More reveals have been made for Zack Snyder’s unmade DCEU movies, which is showing just how challenging it is for DC to move on from.

•  The unfinished SnyderVerse continues to complicate DC Studios’ plans for the DCU, with ongoing reveals of Snyder’s unmade DCEU movies keeping the legend alive.
•  Despite DC Studios heading in a new direction with the DCU, the SnyderVerse’s legacy remains with the retention of DCEU actors like Jason Momoa and Gal Gadot in new DCU projects.
•  The SnyderVerse’s enduring fan interest and the monumental success of Zack Snyder’s Justice League make it impossible for DC Studios to completely cut ties with Snyder’s original vision.

DC Studios is mapping out plans for the DCU, but the continued reveals of unrealized DCEU movies complicate those plans considerably. Beginning under Zack Snyder’s direction with 2013’s Man of Steel, the DCEU would experience notorious production difficulties after the polarized reception of 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. This led to Warner Bros. extensively retooling 2017’s Justice League (with Joss Whedon replacing Zack Snyder, who departed following a family tragedy), only for a massive grassroots fan campaign to eventually lead to Snyder’s original cut being released as Zack Snyder’s Justice League in 2021.

Despite the Snyder Cut’s release and persistent chants of #RestoreTheSnyderVerse online, the newly formed DC Studios is headed in a new direction with the DCU, to begin with Superman: Legacy, helmed by DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn. However, the shadow of the unfinished SnyderVerse continues to hover over DC on film, with reveals regularly emerging of the full scope of Snyder’s unmade DCEU movies. As seen in the most recent such revelations and other unexpected developments, Snyder’s unrealized DCEU plans have gone from being the elephant in the room for DC’s future on film plans to a quite enduring modern Hollywood legend.

Info On Unmade DCEU Movies Keep Leaking

Despite WB’s haphazard abandonment for Snyder’s intended DCEU plans, a great deal of what he intended for the franchise has been made public. This first began during the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, with a collection of whiteboards detailing Snyder’s general outline for Justice League 2 and Justice League 3 being publicly unveiled (though Snyder has made clear these represent the initial conception of his plans, with some degree of modification having subsequently been implemented). Deathstroke actor Joe Manganiello would also reveal considerable details about Ben Affleck’s Batman movie around the release of the Snyder Cut. Over time, the reveals of the SnyderVerse have only grown more voluminous.

One such example would occur as Snyder’s 2023 Full Circle Event, in which he would cryptically tease elements of Justice League sequel plans, such as Robin’s death at the Joker’s hands, while holding back on explicit details because “a spoiler for maybe a thing that will never need to be spoiled, but we should wait to see, don’t you think, a little bit?” At the same event, screenwriter Chris Terrio also teased that Snyder’s Justice League sequels were to involve “Apokoliptian betrayals and palace intrigue” relating to the backstory of Darkseid (Ray Porter) and his initial attempt to conquer Earth.

Details would recently grow after additional reveals by storyboard artist Jay Oliva, who would describe Affleck’s Batman story as building from “80 years” of Batman storylines. Additionally, Oliva would reveal Snyder’s intention for Reverse-Flash to be unveiled as a string-pulling villain who would be the catalyst of a Flashpoint-inspired movie that would facilitate a transition from Snyder’s DC Universe to a new one that WB could build from. The cumulative effect of all these leaks has been much the same as the initial intrigue of the Snyder Cut, with the mystery surrounding it keeping it very much alive.

DC Studios Is Seemingly Retaining DCEU Players

Adding to the SnyderVerse’s longevity is the fact that James Gunn’s DCU plans seemingly do not fall as cleanly into the “reboot” classification as is usually the case. Rumors have abounded that Jason Momoa will portray Lobo in the DCU, and while not a direct connection to his DCEU portrayal of Aquaman, it would still carry a core cast member of Snyder’s Justice League into the DCU, inevitably keeping the memory of Momoa’s Aquaman role alive by association. A more direct SnyderVerse connection to Gunn’s DCU has also emerged, with Gal Gadot stating that she is developing Wonder Woman 3 with DC Studios.

While other DCEU cast members might also be involved with the DCU, each would inevitably bring with them the same immediate link to their portrayal of other DC characters in another DC Universe. Moreover, DC Studios is seemingly already navigating a Snyder Cut-type situation of its own, with David Ayer stating that he had been told by Gunn that the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad would “have its time to be shared“. While all of this is an anomaly, to say the least, for any film studio or franchise, the history of Snyder’s DC tenure paints a much clearer picture of why DC cannot cut ties with the SnyderVerse.

The DCU Reboot Is Made More Complicated By The DCEU’s Legacy

Ordinarily, unrealized movies or franchises do not tend to have the kind of staying power or enduring fan interest as the unmade SnyderVerse movies, but “ordinary” is a term completely inapplicable to the SnyderVerse. By being completed and released, Zack Snyder’s Justice League would defy all odds of film industry precedent, giving the movie a monumental one-of-a-kind distinction. The movie’s cliffhanger ending and Snyder’s Justice League sequel plans would also provide a huge jolt of interest in his story being concluded, to the tune of 1.5 million #RestoreTheSnyderVerse tweets in a day right after its release.

With periodic reveals and teases of where Snyder intended to take and conclude his story, the SnyderVerse has taken on much the same legendary status as the Snyder Cut itself once did. Given the specific circumstances of Snyder’s original departure (including heavy allegations of abusive conduct by Joss Whedon during the Justice League reshoots) and WB so hurriedly abandoning his plans, the legend around the SnyderVerse only continues to grow. The real problem this presents for DC Studios is that, unlike almost any other prospective reboot, the DC franchise to precede the DCU is far from fading away from topicality or relevance.

The truth of the matter is that everything about the SnyderVerse’s story is seemingly impossible but nonetheless very real. As a byproduct of WB’s panicked decision to retool Justice League and the extensive fallout resulting from it, everything planned but not made in the SnyderVerse is more than just a case of “what could have been” but a ceaselessly tantalizing relic driving public interest with each new reveal. Whatever plans DC Studios may have for DC on film, they continue to face the exceptionally rare challenge that the legend of Zack Snyder’s unmade DCEU movies is one that simply refuses to die.