The mythical Zack Snyder Cut of Justice League has made it into modern film history. Though initially derided for his vision of the DC films, people have found a new appreciation for him following studio interference on Justice League. The finished product being possibly one of the worst additions into the DC film universe thus far. Fans have been begging WB to release what is considered the Snyder Cut since the theatrical release, but it has fallen on deaf ears. Personally, I believe it’ll never see the light of day and likely for good reason. Maybe WB really believes the theatrical cut of Justice League really is better than Snyder was able to produce.
In the final act of Justice League, Steppenwolf attempts the terraform a small, disconnected town in Russia using a lot of “evil-looking” and gnarly tree branches and vines. They ended up looking like roided-up versions of the thorn bushes from Disney’s Sleeping Beauty. The CGI was horrific and it never quite looked complete. Was this Snyder’s original vision or was this studio interference? We likely won’t know that much, but the reason why I bring that up is because Concept artist Christian Lorenz Scheurer has just released online a collection of concept art featuring a different Apokolips.
Was this supposed to be more in line with Batman’s Knightmare?
Take a look below at what was initially planned for the final act of Justice League.
This version looked far closer to the tech-based wasteland that I’ve seen in different iterations of Apokolips. While it was clear in the final act of Justice League that Steppenwolf didn’t fully succeed in terraforming, it seems the original script called for its completion. It definitely would have looked far more interesting, with more thought put into it. It’s far darker than what we saw on film and it’s a bit closer to Snyder’s vision when comparing it to the Knightmare sequence in Batman v Superman. Could this be in the mythical Snyder Cut? Likely not.
Concept art is never the final product, whatever the film production intended. You can’t chalk this up to WB’s interference, because unless the very vocal Snyder says so, this could have easily have been scrapped by Snyder himself. It’s nice to dream though.
Justice League is currently available on Blu-ray and Digital download.
