It’s been a long, strange road, but Zack Snyder’s Justice League, AKA the Snyder Cut, is almost here. The theatrical cut of the film may have given sole directorial credit to Zack Snyder, but the filmmaker departed the project due to personal matters and most of the finished film was shot by Joss Whedon. Now, four years after that cut arrived on the big screen, Snyder’s preferred cut of the movie is arriving on HBO Max. It’s a four-hour superhero epic featuring footage fans have been waiting for, and you can watch the latest trailer below.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League Trailer

By now, you know what Zack Snyder’s Justice League is, right? Even if you haven’t been following the story for the last few years, I’m sure you know the basic gist – that fans have very vocally demanded to see Snyder’s preferred cut of the film, and that HBO Max finally decided to give it to them. There are more behind-the-scenes details – some of which may never be shared with the general public. But here are the basics: Zack Snyder was supposed to direct Justice League as a follow-up to his film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Snyder shot a lot of footage, but near the end of production, he departed to deal with the death of his daughter.

When Snyder left, Joss Whedon was brought in to complete the film. And a lot of what ended up in the film that hit theaters on November 17, 2017, was shot by Whedon. And it also wasn’t very good! While some fans still embraced the movie, critics were less impressed. And a very vocal number of Snyder’s fans began to claim that if Snyder had stuck with the movie, the end result would’ve been better. Somewhere along the line a theory took hold that Snyder’s cut of the movie already existed. That it was done, sitting on a shelf somewhere, ready to be released – if only Warner Bros. would do the right thing.

Of course, that wasn’t true. Snyder did have a rough cut of the film that he showed to studio execs before he left, but the mythical Snyder Cut didn’t really exist. But the Snyder Cut movement would not be deterred. They launched a campaign to push Warner Bros. to release Snyder’s version, and for the longest time, it seemed to be a lot of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Warner Bros. had no plans to release the Snyder Cut because it didn’t exist.

That all changed when HBO Max entered the mix. HBO Max is owned by WarnerMedia, and someone, somewhere, realized that a surefire way to get a large number of people to sign up for the fledgling streaming service was to promise the release of the fabled Snyder Cut. Of course – the movie would have to be finished first. So WarnerMedia shelled out a whopping $70 million for Snyder to finish his cut, add special effects, and even shoot a small amount of new material.

And now…here it comes! Will it be worth the wait? Will it really be better than the theatrical cut? Will the Snyder Cut movement finally calm down now that they’re getting exactly what they wanted? We’ll see! In Zack Snyder’s Justice League, “determined to ensure Superman’s (Henry Cavill) ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) aligns forces with Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) with plans to recruit a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions. The task proves more difficult than Bruce imagined, as each of the recruits must face the demons of their own pasts to transcend that which has held them back, allowing them to come together, finally forming an unprecedented league of heroes. Now united, Batman (Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) may be too late to save the planet from Steppenwolf, DeSaad and Darkseid and their dreadful intentions.”

All 240 minutes of Zack Snyder’s Justice League arrive on HBO Max March 18, 2021.

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