Zack Snyder's Justice League is streaming on HBO Max and other platforms around the world, so now that it's out we can finally see just how different it is from the 2017 cut by Joss Whedon. The Snyder Cut represents Zack Snyder's pure original vision for Justice League before he left teh project and Warner Bros. and Joss Whedon rewrote and reshot it to drastically alter the story and tone, and it's far more than just a color change and some deleted scenes, but almost a totally different movie outside of the basic plot skeleton (although that has some changes, too).
Thanks to non-stop demand for his version of the movie, HBO Max saw an opportunity and gave Snyder $70 million to finish his cut according to his original vision, and so far it's seen strong audience and critical reactions, with many viewers expressing shock at how different the Snyder Cut truly is.
Due to the massive difference and 4-hour runtime, it's not practical to list every minor tweak or scene addition, so this piece will cover the major differences from color and music and aspect ratio to restored characters and altered plotlines.
Zack Snyder's Justice League Restores a 4:3 Aspect Ratio
One of the Snyder Cut's most immediately apparent changes is the restoration of Snyder's original aspect ratio of 1.33:1. During principal photography, Snyder wanted to use the typical IMAX ratio for the whole film, unlike Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where it was only used in a few scenes. The additional vertical space allows Snyder and cinematographer Fabian Wagner to frame shots in such a way that the same imagery can't be captured fully in widescreen, which is why many of the Whedon reshoots felt poorly framed and too tight. Snyder's aesthetic loves the human figure and statuesque poses, and the change from a wide screen to a square screen allows a single figure to dominate the majority of a shot without being too tightly cropped.
Zack Snyder Uses a Subtler, Higher Contrast Color Grade
Zack Snyder has been well known for his visual aesthetic ever since the release of 300. His aesthetic choices are one of the more polarizing aspects of his filmmaking approach, and the darker, more natural, and high contrast looks of Joss Whedon version of the film.
The theatrical cut didn't merely lighten every shot, but also increased the saturation in a color grade that added an almost salmon-colored hue to the whole movie. Everything was more orange and pink, especially skin tones, and the entire third act was bathed in a red-orange light that ultimately also washed out much of the contrast, making the visuals pop far less.
Snyder, of course, returned to his preferred palate in the Snyder Cut, although it should be noted that due to the characters and story being told, there's a lot of visual variety, making it far brighter and more colorful than Batman v Superman, and possibly even more than Man of Steel. Of course, the third act is also returned to its dark, high contrast look, and is one of the most praised aspects of the film.
Junkie XL Returned to Score the Snyder Cut, Replacing Danny Elfman
Tom Holkenborg (Junkie XL) worked with Hans Zimmer on Man of Steel and graduated to splitting credit with him on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and was set to be the sole credited composer on Justice League before Snyder stepped down and Danny Elfman was hired to replace Holkenborg.
While much of his score was already completed, Holkenborg spent 8 months in quarantine in 2020 to compose an entirely new score, which he calls his "Mount Everest" as it's the longest score ever released. While Elfman's more whimsical style and iconic Batman '89 score is iconic, it didn't fit at all with the original tone of the movie. Junkie XL's 4-hour score, however, brings all the bass drums and bombast expected from a massive Snyder project but also embraces the iconic Man of Steel.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is Twice as Long as Whedon's Theatrical Cut
While the theatrical Justice League was just two hours long, Zack Snyder's Justice League comes in at a full 4 hours. Snyder was subjected to a 2-hour mandate by Warner Bros., which was part of the major struggle with his edits of the film prior to his departure. Presumably, Whedon was subject to the same requirement as his cut is exactly two hours long.
If Snyder's movie had been released in theaters in 2017, there's almost no chance it would have been four hours. It's hard to see the studio agreeing to more than 3 hours, and even that would have been a struggle, but due to the nature of the campaign to "Release the Snyder Cut" and the HBO Max streaming release, Snyder has far more leeway this time around, bringing an even purer "Snyder experience" to the final product. Since only about half of Whedon's version used Snyder footage (albeit cropped and recolored), Zack Snyder's Justice League has roughly 3 hours of footage that was excluded in 2017.
The Snyder Cut Has 6 Chapters and an Epilogue
Zack Snyder's Justice League divides its 4-hour runtime into 6 different chapters and an epilogue, all marked by a fade to a black screen and title card before moving to the next chapter. Each chapter has a clear theme and arc in the movie, and the chapter cards do a great job of splitting up the 4-hour runtime into something far more consumable than many would expect. Since the 2017 Justice League was only 2 hours and lacked many of the subplots referenced in the chapter title cards, they were excluded from that version.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is Rated R for Violence and Language
Zack Snyder has a reputation for R-rated violence in most of his movies, and that's on full display in Zack Snyder's Justice League. While Man of Steel was PG-13, Snyder's director's cut of Batman v Superman (the "Ultimate Edition"), is widely regarded as the better cut and also contains an R-rating. The movie includes lots of 300 style action, complete with CGI blood spurts, and 3 different f-bombs can be heard throughout.
Steppenwolf's Design Was Reverted to the Original Look For the Snyder Cut
One of the biggest criticisms of Justice League 2017 was Steppenwolf. Not only was his backstory and motivation slashed down in the final edit, but his voice was also fairly non-threatening, but the big criticism was his design and VFX. Steppenwolf was originally revealed at the end of Batman v Superman (only in Zack Snyder's director's cut), but they changed his design to be more human-like for Justice League, and it just didn't work. Part of the issue was the lack of polish to the character made him feel fake, but his design also just wasn't inherently very scary.
Zack Snyder's Justice League certainly changes that in one of the most substantially praised differences, which is the return to the scary, alien-looking Steppenwolf with his spiky armor. The armor is almost a character unto itself, constantly shifting and becoming more or less spikey, adding variable intensity to Steppenwolf moments. His voice is also more modulated, making him much more fierce, giving the Justice League a truly threatening foe.
Zack Snyder's Justice League Adds Multiple Cut DC Characters
Since Snyder's original movie was so drastically rewritten and reshot by Joss Whedon, a number of characters didn't make it into the final cut of the movie, and many of them are characters from DC comics who played a significant role when they were restored to Zack Snyder's Justice League, in addition to a few characters who were added after the fact in 2020. The characters include:
Darkseid
DeSaad
Granny Goodness
Ryan Choi
Iris West
Vulko
Martian Manhunter (and Harry Lennix)
Joker
Killowag
Doomsday (Flashback)
Character Arcs Were Fleshed Out and Restored for the Snyder Cut, Especially Cyborg
Since the Snyder Cut is 4 hours long, there's a lot more room for character development, and that's one of the movie's biggest improvements. Flash's introduction scene with Iris West is a great entry point into his character, Aquaman's trip to the Atlantean outpost establishes more of his backstory and motivation, Wonder Woman's connection to (and separation from) the Amazons becomes a major focus of her arc, and Batman trying to atone for his guilt after the death of Superman in Batman v Superman becomes a central focus for his character.
The biggest beneficiary of the expanded arcs is Cyborg, and by association, Silas Stone. Cyborg was heralded as the heart of the movie since even before the 2017 Justice League release. Every single Cyborg scene except for the GD rooftop scene was reshot by Whedon, so Cyborg saw a drastically altered story, making him the emotional core of the movie. Silas Stone's sacrificial end and ending monologue add a lot to both Cyborg and the rest of the characters, making his restored role integral to Zack Snyder's Justice League.
The Snyder Cut Shot a Few Minutes of Reshoots in 2020
In order to complete a few elements Snyder didn't shoot in principal photography, he brought some of the cast back for brief reshoots in October 2020. The additional photography s for 4-5 minutes of footage and includes a Knightmare scene in the epilogue with Batman, Cyborg, Flash, Mera, Deathstroke, and Joker where they face a cliffhanger ending featuring evil Superman.
Snyder also shot a brief moment of Harry Lennix to show his transformation into Martian Manhunter, and also added him to a brief exchange with Bruce Wayne after he jolts awake following the Knightmare scene. Both Affleck and Lennix's part in this exchange are from 2020 reshoots, although a similar version of Affleck's part was shot during principal photography when the intention was to introduce a Green Lantern instead of Martian Manhunter.
