Ah, The Snyder Cut. We live in an age when believing in a conspiracy theory ranges from passionate hobby to something akin to a religious belief. And for nerds, contrails are The Snyder Cut. People have been calling for this nonexistent film to be released for a few years, with the idea that it’s  a different version of Justice League that is more like Batman v Superman and less like Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Setting aside whether anyone would actually enjoy that,  #ReleaseTheSnyderCut has become a refuge for a lot of toxic gatekeepers, but it has also fired people’s imagination. Let’s face it, people like conspiracy theories because they like secrets and mysteries, and the idea of an alternate, seen by only a few, take of the movie is just too irresistible to ignore. Nerd World needs its own convoluted, article-of-faith deep state conspiracy theory.

A lot of famous folks have weighed in over the past year, but this weekend things hit overdrive when the Justice League cast got in on the fun:

First it was Gal “Wonder Woman” Gadot!

Then it was Ray “Cyborg” Fisher:

https://twitter.com/rehsifyar/status/1196172064899653638

And then, of all people, even Ben “Batman” Affleck jumped on the bandwagon, but he was too busy promoting a new movie to find a moody B&W photo to explain how he felt:

And then just everyone joined in, including Snyder himself, and even Damon Lindelof!!!

Lindelof, as befits someone who is creating a TV show about secrets and mysteries, threw some gas on the fire writing,

I’m not saying I’ve seen it, but if I HAD, I would unequivocally support the powers that be to #releasethesnydercut.

Even Simu Liu, who will star in Master of Kung Fu, decided to get some publicity by  jumping in.

Now the big question is does The Snyder Cut even exist? Or what would it be? But here the trail gets more confusing. For you see, cuddly, lovable, Jason Momoa is the biggest booster for the existence of TSC and he even claims to have seen it – first in an Instagram post:

And just recently in this promo film for his new APple TV series, See.

As much as I like looking at Jason Momoa, I could not bring myself to watch that thing, but rest assured, Jason Momoa is all in on this con trail Snyder Cut thing.

Unfortunately, THR poured cold water on all the fervent flames, reporting,

Despite the groundswell and speculation that a Snyder Cut could go to Warner Bros.’ upcoming streaming service HBO Max, insiders tell The Hollywood Reporter no announcement of a release of any such cut is imminent. 

Still, Snyder and his stars calling for its release is noteworthy, and observers note the choreographed nature of Sunday’s tweets could be part of a campaign to show Warner Bros. there is an appetite for the cut among the public.

And that’s the harsh truth. This “cut” would be a mishmash of unfinished footage and who would pay to finish it. Of all people, Kevin Smith has been the biggest voice of reason about The Snyder Cut, explaining that whatever it is, it’s not a polished finished film:

Speaking on CinemaBlend’s “ReelBlend” podcast, Smith said Snyder’s vision likely exists as raw footage, as opposed to a “finished movie.”

“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,” Smith said. “The ‘Snyder Cut’ that, again I haven’t seen, but 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 added that from what he’s heard, much of the unseen work includes green screen as the visual effects were never finished.

But there is another, very surprising voice of reason in regards to the Snyder Cut, and that’s Diane Nelson, the former head of DC Entertainment, and an executive very much in the mix when the DC cinematic universe was supposed to be a coherent thing. Nelson retweeted the hashtag, but also her own thoughts about what the movie should be, in a DM with The Suicide Squadcast host Tom Yoko, which Nelson also retweeted.

It’s a little hard to read but Nelson writes:

Thank you for the courtesy of asking. If Zack feels he had the time and resources to finish a cut to his satisfaction and he would like fans to see it, nothing would make me happier than for him to have that opportunity. He earned it and was not only a great filmmaking talent but a true gentleman and professional in all his dealing with the Studio and DC.

It should be noted that Nelson is now an executive at Quibi, yet another streaming service that is making a lot of content, but this time only for your phones. But I would opine that Nelson is too classy to want to muddy the waters for a streaming competitor, and is simply stating that if there ever could be a Snyder Cut, it would need adequate time and, ahem, resources. And the implication, as THR made clear, is that WB has noooo interest in assigning those resources.

A rando comicksy type named Kevin Powers has a good twitter thread about why The Snyder Cut would be a very unsatisfying movie, based on the actual story – for one thing it’s only PART 1  – but this was my favorite tweet from the thread:

Someday, someone is going to write a good book or make a great documentary about that crazy time that DC tried to take on Marvel. In the meantime, as long as no one gets hurt, who doesn’t want to have a little fun playing What If?

 

3 COMMENTS

  1. What kind of imbicile wrote this. Full of typos. You couldn’t even get Ray Fishers name right. You guys really went the extra mile to put a negative spin on the movement. And you call us toxic ffs

  2. You’re right, and this pretty comprehensive and well reasoned, and it aligns with what I know. As you said, the marketplace has decided no more Snyder DC.

    I don’t think the score was done on JL, and I’m very sorry I never got hear interpretations of whatever themes Junkie XL had cooking for all types of scenarios and characters. My biggest lament. As a Snyder fan though, I can only respond to the works put out, and which I do like. A complex adult work that didn’t find favour in a market. True enough.

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