The 2nd film in the DC Extended Universe released on March 25, 2016. Directed by Zack Snyder, the film featured the first live action team up between Batman and Superman, and also featured the first live action theatrical appearance of Wonder Woman.
Upon release, Batman v. Superman recieved negative reviews and polarized the DC fandom, and damaged the brand in a way that DC never really recovered from, even to this day.
Although it made $874 million at the box office, its’ large budget made BvS a flop. The film was followed by Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, and the infamous Justice League.
I forgot to mention this a few days ago, but March 18 was the 5-year anniversary of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which finally realized Zack Snyder’s original vision. Although that film set up multiple plot threads that could be explored in potential DC films (i.e. Knightmare), it is highly unlikely that Snyder will ever direct a big budget blockbuster ever again, let alone a DC movie.
If you still miss the Snyderverse, I highly recommend you check out the animated movie Justice League Dark: Apokolips War. It’s the closest we’ll get to seeing Snyder’s original five-film arc completed, and it’s very dark and brutal.
The Zack Snyder Justice League cut was not a good movie, in my opinion, but it did justify Ray Fisher’s complaint that Joss Whedon cut the soul from the movie while editing out the Cyborg arc.
I really enjoyed The Snyder Cut, but it’s also an impossible film. At a run time of 242 minutes it’s a 4+ hour film. That’s not a film, it’s a miniseries. Hell it even has chapters.
The Justice League film has too much to cover in a short period of time. Most of the animated films get around this by just throwing the characters at you. If they have a story you just jump into it or we get a quick flashback.
But this era of films is full of origin stories. Each character needs an origin before we use them. This isn’t true if you look at the more recent Superman film, Guy Gardener, Hawkgirl, Mister Terrific, they just are.
I do think there are still some story issues with the Justice League film. I think killing Superman (last film) only to bring him back immediately is a bit silly.
But given the film was trying to do everything, I think it did a good job. Should it have? No. But that was the goal, and don’t dislike what we got.
More or less agreed.
It was overstuffed, but since it was never meant to be a theatrical cut, chose to lean into the excess.
multiple plot threads
And the first live action Martian Manhunter. J’onn has such a big role in the animated works it’s a bummer how little we’ve seen him in live action.
Ngl, this poster makes cavill look weird.
