Zack Snyder is doing something no other superhero director has thought to do before: he’s making Batman drop the f-bomb. Which means we’re getting — you guessed it — an R-rated Justice League. Probably. Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the four-hour miniseries which reveals the director’s original vision for the film, hasn’t yet received an MPAA rating, but Snyder is positive that it will be rated R. He also thinks the HBO Max miniseries will go on in the opposite direction of the rest of Warner Bros.’ 2021 slate and debut in theaters.

Zack Snyder has upped the violence and cursing in his four-hour cut of Justice League to the point of requiring an R-rating. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, the filmmaker revealed that the new footage he’s shooting for his director’s cut of Justice League will tip the miniseries over into an R-rating:

“Here’s one piece of information nobody knows: The movie is insane and so epic and is probably rated R — that’s one thing I think will happen, that it will be an R-rated version, for sure. We haven’t heard from the MPAA, but that’s my gut.”

So what kind of incendiary elements could he include in Justice League that would make this a film not suitable for kids under the age of 17? “There’s one scene where Batman drops an F-bomb,” Snyder revealed. “Cyborg is not too happy with what’s going on with his life before he meets the Justice League, and he tends to speak his mind. And Steppenwolf is pretty much just hacking people in half. So [the rating would be due to] violence and profanity, probably both.”

Who could ever imagine the Dark Knight cursing? It’s the kind of visionary storytelling only Snyder could come up with, and one that certainly deserves to be seen on the biggest screen ever. Snyder also revealed that he is pushing for Warner Bros. to release his recut four-hour opus on the big screen in 2021, a reversal of WarnerMedia’s divisive decision to release all the 2021 Warner Bros. theatrical films day-and-date on HBO Max. A decision has not yet been made to release Zack Snyder’s Justice League theatrically, and Warner Bros. has not yet made a comment. But Snyder told EW that this is the release he’s gunning for.

“I’m a huge fan and a big supporter of the cinematic experience, and we’re already talking about Justice League playing theatrically at the same time it’s coming to HBO Max,” Snyder said. “So weirdly, it’s the reverse [of the trend].”

However, Snyder is also mixed on Warner Bros.’ decision to release its entire 2021 slate on HBO Max, joining the likes of Christopher Nolan and Denis Villeneuve to criticize the company.

“It felt like a pretty bold move and that maybe the implication wasn’t 100 percent thought out,” Snyder said. “I feel like there’s a lot of people panicking during COVID. I hope that, in the end, that’s what this was — some sort of knee-jerk to COVID and not some sort of greater move to disrupt the theatrical experience. I thought we were kind of already getting very close to the ideal theatrical window where you still had marketing material out there and you hadn’t forgotten about the film by the time it came out on DVD or streaming. I thought we were starting to hone in on that sweet spot, but this kind of throws a monkey wrench in the works.”

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