JUSTICE LEAGUE - Kevin Smith Confirms Existence Of The "Snyder Cut" And Reveals What State It's In

JUSTICE LEAGUE - Kevin Smith Confirms Existence Of The "Snyder Cut" And Reveals What State It's In

In a new interview, filmmaker Kevin Smith has revealed that the "Snyder Cut" of Justice League is indeed real, and even sheds some light on what state the unfinished version of the movie is currently in...

By JoshWilding - Aug 03, 2019 03:08 AM EST
Filed Under: Justice League
Source: Cinema Blend
Fans continue to make it clear that they want to see the "Snyder Cut" of Justice League, but the chances of it ever being released currently seem to be somewhere between slim and none. Original director Zack Snyder has talked about that version of the superhero ensemble and continues to release images from it on Vero which shed some light on how it was meant to play out. 

Now, though, Kevin Smith has claimed that the "Snyder Cut" does indeed exist and has even revealed what state the unfinished film is in (sadly, it's clearly not ready to be released in theaters). 

"I've not seen it firsthand," Smith confirmed. "I’ve spoken now to enough people at various levels in that production. There IS a Snyder cut. For sure. That's not a mythical beast. It exists. Now, it's not a finished movie by any stretch of the imagination. There were things that went away from the story that they shot that didn't wind up going into (visual) effects or anything like that."

"So I would assume, based on what I've been told, that large sections of that Snyder Cut are, you know, pre-viz (with) a lot of green screen,
" he continued. "We're not talking a finished movie...the one I've heard everyone speak of was never a finished film. It was a movie that people in production could watch and fill in the blanks. It was certainly not meant for mass consumption."
 
Smith went on to suggest that Warner Bros. could release an unfinished version with Zack Snyder popping up during those missing scenes to explain what was meant to happen. That's certainly one option, but releasing the "Snyder Cut" as a comic book or animated movie seems like a more viable way to go.

After all, there's no way Warner Bros. will spend money finishing those special effects, so, for now, it seems Justice League's future will be in bargain bins rather than on shelves as the "Snyder Cut."

To learn more about Zack Snyder's original
Justice League plans, hit the "View List" button!

The Original Version Of Justice League Wasn't Even Shot



For a good year and a half now, fans have been demanding that Warner Bros. "#ReleaseTheSnyderCut." Well, it doesn't sound as if that even exists because Snyder has revealed that the original version of the screenplay was never shot due to the response to Batman v Superman and Warner Bros.' concerns about moviegoers not embracing this darker take on the DCEU. 

"The original Justice League that Chris [Terrio] and I wrote, we didn't even shoot," he confirmed. "The actual idea, the hard, hard idea, the scary idea, we never filmed because the studio was like 'That's crazy.'"

"When this movie came out, understand that Chris Terrio and I had finished the script to Justice League before Batman v Superman came out. Some people didn't like the movie. A vocal minority. So they said 'There's a lot of stuff we don't want you to do,' so we did a rewrite from that script." Snyder did, however, shed some light on what that would have entailed...
 

"Knightmare" Was Going To Be Explained



The "Knightmare" sequence in Batman v Superman was awesome, but it was also kind of baffling. It felt like a random addition and was never elaborated on, either in this movie or Justice League. "It's a long story," Snyder explains. "The truth is that, the Knightmare sequence in this movie was always my idea that all of that would eventually be explained."

Apparently, we would have then ended up in the "distant future, where Darkseid has taken over Earth...[and] a few members of the Justice League that had survived in that world...were fighting." 

So, as most of expected, a future Justice League movie would indeed have taken place in the distant future with the heroes attempting to travel back in time and set things right. That sounds pretty similar to those rumours about Avengers: Endgame, though, right? 
 

Superman Has Succumbed To The Anti-Life Equation



What led to "Knightmare" becoming a reality? Well, Darkseid had taken over the Earth and Superman had succumbed to the Anti-Life Equation, thereby explaining why he had turned evil in the flashforward sequence from Batman v Superman

The Man of Steel's fall from grace would have led to Batman, the Flash, and a "broken" Cyborg attempting to send the Fastest Man Alive back in time to warn Bruce about what was to come, and that explains what the Caped Crusader saw in the Batcave when Barry Allen told him that "Lois is the key." 

Snyder didn't elaborate on how all this would have worked beyond confirming that he and Terrio figured out a complicated time-travel formula, and while Warner Bros. was initially on board, "the details of how and why" the Justice League broke up made them nervous and had to be changed. 
 

A Scrapped Post-Credits Scene



Snyder still hasn't seen Joss Whedon's version of Justice League, but he did comment on a scrapped post-credits scene which would have referenced the events of Batman v Superman and set the stage for what was going to come next. 

"The Justice League teaser that wasn't in the movie, apparently, I guess, where Wonder Woman says, it's this line where Bruce says 'I was right here when Barry Allen came to me and he said Lois Lane is the key,' and she says 'She is, to Superman. Every heart has one.' And he goes, 'I think it's something more, something darker.'"

The director went on to say that the League had to prevent Lois' death because that would lead to Superman succumbing to the Anti-Life Equation. That explains why the Man of Steel blamed Bruce for her death, because it was going to be down to Batman to protect her and he would have taken her to the Batcave to do so. 
 

The Death Of Lois Lane



Snyder didn't fully elaborate on how things would have played out (and it all sounds a little jumbled) but he confirmed that Darkseid was going to travel into the Batcave via Boom Tube, and he would have killed the intrepid Daily Planet reporter in order to break Superman and bring him to his side. 

This is where time-travel once again comes into play, and things get even more confusing...
 

Time-Travel And A Battle In The Batcave



Finally, it's said that using the cosmic treadmill, the Flash would have been able to transport himself back in time to the same spot in space; this would mean the remaining League members would have had to choose carefully otherwise Barry Allen could have landed in the wrong location or even just the void of space. 

Because Bruce remembered that visit from Barry, he allowed the half of Cyborg that remained to choose the window the Fastest Man Alive would be sent back to, which would help him to avoid arriving "too soon." The new window in time would have seen him show up in the Batcave moments before Darkseid so he could stop Lois' murder and help avoid Superman's turn to the dark side. 

This all sounds tremendously convoluted, but also pretty damn awesome for the most part.
 

Steppenwolf Was Never Set To Appear In Justice League



As you may recall, there have been rumours that Steppenwolf was supposed to appear in Suicide Squad with Darkseid then taking on the lead role in Justice League as big bad. Snyder says he doesn't know anything about that, but confirmed that he worked with director David Ayer to add Batman and the Flash to that movie despite wanting to keep the two franchises as separate as possible.
 

What About The "Snyder Cut"?



Snyder clearly had some awesome and crazy ideas for Justice League (remember that Warner Bros. initially announced Justice League: Part One and Justice League: Part Two) and while a lot of scenes ended up on the cutting room floor due to those reshoots, it doesn't appear as if anything resembling what the filmmaker has described here was ever shot.

As a result, the only way we're going to see the "Snyder Cut" become a reality is if the director chooses to release the original screenplay, or if he puts it into graphic novel form for DC Comics. 

While it's tricky to put much of what he's said into context, it's clear that he had some cool ideas and it's easy enough to see where he was going to take things, even if he didn't elaborate on how the story was going to wrap up. What do you guys think? As always, share your thoughts in the usual place.

Continue reading below for some previously
released "Snyder Cut" reveals from Kevin Smith!


According to Smith, crew members saw Jim Lee storyboards for all three movies. While the first instalment we ended up seeing (with Joss Whedon's reshoots) mostly played out how Snyder planned, the biggest change was that the ending would have featured an appearance from Darkseid as he stared down the team through the Boom Tube Steppenwolf escaped in.

In the sequel, however, things would have taken a cosmic turn for the iconic heroes...
 


Apparently, the League would have taken the fight to Apokolips in a movie which may have also featured New Genesis. It was in this movie that the Green Lantern Corps would have got involved and Smith claims that the scene with Alfred in the Justice League trailer where he says "Let's hope you're not too late..." was originally going to be with Green Lantern, not Superman.

Crew members even had green lights which they shined on Jeremy Irons but plans clearly changed and the Corps remained relegated to those flashback scenes. 
 


Justice League 2 would have featured a dark ending along the lines of The Empire Strikes Back or Avengers: Infinity War as the team would have been defeated in space before Darkseid arrived on Earth and, in Smith's words, "levels it." 

Needless to say, that would have made things difficult for the solo movies Warner Bros. had planned but it would have nicely led to that "Knightmare" vision Batman had becoming a reality and the Flash having to travel back in time. 
 


As you might expect, Justice League 3 would have pitted the heroes against Darkseid for one final stand against the villain as they attempted to set things right. The director stops there but this adventure presumably would have featured time-travel and possibly even the evil Superman we saw kill Batman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. It's hard to say.

Either way, Smith says, "I really feel like hearing what we heard, we might have missed something." It's hard to disagree with that...
 

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Jeight8
Jeight8 - 8/3/2019, 3:41 AM
If that's true that's pretty much dead. Pre-vize means that entire scenes haven't been filmed. There is no viable way WB throw millions of dollars to that.
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 8/3/2019, 5:49 AM
@Jeight8 - Agree, I think the misconception to the mass is they think Snyders Cut was "completed with all vfx, dialogue, and ending". That WB just needs to put back all the deleted scenes like an ultimate or extended cut. Thats just not the case apparently.
Equivocal
Equivocal - 8/3/2019, 11:39 AM
@Jeight8 -

we know but the
snydercult

won't accept it,
wither way,

once released;

RIP the MCU....



Saga
Saga - 8/3/2019, 3:45 AM
I can hear the Snyderfans creaming their pants reading this. Great job Kev
Matador
Matador - 8/3/2019, 8:24 AM
@Saga - "Snyder to fans"

Spock0Clock
Spock0Clock - 8/3/2019, 11:40 AM
@Saga - Sorry, what you're hearing is probably me.

...It's... uh... unrelated.
tmp3
tmp3 - 8/3/2019, 3:46 AM
Who cares. WB has actual interesting projects down the line like Dune and Tenet, why would they care about this shitty Justice League film that lost them money?
tmp3
tmp3 - 8/3/2019, 3:47 AM
It's pretty weird of WB to give full creative control to certain film-makers like Denis and Nolan while being incredibly hard to work with for others (see: every Flash director). If they wanna be a film-maker's studio then they shouldn't just pick & choose. That said, giving Snyder BvS after Man of Steel was a giant, cinematic universe breaking mistake.
WakandanQueen
WakandanQueen - 8/3/2019, 3:53 AM
@tmp3 - I really hope Dune does better in this new release date. Maybe it can break even now?
tmp3
tmp3 - 8/3/2019, 3:57 AM
@WakandanQueen - I think the date change was really smart:
1) moves it further away from Eternals
2) it takes the spot that Avatar 2 left vacant as the “big Christmas blockbuster”
3) Cruella and West Side Story are counter-programming, and Uncharted... well, I don’t think it’ll be another Jumanji 2 - that’s for sure
4) Christmas legs babyyyyyyy
Hoping it’s a hit. Expecting a flop though, since Blade Runner 2049’s box office was a bummer
regularmovieguy
regularmovieguy - 8/3/2019, 4:01 AM
@tmp3

I’m betting Uncharted will end up moving.
tmp3
tmp3 - 8/3/2019, 4:02 AM
@regularmovieguy - Uncharted is gonna bomb i think. I like Dan Trachtenberg, but idk - the whole point of the game was to be a pastiche of adventure films, adapting it as a movie feels weird
Ryguy88
Ryguy88 - 8/3/2019, 5:10 AM
@WakandanQueen - will you even pay to go see it?
WakandanQueen
WakandanQueen - 8/3/2019, 5:16 AM
@Ryguy88 - Totally. Probably more than once.
tmp3
tmp3 - 8/3/2019, 5:24 AM
@WakandanQueen - Supporting Villeneuve's films more than once in the cinema?
WakandanQueen
WakandanQueen - 8/3/2019, 5:29 AM
@tmp3 - [frick] it, I'm going at least 10 times. It's what he deserves.
Ryguy88
Ryguy88 - 8/3/2019, 7:10 AM
@WakandanQueen - you better, because everyone likes to talk about how great Blade Runner 2049 was but no one actually paid to go see it
Battabing
Battabing - 8/3/2019, 8:10 AM
@tmp3 - I agree, but at the same time, some of these directors need to be reigned in. I think pulling the plug on Snyder was the right thing to do in the long run.

He shouldn't have been the one to set the tone for so many other characters outside of Superman, including Wonder Woman, Batman, Cyborg, Aquaman, Flash and the New Gods.

Wonder Woman was the first character to get a retcon because of his creative choices. James Wan also asked that story elements related to Aquaman be changed or stripped from JL because of what he was doing in his movie. It makes sense that such disparate characters come from different creative visions. It's what makes the JL so rich and mythic: diverse worlds together on one team.

So yeah, sometimes the suits know what they're doing, and occasionally they might make the right call. It's led to some reorganizing, but I'm pretty hopeful. I loved Sandberg's Shazam and I'm hoping DC/WB/New Line can grow that franchise. Andy Muschietti on The Flash? I'll take it. Ava DuVernay on the New Gods? Yes, please! Matt Reeves on Batman? Let's go!
Other talent at DC: Jenkins back on Wonder Woman while Cathy Yan is new talent and working on Birds of Prey. Todd Phillips's Joker is on the way, and James Gunn has started pre-production on Suicide Squad.

Note: I thought A Wrinkle in Time was hot wet garbage, but that comes from the writing and the script (Jennifer Lee/Jeff Stockwell) and Disney's interference in the process. I think Ava has learned from that experience and I'm encouraged by the fact that she has a team of "Kirby experts" working with her on New Gods. We know how good she can be as a director when she's got good material to work with. So, fingers crossed.
WakandanQueen
WakandanQueen - 8/3/2019, 9:17 AM
@Ryguy88 - I did.
Dredd97
Dredd97 - 8/3/2019, 9:48 AM
@tmp3 - Man, I'm stoked for Dune. It's been a favorite book of mine for years. I showed my girlfriend the Blade Runner duology the other day, and forgot how [frick]ing good 2049 is. Can't wait for Villeneuve's Dune. Of course when my favorite director took on Dune the last time...it was, well yeah.
WakandanQueen
WakandanQueen - 8/3/2019, 3:50 AM
Do people really want to watch 3 hours of Snyder taking a huge dump on their childhood heroes?
RageDriver2401
RageDriver2401 - 8/3/2019, 4:26 AM
@WakandanQueen - correction, 3 MORE hours. He's already taken a 3 hour diarrhetic dump on Supes, Bats and Wondy.
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