The Snyder-verse, as fans have taken to calling the strange offshoot the early DCEU films have become, is dead after Zack Snyder’s Justice League lands on HBO Max later this year. That’s been made abundantly clear by Warner Bros. and DC Films. That fact didn’t rule out a possible return of Zack Snyder to the film franchise he helped build/destroy though. However, the director has admitted that at the moment he has no plans to return and that Zack Snyder’s Justice League will be the end of his directorial involvement with the DC Films multiverse.
In an interview with Comic Book Debate (via Collider), the director spoke about how the universe has moved away from his plans and that he probably doesn’t have a future in it anymore:
Look, I never thought I’d be here doing this. I didn’t think I’d be finishing Justice League… The truth is, and it’s been widely reported, and I have no issue, this is an old movie. This is a years-old movie I’m working on. The DC universe has gone and branched off and done its own thing and that’s fine… As far as what I did and as far as what my vision for what I wanted to do with these characters and the journey I wanted them to go on, it’s well known that I planned on more movies — five movies or something — but I’m busy. I’ve got a lot going on. Is it cool that the fans have so much faith in the trajectory? Yes, it’s amazing, and I couldn’t be happier and I’m excited for them to see Justice League so they can really drink the entire elixir of Justice League. But would I continue? I have no plan to. But like I said, I didn’t think I’d be here, so who knows?
Of course, Snyder is leaving the possibility open there, but the likelihood of Warner Bros. inviting him back given the train wreck he left the now-defunct DCEU in is highly unlikely. While the director’s departure from Justice League wasn’t planned, the studio was already unhappy with his dour take on the heroes and was trying to steer the films in a more palatable direction. Even with Snyder directing his own cut for HBO Max and the studio establishing a multiverse, the door probably isn’t open given the Snyder Cut is more of an expensive publicity stunt than a desire to rebuild the DCEU in Snyder’s vision.
Snyder is, of course, still involved with the DC films as he’s landed executive producer credits on both Wonder Woman 1984 and the upcoming The Suicide Squad, but whether or not that will continue as the films move further and further away from his vision is unclear. Zack Snyder’s Justice League will land on HBO Max this March.
