Justice League Snyder Cut: billboards demand the original version

In the run-up to the world's largest pop culture and comic book convention in San Diego, USA, fans and anyone interested in the original version of the «Justice League» movie have launched a poster campaign. These billboards demand a release or even the creation of the so-called Snyder Cut, which according to them is the original concept for what the dumpster fire of a movie should have been.

The fans behind the grass-roots campaign hope that studio executives and those involved in the film will see these posters and react to them. At Comic Con, stars from every corner of geekdom and studio bigwigs will meet with fans, parents and critics. It's seen as the most important event in the larger comic community.

The mythical Snyder Cut

Justice League was one of the biggest flops in recent cinema history. After two critically ragged films – «Man of Steel» and «Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,» director Zack Snyder's position at Warner Bros. and DC Comics was weakened. When he suddenly couldn't continue working on the movie anymore because of tragic family reasons, he was replaced by «Avengers»-director Joss Whedon.

Whedon arranged larger reshoots before release to make the film more fun, light-hearted and, according to some rather nasty rumours, more Marvel-ous. In the end, all that was left was a movie that didn't really impress anyone. The only truly impressive thing was how such a massive budget and so much talent could deliver such absolute dross. The plot had more holes than Appenzeller, most people couldn't even remember Steppenwolf's (the big bad final boss') name, and Superman (Henry Cavill) needed his moustache removed by CGI.

But as time went on, more and more details about the original Snyder version – called the Snyder Cut – have come to light. Most recently, the director revealed a picture of the villain Darkseid on his Vero account.

But even before that the mythical Snyder Cut had been discussed from time to time. After the topic came up for the first time, fans launched a petition that collected over 18,000 signatures. Their goal: the release of the Snyder Cut.

Zack Snyder himself poured oil into the fire when, during a fan event, he confirmed that the Snyder Cut exists and that the studio, Warner Bros., has to make a decision about its release.

Misunderstood direction

Zack Snyder is currently the most controversial director of superhero movies. His opponents accuse him of not understanding the characters in his films and of imposing his own vision of a similar hero onto them. For example, Batman isn't a murderer as shown in «Batman v Superman». Among other things, the car chase at the beginning of the film is often mentioned, in which Batman takes the lives of «dozens» of people. After all, the Man of Bats has a strict credo: no killing.

They have similar arguments against Superman in «Man of Steel». Especially regarding the death of main villain Zod (Michael Shannon), it being nothing but senseless glorification and completely out of character for Superman.

Fans replied that these critics were ignoring crucial details. It's obvious that Superman doesn't consciously endanger life. It was his inexperience that made him make mistakes in his fight against Zod.

Zack Snyder himself has repeatedly explained aspects of his films over the years. Apparently, it was obvious that Batman had to kill. In a Vero Interview, he put the following statement on record.

Neither fans nor critics were particularly amused by this statement. But the discussion around «Man of Steel» still rages. Critics see Superman as a satire of himself, others recognise the Superman character from the comics somewhere under the surface and in the smallest details.

Zack Snyder is officially no longer associated with the DC Cinematic Universe. There will probably never be a sequel to Justice League. Fans are petitioning online using the hashtag #ReleaseTheSnyderCut.