At 6:30 PM on March 15, 2023, a transmission was sent from Zack Snyder’s platform to the billion-strong fandom that awaits at the gates of his citadel. It was the doomsday voice of Darkseid. And the fans witnessed, in a mixture of contained horror and euphoria, as the SnyderVerse miraculously came alive. The long wait at the other end of Apokolips is over and no longer shall Earth remain safe – and it has never felt more excruciatingly good to hear the doomsday clock striking midnight. But, even as no commitments or promises have been made, the threadbare mirage of hope delivered by Snyder with his short 14-second clip is more than what anyone expected at this point.
James Gunn Silenced as the SnyderVerse Comes Full Circle
It was declared in a bolstered and confident voice that the Chairman and CEO of DC Studios, James Gunn, and the former DCEU director, Zack Snyder, were on good terms. And to date, there has been no reason to believe otherwise. Both men, amazing at their art, are uniquely and radically different in their approach to a project. While Gunn brings satire and techno-pop to his curated collections, Snyder’s canvas is more blood, pain, trauma, and gore. And to expect one to accommodate the other would simply ruin both.
As such, Snyder and Gunn have not only stayed away from each other’s domain at DC but also (thankfully) managed to keep their universes separate. And even as the latter begins to roll out his new plans for the franchise, he has respectfully allowed the amputation of DCEU – which spares the SnyderVerse from being exploited in a glee-induced setting that is being envisioned by Gunn, Safran, and Zaslav for the future of DC. But no matter how rational all of it may seem at present, the subject is still a sore issue – one that reflects dejection and disappointment for a majority of the fans.
And so are conceived the theories of discord and animosity between James Gunn and Zack Snyder, a situation more believable for the fandom looking in from the outside. The theories are further reinforced when Gunn fails to reply to Snyder’s March 15 announcement signaling the revival and resurrection of the SnyderVerse.
Fans Theorize the Potential Fallout Between Gunn & Snyder
If the fandom hasn’t replayed the clip a dozen times already, here’s a recap of what Zack Snyder’s post said on Twitter. A message on the screen reads: Incoming Transmission From Lord Darkseid followed by a recording in the supervillain’s voice announcing the audience to save the dates: 28th to 30th April 2023. The post is captioned: #fullcircle. Now, the logical explanation is that the story of Darkseid that was supposed to be narrated as part of the SnyderVerse via Justice League 2 and 3 is apparently happening.
But then why would Gunn not retweet the event or advocate/make known his support for such a plan, especially when DC Studios now falls under his direct purview? The fandom has decidedly settled upon one answer: maybe, the two directors are not the best of friends that they claim to be.
But a move as immensely transgressional for the current DCU’s plans would require James Gunn’s say-so, not to mention the incredibly difficult red tapes that Snyder needs to navigate to run a world beyond DCU and Elsworlds, parallel to the one Warner Bros. is hosting. Why would the studio allow this to happen despite a potential mass migration of a large chunk of their fanbase away from DCU and toward the SnyderVerse? Unless (and this too is entirely possible) the Twitter post is simply misdirection and it’s Snyder’s way of drawing attention to his upcoming Rebel Moon project by using the DCEU fanbase already devoted to him.
For now, as Lord Darkseid commands: April 28th, 29th, and 30th. Save the date.
Source: Twitter
