Zack Snyder was surprised by Warner Bros.' mandate that Justice League needed to be only two hours long. In fact, he thought the studio was joking.
"I always thought that was a potential for the film, the way I shot it," Snyder stated during a Reel in Motion podcast interview concerning the long runtime of his upcoming director's cut of Justice League. The filmmaker explained that when Warner Bros. first broached the topic of keeping the runtime under two hours, he thought it was a joke, considering the large amount of material the film needed to cover. "In what world is that a two-hour movie? I mean, Batman v Superman is a full three hours, and that’s two characters," he said.
Snyder's original cut of Justice League was supposed to continue the story of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice while also introducing and fleshing out Cyborg, Aquaman, The Flash, Steppenwolf, Desaad and Darkseid. It was also supposed to set up two sequels that would complete Snyder's five-movie arc in the DC Extended Universe.
In Justice League, fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.
Justice League stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Ciarán Hinds as Steppenwolf, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon. Zack Snyder's Justice League will premiere exclusively on HBO Max in 2021.