The polarizing project known as Zack Snyder’s Justice League will premiere on HBO Max at some point in 2021, but fans (and critics) now have their first look at some footage from the “Snyder Cut” of Warner Bros. Pictures’ 2017 superhero team-up film.
Teased as the first clip of the film by HBO Max and WB parent company WarnerMedia, the 30-second preview features Gal Gadot as DC Comics heroine Wonder Woman investigating a large (and seemingly ancient) drawing on a wall revealed to be an image of the villain Darkseid. The scene unfolds while the voice of Jesse Eisenberg, portraying the villain Lex Luthor, can be heard.
The scene then shifts to an animated version of the still image Snyder himself revealed in late May featuring Darkseid front and center, and his army amassing behind him.
No premiere date was given for the project, which will either be released on streaming service HBO Max as a single four-hour movie or a multipart limited series.
The end result of a long — and some would say, toxic — fan campaign that began when the 2017 film failed to win over critics or find box-office success, Zack Snyder’s Justice League (as the project is officially called) will offer Snyder the opportunity to provide fans with his original vision for the movie. Snyder exited the project prematurely due to a death in his family, and The Avengers director Joss Whedon was brought on to complete the film.
Initially expected to be the first of a two-part saga (much like Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame), Justice League brought Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash, Aquaman, Cyborg, and a resurrected Superman together to battle Steppenwolf, a powerful agent of the cosmic conqueror Darkseid. However, the film’s underwhelming critical and commercial performance scuttled plans for the sequel and left WB pondering the future of its live-action DC Extended Universe franchise.
Believing that it was Whedon’s influence that doomed the project, Snyder’s fans began an aggressive campaign to convince WB to release a “Snyder Cut” of the film. That campaign gained considerable momentum over the years — occasionally at the expense of entertainment figures it bullied — and its supporters’ efforts were rewarded when WarnerMedia announced that Zack Snyder’s Justice League would indeed be released on the company’s recently launched HBO Max streaming service.
