The world was shocked when the Hollywood trade Variety broke the story that Director Zack Snyder, was in talks to return to Warner Bros to direct and produce a Prequel series to the movie that launched his career 300.
The Man The Myth The Legend
300 was released in 2007 and earned $210 million at the box office and $456 million worldwide. It cemented Snyder as a visual genius, reinventing what comic book films could be.
He would continue making such films as Watchmen and Suckpunch before he would land the job that would both destroy and then lead to the relaunch of his career.
Everyone knows the story, Snyder would direct Man of Steel and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. However clashing egos, and a studio that was in a hurry to catch up to the MCU, would lead to Snyder’s films being hated within the WB leadership.
While deep in post-production on Justice League, Zack Snyder’s daughter tragically took her own life. Leading Snyder to step back from the film, and WB to callously use the tragedy to remake the film in their desired image. We all know what happened next, Zack Snyder was all but kicked out of WB, Justice League would failed spectacularly, accusations of sexism, racism, and harassment on the set of Justice League would be leveled at WB, and Joss Whedon (who took over from Snyder).
But out of the ashes of Snyder’s banishment from WB led to the SnyderCut and Snyderverse movements, which saw tens of millions of fans gather to wage a campaign for his Directors cut to be released.
While WB would eventually acquiesce and release the cut to critical and audience acclaim, the bitterness and jealousy of the WB administration would explode in accusations of Zack Snyder using bots to manipulate the campaign, and of sexism, racism, and homophobia by his fans. Most of these accusations would be debunked, and evidence of WB using bots themselves to attack Snyder and his fans would be revealed. However, as time went on the truth revealed that WB disliked Zack Snyder and had no desire to work with the man who had earned the studio billions of dollars.
However, Zack Snyder would find success bringing his millions of fans over to Netflix, as he signed a deal that saw the release of such films as Army of the Dead and Rebel Moon 1 and 2 and a TV series Twilight of the Gods releasing in the fall. Things were going well for Snyder at Netflix, his films earned hundreds of millions of views and were mostly enjoyed and loved by his legion of fans, though not always by critics. Snyder said he enjoyed the creative freedom he was given by the new studio.
By this time Zack Snyder had what every director longs for, but few have. An entire army of fans who follow you everywhere and listen to your every word and post. Many predicted that his fans would leave once he departed DC and pursued his own IPs, yet this did not happen.
The New Kid In Town
Happening around the same time, WB got a new guy in charge, David Zaslav, known online as the most hated man in Hollywood. With Zaslav profit came first as he tried to get WBD out of debt and has made many questionable decisions. Under his guidance the DCEU shuddered, it had always struggled post-Snyder, but Zaslav made the shock decision to place Marvel Director James Gunn over the universe, now called The DCU.
Then the fracturing began, one of James Gunn’s first announcements was the firing of Henry Cavill as Superman, right after he had returned in Black Adam. This led to wide calls for a boycott of DCEU films that helped contribute to the last 4 DCEU movies massively underperforming at the box office. It also did not help that Batgirl was canceled for a tax break and that Gunn announced the killing of the DCEU with 4 films yet to go, some even whispered Gunn did it on purpose to be sure the DCEU would not bleed over into his new universe, however, no firm evidence of this has come out yet.
Recently James Gunn released a first-look image of his newly cast Superman actor in costume, which was met with less than stellar responses, with many (even Gunn fans) criticizing the tone, style, and look of the new suit.
The DCU was originally announced as a soft reboot of the DCEU, but since then it has become obvious that Gunn said this to placate the fans as the universe is a clear hard reboot. The decision to wipe the slate and start over has run into hurdles. Superhero fatigue has set in with audiences, as they have begun to tire of 8-12 movies a year and up to 4 TV shows released on streaming. Not to mention that viewers are becoming increasingly weary of reboots and restarts, that start over again so soon after the end of the previous universe.
To say that James Gunn has his work cut out for him is an understatement.
David Zaslav has been running all over Hollywood signing deals with major stars and directors to make films with WBD, including Tom Cruise and Timothée Chalamet. Being added to this list is now apparently Zack Snyder, as Zaslav wants to return to the well by expanding the universe and world of 300.
Over the last few years, Zack Snyder has proven himself as a drawn, with Rebel Moon, a film with no A-list stars (stars bring in viewers on streaming) gained 150 million views and counting on Netflix (with two more director cuts coming). Army of the Dead was Netflix’s 8th most-watched film of all time seeing over 75 million households tune in, lastly, the extended director cut of Justice League was well received and did very well on streaming, digital, and physical media sales, in China it gained over 500 million views on its streaming platform.
Expanding the world of 300 by bringing back the man who helmed it to success is very smart, and even smarter is leveraging the huge Snyder fandom to watch it.
The Fallout
The DCEU is dead, as of now The DC Snyderverse is not continuing, however, this does not mean the fandom for this universe has disappeared. While most have accepted the Snyderverse will not be returning anytime soon, this does not mean the anger, hurt and betrayal by WBD have been forgotten.
WBD was sold a false narrative in two parts. Part one was that fans of the Snyderverse were not “Real” DC fans, only fans of Zack Snyder and that the real DC fans would rejoice at the DCEU being gone. The second falsehood was that the Snyderverse movement was made up of bots, and was in fact very small (This was debunked by The Academy).
What they failed to realize until too late was that Snyder fans were in fact DC fans as well, and the endless bullying and attacks on them by the studio alienated a large portion of the very fandom they so desperately needed if they wanted the DCU to be a success.
Zack Snyder’s fandom or “Cult” as his critics call it, was never actually started by him and simply grew out of the love for his work. However, like any movement, it grew beyond its founder. We saw this with the Snyderverse movement, where Snyder himself never called for boycotts of WB and only rarely spoke badly of his former employer.
The movement took on a two-fold purpose, supporting Snyder’s work at Netflix, and avenging his treatment at WB. They took on the quote of Tony Stark when he said “We can’t protect the Earth, you can be damned well sure we’ll avenge it.” The Snyderverse may have ended, but it would be avenged. This has created a problem for WBD, they can’t release any new DC content without turmoil in the fanbase, they are desperate to move past Snyder but can’t due to the treatment of their DC fans.
The Return of the Wayward Son
The story that WBD is seeking to bring Snyder back home to WB where he has spent the vast majority of his career, indicates that David Zaslav recognizes that Snyder’s fanbase is large and he wants to bring it back to monetize it with a 300 Prequel.
Beyond the simple monetary reason, this is an olive branch to the fractured fanbase. WBD does not need Zack Snyder to reboot 300, most do not know this, but 300: Rise of an Empire (Not directed by Snyder) was profitable, earning $337m on a budget of $110m, and a further $34m on physical media. So a theoretical 300 Prequel does not need his involvement, however, it is enhanced by his helming it.
Zaslav has been trying to mend fences with the Hollywood Talent that WBD had burned before, offering Zack Snyder to return and work on a project is a way of saying sorry for the old administration’s actions.
It’s a good first step in repairing the relations between the fans and the studio, however, it’s not enough. If WBD wants a clean start, and for the DCU to be a big success. Zaslav and James Gunn need to offer Zack Snyder a DC film or television project to direct.
Now I am not saying The Snyderverse itself needs to return, that is clearly finished and done for now. However offering Zack Snyder the opportunity to direct one of the upcoming DCU projects, accomplishes several things.
1) It shows a unified front, of Snyder and Gunn working together on a new universe, it cements the DCU.
2) It ends the conflict between WB and the fans, for years WB has shown nothing but disdain for its DC fans, and the fans have felt it keenly. Zack Snyder directing a DC film in Gunn’s universe ends this conflict and shows that the studio wants its old fans welcomed to the new universe.
3) It fully brings back all the DC fans who exited the DC fandom in 2021-2023, it welcomes them back and shows there is a place for them.
Zack Snyder is a divisive figure in the comic book genre, I realize that. However, his mark on DC has been so powerful that, we are still talking about and dissecting his work 8 years after he left DC. Just look at the recent releases of The Batman and Superman & Lois and now Gunn’s Superman: Legacy, every suit reveal, and every story tidbit, is compared to Zack Snyder’s DC films, not everyone may like them, but they are cultural milestones. David Corenswet is not being compared to Reeves, he is being compared to Cavill, Pattenson was not compared to Keaton, but to Affleck.
Chris Nolan said of Zack Snyder “There’s no superhero science-fiction film coming out these days where I don’t see some influence of Zack,”
It is true, that Snyder may be gone from the CBM genre, but he is still felt, we have seen “Superman and Lois”, “My Adventures with Superman” and “X-Men 97” all be inspired by him and his vision. This has created the viral meme “Zack Snyder is the Blueprint” and in many ways he is.
It is time for the wayward son of DC Warner Bros and his army to return to the fold, the war is over. It’s time for peace and reconciliation, WBD needs as many fans as it can get, and bringing Zack Snyder and his followers back will only serve to boost the DC brand into the stratosphere.
