Even Zac Snyder Fans Want Him to Take a Break From DCU
After almost a decade of involvement with the franchise, director and producer Zack Snyder recently announced that he hasn't "gotten a call" from DC Studios or Warner Bros. after their recent organizational shift.
Snyder's been involved with DC since 2013's Man of Steel, the film meant to kick off the new shared universe for the superhero franchise.
After Man of Steel, he went on to direct Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, both of which were met with negative critical reviews. He's worked as a producer for the studio in several of the last few films without a director's credit.
The current shared universe of the DC films is often colloquially called the "Snyderverse" because of the work he's put into the franchise, but it seems that the Snyderverse has officially come to an end.
Most DC fans, whether they like or dislike Snyder, said that this is probably the right move for both DC and Snyder.
DC's film studio recently faced a rebranding, the most important aspect of which was naming James Gunn and Peter Safran as co-heads of DC Studios. One fan said that Snyder simply doesn't fit into the new direction of DC. Gunn in particular is known for fun, lighthearted films, while Snyder focused on brooding, violent stories.
Fans pointed the 2017's Justice League as the "start of the downfall" when DC frantically switched directions several times.
Some fans put the blame on Snyder, who wrote and directed the original version of the film. Snyder defenders put the blame on Joss Whedon, who took over production after a personal tragedy took Snyder off the job.
Both sides of fandom – those who support and those who dislike Snyder – have always been very vocal. A large enough group of Snyder fans existed that Warner Bros. ended up releasing Snyder's original version of Justice League in 2021 to HBO Max, titled Zack Snyder's Justice League. It received much better ratings than the original.
Snyder currently has a deal with Netflix and is working on several different projects, so this announcement wasn't a huge shock. He's been very vocal about how much he's liked the independence Netflix has given him in filmmaking, a direct contrast to all of the studio pressure that fans say tanked his DC movies.
Always one of the classiest people in the industry, Snyder said he wishing DC the best and hopes they "make some cool movies."