While fans of former DC Extended Universe visionary Zack Snyder are known for their persistence, the director's recent appearance on Teen Titans Go! has renewed their resolve, as evidenced by Twitter trends.
Snyder's cameo -- as himself -- on the animated DC Comic show aired on Cartoon Network on Friday, Sept. 16, yielding reinvigorated interest in the #RestoreTheSnyderVerse movement, which wants to see the defrocked DCEU visionary continue his work with Warner Bros for more offerings. The episode, the 365th of the long-running series, showed the titular team meeting with Snyder in his office. While the appearance was heralded from news going back to Comic-Con in July, it bore a major surprise that struck the right chord with Snyder proponents. Said surprise manifests when Snyder reimagines the team for a Justice League-like clip in which they take on Darkseid, with the show's cartoony aesthetic replaced by a dark, brooding baroque style evocative of Snyder's DCEU entries -- a quality that some qualify as notorious. Satirical status notwithstanding, some fans really liked what they saw, bringing new life to the aforementioned hashtag.
Snyder's appearance took a meta-minded approach, showing the heroes to be fans of the director's (famously DC Comics-centric) work. However, the tone was almost self-deprecating on Snyder's part, referring to aspects of his loud, controversy-courting personality, notably exemplified by his office doubling as a gym. Moreover, the meeting would take a satirical, keyword-dropping detour when Robin asks him to give the team "the Snyder Cut." This, of course, refers to the fan-campaigned 4-hour-long extended version of the 2017 film Justice League, which would ultimately hit HBO Max in early 2021 under the (arguably self-reverential) title Zack Snyder's Justice League.
However, as far as studio Warner Bros. was concerned, Zack Snyder's Justice League was meant to stand as a clear punctuation mark to his time as the primary driving force behind the DCEU. That tenure consisted of the Superman-centric Man of Steel (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) and, by way of director Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman (2017), was meant to see iconic DC heroes coalesce in a Snyder-directed Justice League, which would be followed by James Wan's Aquaman (2018). However, Snyder's team-up moment wouldn't truly occur until the 2021 redux, which showcased several elements that were omitted from the theatrical version of the film, which took shape under director Joss Whedon since a family tragedy forced Snyder to step down from his directorial duties.
Of course, there is currently chaos behind the scenes at the studio's recently minted conglomerate company, Warner Bros. Discovery, after the controversial cancelation of the long-planned Batgirl movie, the scrapping of several television projects -- most recently the HBO Max Constantine TV series -- and a scramble to reschedule several projects. Thus, some might see an opportunity for Snyder -- perhaps based on the power of social media reactions like the ones shown above -- to make a case for regaining the reigns of the DCEU.
While Snyder's style remains divisive among fans, his creative handprint remains clearly visible on the franchise's current backlog, with the 2023-scheduled The Flash set to showcase his version of the eponymous speedster (the controversy-mired Ezra Miller) and even feature his Batman (Ben Affleck), who, by way of a universe-crossing plot, will also appear in that film alongside Michael Keaton's version from director Tim Burton's classic films. Moreover, another Snyder-envisioned hero, as played by star Jason Momoa, will ultimately arrive in the December 2023-set sequel Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, and rumors of Snyder's Superman actor, Henry Cavill, returning to the franchise only continue to permeate.
Consequently, while the hashtag wants the so-called "SnyderVerse" restored, one could easily argue that it never really stopped. However, the director is currently busy with other projects such as Netflix's expanding Army of the Dead franchise and a space-set sci-fi film called Rebel Moon.
The DCEU will pick things up properly with the Dwayne Johnson-headlined Black Adam, which hits theaters on October 21.
Source: Twitter