This week, the wait is finally over. Since the disappointment of 2017’s Justice League, DCEU fans have been campaigning to see Zack Snyder’s true vision for the team-up film for themselves. The four-hour cut of the film is coming to HBO Max in just a few days and, while the movie’s release may be somewhat of a remnant of Warner Bros’ prior vision for its comic book franchise, we do have to wonder if a successful debut on the streamer could incite a continuation of the narrative that will unfold in Justice League.
When CinemaBlend’s own Sean O’Connell spoke with the Snyder Cut’s production designer Patrick Tatopoulos, he talked about the film planting seeds for more stories down the line following Justice League. In his words:
I mean, I’ll tell you, the Anti-life Equation, that moment is where you get to the next level. The next world is a much bigger world. What Zack had done, and I can’t stop describing it, but in his office at Warners he had these gigantic boards on the wall where he's starting to draft the three movies like this. And I thought that was unbelievable. I went and visited that thing, and it was basically, yes, it was laying it down … the hints of what's coming next. It's like the Knightmare. Batman’s Knightmare. All those things that you plant seeds with a much bigger plan. So this was drafted. … We are defining what the future is by simply planting the seeds of something that can grow.
As Tatopoulos recalls during the initial production of Justice League, Zack Snyder often looked to the future when he was crafting the movie starring Ben Affleck’s Batman, Henry Cavill’s Superman, Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Ezra Miller’s Flash, Ray Fisher’s Cyborg and Jason Momoa’s Aquaman. He confirmed that the filmmaker was “planting seeds” in Justice League for ideas that could fully bloom in future projects. So expect some teases in the upcoming release. Tatopoulos continued to CinemaBlend:
I will give you a simple example based on a very practical thing. The Batmobile, when you first see it, for example, it is the Batmobile. It’s got his own aesthetic. But there is tons of stuff in there that are, I would call them gadgets or whatever you want to call them, that will not be revealed with the first movie. They won't be revealed on the second one. There may be a reveal in the third one. But it's already there, because for example, the way it's designed, it's a folded origami car. Meaning the way it falls, the way it changes are all those things we can play in the future. So we do create that way officially on a franchise like this when the movie is calling for more sequels. You’ve got to think that way.
The Justice League filmmakers sound very clever and intentional in their production design, which most definitely carries over into the storytelling of the film. At the time of the movie’s production, it was being viewed as Warner Bros.’ Avengers and would be the jumping off point for additional films and spinoffs. Snyder initially had a Justice League trilogy in mind for the heroes, so the cut fans will see on HBO Max this weekend was really just scratching the surface in terms of the writer/director’s ideas for adapting the DC comic characters. Check out the trailer below:
Zack Snyder unexpectedly had to remove himself from Justice League when his daughter, Autumn, tragically died by suicide during the production of the film. Joss Whedon took over on the production, but a number of Snyder’s big ideas were removed from the theatrical release. Following the release, Snyder kept in touch about his own cut of the film, which incited a major campaign by fans for Warner Bros. to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut, leading us here.
But could Justice League inspire the “seeds” planted by Snyder into sequels? Well, when Snyder was recently asked about it, he said he doesn’t believe there’s an “interest and/or appetite” for his intended trilogy to be continued. Warner Bros.’ DCEU is definitely in a different place today than it was in 2017, but we’ll see. Look out for those winks in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, coming to HBO Max on March 18.
