The Fountainhead of Zack Snyder’s ‘Justice League’by Jesabel 

“To sell your soul is the easiest thing in the world. That’s what everybody does every hour of his life. If I asked you to keep your soul – would you understand why that’s much harder?” – Ayn Rand, The Fountainhead

It is beyond telling that one of the future projects that visionary filmmaker Zack Snyder will be working on is the film adaptation of Ayn Rand’s polarizing yet philosophical novel on the ideals of individualism vs collectivism, “The Fountainhead”. Is it metaphorical? Is it autobiographical? Is it cathartic? The novel is notorious for exemplifying these theologies of what it means to fight for one’s individualistic nature against the conformity of society’s internalizations and expectations.

Zack Snyder has been somewhat of a controversial public figure within comic book and film communities, more specifically with his body of work, in which generally leaves many of the audience feeling extreme emotions of either offense of nonexistent toxic masculinity, scoffing at pretension, style over substance, prioritizing visual grandeur over expository narrative structures, but most recently, the psychological deconstructions and internal conflicts of DC Comic’s most popular, most iconic superheroes Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.

Warner Bros. has developed a strong, loyal relationship with the auteur filmmaker despite the majority of Snyder’s films receiving mixed to negative critical reception. The “filmmaker driven” movie studio hired Snyder to resurrect and modernize the Superman character after the monumental success, both critically and financially, with fellow auteur colleague Christopher Nolan’s masterfully groundbreaking “The Dark Knight” trilogy. Thus, “Man of Steel” was born, a stunning masterpiece of pristine visuals that provoke the concepts of free will and extraterrestrial divinity while redefining the character for an entirely new generation. Nostalgic critics and fans were divisive on this new interpretation of Superman in conflict with his very own existence as well as the controversial action of brutally yet hesitatingly murdering the last of the Kryptonian species, arch nemesis and militant leader General Zod.

The highly anticipated second installment was intended to jump start a shared cinematic universe by introducing a completely new take of a brutally violent, psychologically tormented Batman in 2016’s “Batman v Superman”. The film became a worldwide phenomenon built on years of skepticism and anticipation for pitting the two iconic characters together on film for the first time. A fascinating, ambitious, complex work of art that provokes existential questioning on the corruption of power and ultimately, establishes the clashing of political and philosophical ideals further dividing critics and fans rabidly vocalizing how much they despised the execution of Snyder’s deconstruction of these superheroes as well as the dark, almost macabre tone in an age where competitors are fruitfully marinating and succeeding in self-parodying, family-friendly, generic blockbusters.

The passionate cast, crew, and studio were fully committed to the final installment of Zack Snyder’s DC Extended Universe with the epic superhero fantasy “Justice League” in which continues to introduce the first ever live action incarnation of Justice League’s powerful team members Aquaman, the Flash, Cyborg, as well as uniting the worlds of Amazons, Atlanteans, and Green Lanterns. But the overwhelmingly negative backlash from critics and the overall disappointing financial underperformance of “Batman v Superman” caused an unstabilized panic frenzy for the executives at Warner Bros. What happens now? Do they fire Zack Snyder and hire someone else to complete this trilogy? Do they continue allowing this filmmaker to complete his intended vision and finish Superman’s character arc? Why hire a somewhat divisive auteur filmmaker to jump start a shared cinematic universe if the studio was feeling threated by the success of juggernaut competitors? This ultimately begs the question of art vs commerce. At the end of the day, the entire movie industry is a machine built on business and commercialism. Darker superhero films have a disadvantage at reaching the global demographic compared to mindless entertainment. On top of that, Zack Snyder is known for feeding his fans thematically heavy films that rely on visually gorgeous images rather than clunky exposition that clearly tells a story in a more straightforward, less unorthodox fashion.

Zack Snyder submitted an early, rough cut of “Justice League” to Warner Bros. before departing from the entire project altogether to tend to his beloved family in mourning after a heartbreaking personal tragedy. Movie director Joss Whedon, responsible for catapulting the blockbuster success of Marvel’s “Avengers” films to the big screen, eventually ended up overseeing directorial duties implementing his signature, cringe worthy comedic elements, as well as spearheading massively extensive reshoots during post-production. The end result became an absolute catastrophic nightmare of epic proportions.

The first ever live action “Justice League” film that unites DC Comic’s most iconic superheroes for the very first time was a colossal disappointment on every single front imaginable. Critics gave up their last straw while simultaneously beating a man while he was down and the hardcore fan base that has aggressively been supporting and defending the entire DCEU thus far were vastly disappointed with the outcome. There are glimmers of hope within Snyder’s “Justice League” film but ultimately, it was a Frankenstein’s monster of clashing visions, styles, and tones, that quite frankly, just do not work well together in cohesion. The film lacks any kind of personality, any sense of scale, any sense of scope, any sense of thematic depth that is so unequivocally Snyder and writer Chris Terrio. Critics, fans and non-fans have all generally expressed their colossal disgust in what feels like an empty vessel of truly horrendous, rushed computer generated imagery and atrocious characterizations that betray everything Snyder hasd established with “Man of Steel” and “Batman v Superman”. This is why there are so many passionate fans signing petitions, peacefully protesting for the release of Zack Snyder’s original cut of “Justice League”. The immaculate pieces of Snyder’s film showed imminent promise but were devastatingly left broken and abandoned. Were critics ever going to give Snyder’s “Justice League” film a chance? Probably not. They would argue that they have been burned multiple times before, right? But at least it would be Zack Snyder’s “Justice League” film and not some botched up disaster that was made by everyone and no one at all. At least it would be judged and criticized for being one singular vision instead of the abhorrently compromised product that was released in theaters that did nothing but just damage the brand financially. We have taken so many steps backwards and who really knows if this franchise is broken beyond repair.

Honestly, this depresses me to my core. It is extremely disheartening to witness this train wreck, right before my very eyes. Warner Bros. has been my absolute favorite movie studio as it has consistently been the progressive company in Hollywood that challenges and perseveres in a landscape where Walt Disney studios is the leading dominant force monopolizing… pretty much the rest of the world. Warner Bros. has been infamous for hiring strong visionaries with recognizable artistic integrity as well as taking ambitious chances on fresh, indie talent. Snyder established a shared cinematic universe with unmitigated success that can stand on its’ very own foundation and still push its’ competition with Disney’s MCU. Snyder modernized the Superman character with a complex portrayal by Henry Cavill, what is arguably the best incarnation of the Batman with Ben Affleck, and has finally introduced the first ever live action Wonder Woman with Gal Gadot. The success of financial performances and critical receptions of current or future installments in the DCEU will eternally be based on the foundations built by Snyder. He did this. He did all of this. The very least Warner Bros. could do is trust him, invest in what we deserve. Signatures, petitions, social media conversations, protests, sound editors and cinematographers publicly admitting that there is indeed a Snyder cut of “Justice League” that exists, etc. These all exist and no matter how much people want to drown out the noise, you can’t. I don’t know *what* can be done. I don’t know*if* it can be done. But what I do know is that you can and will never erase the intense passion of fandom. It has reached its’ zenith level and the beauty of Zack Snyder, his incredible body of work, and his devoted fan base will transcend forever.