To mark the third anniversary of Justice League, director Zack Snyder shared a special black-and-white trailer for his upcoming director’s cut of the film, slated to be released as a miniseries on the HBO Max streaming service in 2021.
The streamer also released a colour version of the trailer, which is largely identical to the one released at the DC Fandome event a few months ago, with a few new additions. Both trailers feature extra shots of the villains Steppenwolf and Darkseid, the Batmobile in action, Queen Hippolyta, and Cyborg. Snyder accompanied this with an hour-long breakdown of the black-and-white trailer on Vero, his social media application of choice.
Fans were ecstatic at the tiny morsels of new footage. “Now this is the Batman I wanted,” one person wrote in the YouTube comments section. Another person wondered what “Jared Leto’s Joker looks like in this film.” On Twitter, actor Huma Qureshi (who will appear in Snyder’s Army of the Dead), Wonder Woman TV series actor Linda Carter and CNN’s Jake Tapper expressed their excitement for the film. “Thanos just peed himself while running away,” one person joked. “That shot of Cyborg watching the kids play football. Got me in the feels Zack,” wrote another.
In an interview to Film Junkee, Snyder had said that his ideal version of the film is black-and-white, four hours long, and projected in IMAX. “My ideal version of the movie is the black-and-white IMAX version of the movie. That, to me, is the most fan-centric, most pure, most Justice League experience. Because that’s how I lived with the movie for two years, in black and white,” he said.
Justice League had a famously troubled production, with Snyder departing the project after having completed shooting, and being replaced by Avengers director Joss Whedon, who oversaw extensive reshoots and post-production. The theatrical version of the film lost Warner Bros millions of dollars and prompted fans to stage a sustained online campaign for the ‘Snyder Cut’. The efforts paid off earlier this year, when the project was confirmed. It is being reported that upwards of $70 million is being spent to realise Snyder’s version of the film.
The filmmaker recently revealed that his cut will have over two-and-a-half hours of unseen footage, and that additional photography will make up for around four minutes of screen time. Justice League stars Henry Cavill as Superman, Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as Flash and Ray Fisher as Cyborg.
