fine with green lighting projects that exist outside of the main DCU timeline. The Batman is a prime example as its sequel will likely come out before the DCU’s Batman gets his own movie. Another example is My Adventures With Superman, an animated series set outside the DCU in which Jack Quaid voices the Man of Steel. Another animated series is going to be set in the same universe called My Adventures With Green Lantern about Jessica Cruz, one of the more modern Green Lanterns. It’s unclear if Starfire, another animated series aimed at a younger audience, is going to be set within the DCU, but I’d imagine it won’t be.
If this many movies and films are being developed as multiverse titles within the DCU, why not the SnyderVerse?
Say what you will about Snyder’s line of DC movies (Man of Steel, Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Justice League plus other movies he served as a producer on like Wonder Woman), but most viewers had something to like and dislike about the projects, myself included. Casting in Snyder’s films was either great or horrible. I was a big fan of Henry Cavill as Superman and Ben Affleck as Batman, but hated Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and thought Ezra Miller was an odd choice for The Flash. I had problems with the way some of the characters were written, like Superman’s lack of hope, but loved others, like Cyborg being the heart of ZSJL.
Regardless of one’s opinion of Snyder’s DCEU movies, there is definitely a huge audience that would like to see the continuation of the stories he had planned out. The sequel and threequel to Justice League, while there were some strange choices like Batman and Lois Lane having a baby, sounded very intriguing. The Riddler was going to solve the Anti-Life Equation, Themyscira would be destroyed, Superman would succumb to Darkseid, Deathstroke would team up with Batman, Flash, Cyborg, and Mera, Batman would sacrifice himself, and Flash would go back in time to save the world from Darkseid after the Justice League fails to stop him. That sounds like a story I’d definitely want to see.
A big problem with this is that it would conflict with Gunn’s own slowly developing universe. Afterall, Warner Brothers can’t have the revival of an old universe stepping on the toes of the new one. If Gunn wanted to give Snyder the gratification of finishing his trilogy, it could definitely be done in the form of an animated Max original. I may just be missing things, but I haven’t seen something on Max that I actually wanted to watch since The Penguin. Max’s number of subscribers isn’t bad, but putting out new DC content could get them more. Putting Snyder’s continuation of Justice League on Max would guarantee there is no theatrical competition, and making it an animated feature would further put it in a more niche category than theatrical releases, meaning there would be essentially no competition between universes.
If Gunn and Snyder chose to do this and it was successful, other continuations of the SnyderVerse could come to fruition as well. An animated sequel to Man of Steel would draw lots of attention, and I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to get Henry Cavill back. A Batman story could be told that continues to use Ben Affleck’s Batman. The story boards and details for this movie were leaked or talked about a while back, and the story involved Deathstroke hunting Batman and Batgirl across Gotham and eventually killing Batgirl. Affleck’s suit was going to be a much more high tech version of the batsuit than past iterations, and the movie was said to be full of action. It may be hard to get Affleck back, except maybe to direct, but the story sounds like it was very cool.
While the flames of the #RestoreTheSnyderVerse movement have all but died out, there are those that definitely would cheer at Snyder’s return in any form, but an equal number that would sneer. Of course, this is all pure speculation just for fun. The most likely scenario is that there are no plans to bring Snyder back and the picture with Gunn and Snyder together was released only so people like me could look too far into it.
What do you think about Snyder finishing his trilogy in the form of animation? Let me know in the comments!