It's hard to believe, but Zack Snyder's Justice League is now one year old. The HBO Max-exclusive was released on March 18, 2021, offering a different take on its 2017 predecessor, which was largely considered a critical and financial disappointment, having made $657 million worldwide with a 39% Rotten Tomatoes score. The director's version of the superhero team-up fared much better critically, earning a 71% "Fresh" score.
To mark the film's one-year anniversary, Zack Snyder tweeted out a seal branded, "The entire world became a Justice League." The director captioned his post with, "This means something."
Surprisingly, the image features two dates — March 18 and November 17, with a heart between them. November 17 is the release date of the theatrical version of Justice League, but it's unclear if the director intended to pay tribute to that film as well. That seems unlikely, however, since the movie represented a difficult experience for him.
The tweet received an overwhelming amount of support, amassing over 50,000 in less than two days. This isn't surprising, of course, considering fans of the director have been vocal about their desire to see his take on the DC Universe continue. This was evident not only prior to the release of his Justice League cut, but after.
For starters, the Snyder-verse enjoyed a popularity boost during the release of Zack Snyder's Justice League. Then, some months later, #RestoreTheSnyderVerse trended on Twitter after Warner Bros. referred to the four-hour version of Justice League as a "global phenomenon" in a European HBO Max presentation.
More recently, the movement gained traction once again after a picture of actor Wayne T. Carr as Green Lantern in Zack Snyder's Justice League was released online. The hero was ultimately replaced by J'onn J'onzz, as Snyder explained during an interview with Vanity Fair:
"We shot a version of this scene with Green Lantern, but the studio really fought me and said, 'We really don't want you to do Green Lantern. [...] So, I made a deal with them, and they let me do this [instead]."
He continued, stating: "[Warner Bros. was] like, 'We have plans for John Stewart and we want to do our own announcement.' So, I said, 'All right, I'll give you that. So, [Martian Manhunter] was the compromise."
Naturally, the release of the image stirred up fan discussions and petitions to have Snyder return to take over DC's big-screen endeavors. There is clearly an appetite for the director's version of the superhero franchise, but what's arguable is how large said audience is.
WarnerMedia CEO Ann Sarnoff previously stated that Snyder's vision for the DCEU concluded with the release of the Justice League director's cut.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is available to stream on HBO Max.