As such, Snyder and Terrio's original plan to make DCEU films become progressively lighter and more positive in tone was abandoned, and the "dark and weird" Justice League was rewritten to be more light hearted.

[33][34] Screenwriter Mark Hughes reported that the final cut was mostly done,[35] while The Telegraph cited a VFX expert as estimating that the studio would need another $30–40 million to finish the film.

[39] The basic story from Snyder's Justice League was largely maintained for the theatrical release but dozens of additional scenes related to backstories, mythos, worldbuilding elements, new characters, and teases for upcoming films were removed.

[47][48] Sequences related to the on-screen prominence of Lex Luthor,[1] Silas Stone,[49] Mera,[50] Lois Lane,[51] and Ares were reduced,[52] as was the time-travel plot in Snyder and Terrio's original draft.

[54] According to insider reports, Warner executives noted the effort to lighten the Snyder cut's tone but labelled it "unwatchable", citing a lack of humor.

[64][65][7] The movement, which uses the hashtag #ReleaseTheSnyderCut on social media,[2][66] began before fans had any knowledge that a cut of Snyder's Justice League film actually existed in any capacity.

[75] Production was expected to begin shortly after the release of Justice League,[74] but work on the first sequel, tentatively titled Justice League: Part Two [76] was stopped when Snyder stepped down in May 2017 and was pushed back indefinitely in December 2017 in favor of a stand-alone Batman film titled The Batman starring Ben Affleck, which similarly never came to fruition and was converted into a separate, standalone project entirely.

His design, which resembles the Kabbalah Tree of Life, is said to contain the plot of his five-film arc including a planned Justice League trilogy within a mosaic of cryptic symbols and phrases.

The reverse side of the shirt has a quote from Joseph Campbell, American literature professor famed for his creation of the Hero's journey, which reads: "All the gods, all the heavens, all the hells, are within you".

"Itchy," quips Superman, when asked by Amy Adams's Lois Lane how it felt to come back from the dead; the Flash, meanwhile, awkwardly rambles on about brunch and pratfalls face-first onto Wonder Woman's chest.

[105] Finding anguish rather than relief on their work,[104] when Snyder and his wife left the project after their daughter's death, Whedon took over as director and directed reshoots for approximately 55 days.

[113] The scenes that Whedon wrote or re-shot for the theatrical release added a brighter tone and humor, and reduced the level of violence seen in Snyder's darker direction.

Both Jon Berg and Geoff Johns, who were hired as co-chairmen and co-runners of the DCEU after Batman v Superman to get the franchise back on track, departed DC Films at the end of 2017.

[42][130] Harry Lennix's character Calvin Swanwick from Man of Steel and Batman v Superman was planned to appear in a scene revealing he was secretly the shapeshifting alien Martian Manhunter all along.

[47][48] The supporting characters Silas Stone, Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, Mera, Ares, Zeus and Antiope had multiple scenes cut or reduced, but still appear in the theatrical release.

In the "Snyder Cut", Barry demonstrates the ability to reverse time by briefly surpassing the speed of light in a new version of the final battle,[53] and his relationship with Bruce Wayne was established as being "between someone who is naive and excited and someone who is experienced and jaded".

[1][26][53][73][136][137][138] According to Ray Fisher, the only Snyder-shot scene Whedon kept in the theatrical cut was the one of Cyborg meeting with J. K. Simmons' Commissioner James Gordon at the Gotham City Police Department's rooftop.

Warner then decided to digitally remove Cavill's moustache, but under a tight deadline and the film being close to its release, the visual effects team did not have the time to properly apply the CGI; the finished product was criticized for its awkward appearance.

[147] Snyder had originally intended for the hero to wear his iconic black and silver lined suit as famously first depicted in 1992's "The Death of Superman" comic storyline.

[150][151][152][153] While their arcs are mainly the same in both versions of the film, many of Batman's and Wonder Woman's scenes were reshot by Whedon, including when Diana explains the first invasion of Earth to Bruce.

[155] Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot, who portrayed Batman and Wonder Woman, respectively, both voiced displeasure working with Whedon during the reshoots, and were among the most prominent supporters of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement.

[164] During post-production of Zack Snyder's Justice League, which happened during the COVID-19 pandemic, several special effects studios were shut down or inaccessible, resulting in some unused visuals intended for the 2017 cut being unavailable and needing to be re-rendered.

[165] Originally conceived as a monstrous, horned being with seven fingers on each hand and hooved feet, Steppenwolf was "toned down" during the troubled production of the film, as Warner Bros. deemed Zack Snyder's design as too intimidating.

Anders Langlands, one of the supervisors at Weta, comments that "Zack had the idea that his armor would react to his mood and be part of his performance, as if it was some kind of alien technology that’s symbiotic with him.

Junkie XL had been scheduled to return as composer for the theatrical cut of Justice League, but was dropped in favour of Elfman when Joss Whedon took over from Snyder in post production.

[174][175] The flashback scene illustrating Steppenwolf's first invasion of Earth against the Olympian Old Gods, Amazons, Atlanteans, Green Lantern Corps and humans was altered for the theatrical release.

Whedon added the reddish hue coloration, the root-like structures growing out of the ground, a redesign of Steppenwolf's base of operations inside the cooling tower, and the Russian family that Flash saves.

The Knightmare sequence in the epilogue was filmed by Snyder specifically for Zack Snyder's Justice League, with Affleck, Ezra Miller, Fisher, Joe Manganiello, Heard and Jared Leto reprising their roles from earlier installments in the DCEU; Cavill was digitally imposed into the scene using archive footage from Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice The post-credits scene featuring Lex Luthor and Deathstroke was initially supposed to tease Ben Affleck's original version for The Batman, in which Deathstroke would have played a pivotal role.

When Affleck stepped away from directing The Batman in January 2017 (before Matt Reeves took over as director and rewrote the film to no longer be set in the DCEU) and Joss Whedon was hired to replace Snyder a few months later, the sequence was redone with a reshoot of Jesse Eisenberg's dialogue to instead tease a planned Justice League sequel not planned by Snyder or set in his universe involving the Injustice League by rewriting Luthor's dialogue.

[184] It reportedly cost more than $70 million to complete the special effects, musical score, and editing, as well as filming additional scenes with the cut also being presented in an open matte aspect ratio of 1.33:1.