We’ve seen reboots of franchises and we’ve seen re-releases of classic films, but have we ever seen a re…do?

The Justice League: Snydercut, the latest product in a long line of snafus to come from the DC side of the superhero cinematic universe. The 2017 flop, The Justice League, is being re-released straight to HBO Max on March 18 and Warner Bros. would really like for you to believe they’ve changed their meddling ways. 

Less than a year from the film’s initial release, director Zack Snyder resigned from his role in producing the film saying he “no longer had the energy to fight the studios” according to a later press release. Joss Whedon filled in following Snyder’s absence, cutting and adapting the film to fit studio executive perception of fan and viewer desires. After reshoots and theatrical release, Whedon’s final product made it to theaters on time in Nov. 2017 but to a noticeable lack of fanfare. 

In the months that followed, news broke that Whedon’s final product, due to reshoots and rewrites, featured less than half of the film that Snyder shot. Underwhelmed fans worldwide were understandably outraged, demanding that DC “release the Snyder cut,” a campaign that even made its way to the social accounts of each of the film’s main stars. Now, in 2021, we’re only a month away from seeing this four hour monstrosity made available for streaming everywhere. 

Once again, the irony of creating, or re-doing, this film has flown clear over the heads of the executives in charge of making this sort of decision. The DC cinematic universe’s problem from the start has been simply not wanting to put in the work that Marvel did to get them to the place the franchise is currently in. Iron Man, the first in a now 23 film movie franchise, was first released in 2008, paving the way for an unprecedented overlapping of superhero storytelling. The Avengers, the first cross-film superhero team up in the series, was the sixth film released by Marvel Studios. For reference, The Justice League was the third in the series, with less than half of its main characters ever appearing on the silver screen before fans were forced to wonder, “why do I care about…Aquaman?”

Perhaps the greatest betrayal of the DC universe is that they have gotten some things right over the years. Henry Cavill was most certainly created in a lab somewhere deep underground to specifically play his role as Superman. Seeing Gal Gadot’s portrayal of Wonder Woman has me constantly second guessing whether or not Amazonia is a real place and I’m pretty sure Jason Mamoa has gills somewhere under those luscious locks of his. As for the choice of Jared Leto as Joker and the aptly named “Batfleck,” I’m not allotted enough word count to properly share my negative feelings on the matter. 

But for as many wins as the studio has had, they’ve never addressed the greatest battle they continue to lose over and over again. The Justice League at its core is about Earth’s most powerful heroes joining forces to save the day against the greatest evil that’s ever existed. No single hero, perfect casting, or amount of fan service will ever right these wrongs on their own. Not even renowned director Zack Snyder, can pull this flaming pile of convoluted garbage from the depths of movie hell. There is simply no amount of necromancy that could possibly revive this mess. 

What DC and Warner Bros. has failed to see from the beginning of their doomed-from-the-start movie franchise is that fans and viewers are much smarter than the studios have ever given them credit for. Like the classic movie trope of the school bully stealing the nerd’s homework, DC continues to copy and paste the work of their peers over at Marvel. However, that narrative always ends with the bully being caught and shunned by their peers. This method will never result in getting ahead for all that long.  

The internet’s response to Snyder’s return to the franchise has been that of exuberance. Many feel that perhaps this time the movie executives will heed their cries and hand the wheel off to someone that cares about the product enough to make a cohesive and memorable story. The presence of Joker’s line “We live in a society” originates from online posts from fans endlessly flaming the film’s first release, suggesting that those with creative autonomy have been paying attention. 

Thankfully, fans won’t need to wait all that long to know whether or not the wait is worth it. The Justice League: Snydercut is available to stream on HBO Max March 18.