Once again, it needs to be said that Zack Snyder is, in fact, relentless. His perseverance and ability to be charmingly passive-aggressive in keeping hope alive for his Snyderverse within the hearts and minds of its DC Studios‘ fans should someday be studied in a lab.
The acclaimed director of the now-defunct DCEU has made it a habit of posting, strategically, images of his version of Superman (Henry Cavill), Batman (Ben Affleck), The Joker (Jared Leto) and the like on his Instagram account to keep the Snyderverse at the forefront of conversations that involve James Gunn and Peter Safran, particularly amid the Netflix-Warner Bros. shakeup that’s recently taken place.
Keeping with that habit, on Dec. 7, Snyder posted not only a new image of Cavill’s Man of Steel as a celebration of a social media milestorn, but tied to a caption that — because, again, he is being charmingly passive-aggressive with his campaign — included a subtle carrot for his Snyderverse zealots, doubling (tripling?) down on what his longtime cinematographer had to say recently.
Snyder is smooth, give him that much.
“Today marks a little milestone on this wild Instagram journey—500k followers in just over two months! I just want to say a heartfelt thank you to everyone who’s joined along the way. For me, these characters are a kind of modern mythology, and I put a ton of reverence and respect into bringing them to life. Seeing that resonate with so many of you means the world. Here’s to many more stories together!”
In case you missed it, it’s the last line of that statement, a glaring smirk of a comment that taps the glass for any executive over at Netflix that might be paying attention. Anyone who knows the history of Snyder and Warner Bros. knows it’s not the first time he’s campaigned to get his way. He successfully weaponized the demand of DCEU fans into a wave of support that forced Warner Bros. hand in agreeing to release Zack Snyder’s Justice League in 2021 — a director’s cut that arrived four years after the original film hit theaters (and failed to meet box office earnings expectations).
Netflix and James Gunn Are Shaking Hands
Courtesy of MovieStillsDB
A faction of DC Studios’ fanbase continues not only its rally cry for the return and completion of the Snyderverse, but it also holds out hope that Netflix will reinstall it, even if it’s at the expense of James Gunn, Peter Safran and the newly-installed DCU that began, officially, with David Corenswet’s Superman in 2025, and is set to continue with Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Lanterns in and Clayface in 2026, not to mention the Elseworlds branch that includes Matt Reeves’ The Batman Part II in 2027, and a now-confirmed second season of The Penguin series for HBO Max — release date currently TBD.
Alas, there are no changes in the works despite the Netflix purchase, the streaming giant confirmed following the announcement of their bid having been accepted, and both Gunn and Safran have actually signed a contract extension that keeps them in their current stations and with their existing timeline of projects into the foreseeable future. That means, barring a historic U-turn of some sort, Snyder will be relegated to simply dropping crumbs and hoping Netflix is interested enough, one day, to come looking for the whole loaf of bread.
Release Date
March 18, 2021
Runtime
242 minutes
Director
Zack Synder
Writers
Chris Terrio
Producers
Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder
Franchise(s)
DC Extended Universe