Zack Snyder's Justice League, also known as "Snyder Cut", is the director's cut of the 2017 American superhero movie, Justice League.
It is a version of Justice League, the fifth movie of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and based on the DC Comics superhero team of the same name, as director Zack Snyder had wanted it before he left the production and Joss Whedon took over his duties.
It won the Academy Award for Best Cheer Moment in 2022.
Differences between the two movies
Like the theatrical release, Zack Snyder's Justice League is about the Justice League, made up of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg as they try to save the world from the threat of Steppenwolf and Darkseid. However, there are many big differences between the theatrical release and this version of the film, including more backstory on Cyborg (who becomes a much bigger part of the movie), Flash, Aquaman, Steppenwolf, and Darkseid. The "Snyder Cut" takes itself more seriously than the theatrical cut, featuring more action and character development and fewer "corny" jokes, in addition to showing characters who were originally left out like Iris West, Ryan Choi, Martian Manhunter and The Joker. It also gets rid of any scenes that Joss Whedon had filmed, only relying on what Zack Snyder had filmed before leaving the project, in addition to one more scene filmed in 2020.
The movie is divided into six parts with an epilogue due to its 4-hour length.
Plot
Thousands of years ago, Darkseid and his parademon armies try to conquer the Earth, but they are defeated by a combined army of humans, Amazons, Atlanteans, Olympic Gods Zeus, Ares and Artemis, and a Green Lantern. In the present day when Superman is killed fighting Doomsday, his dying scream reawakens the Mother Boxes, devices that were used to try and destroy the Earth but left behind by Darkseid, alerting Steppenwolf, who is Darkseid's exiled lieutenant. Aiming to get the boxes to turn Earth into a copy of Apokolips, his home planet, Steppenwolf invades Themyscira first to take the Mother Box guarded by the Amazons, who send a warning to Diana Prince, leading her to find out the history of the Mother Boxes and the first battle on Earth.
Diana informs Bruce Wayne, and as the two are trying to form a team of superheroes in Superman's absence, they realize they need to act fast with Steppenwolf trying to recapture the Mother Boxes. Though Bruce had failed to recruit Arthur Curry, he finds Barry Allen and gets him to join, but Diana is unable to convince Victor Stone to join until Victor's father Silas is kidnapped by the parademons and brought to Steppenwolf. Meanwhile, Arthur is convinced to help the Atlanteans guard their Mother Box. He manages to save Mera when Steppenwolf attacks the outpost but is unable to prevent the alien from taking the second box. Victor arrives in time to help Bruce, Diana, and Barry rescue several S.T.A.R. Labs scientists, including Silas, from an underwater building where Steppenwolf is questioning them about the final Mother Box's location. Though they fight Steppenwolf off, the building is flooded and they are only saved when Arthur arrives and stops the water from reaching them.
Steppenwolf, having failed to get the third box, receives a vision of the Anti-Life Equation that Darkseid wants so he can rule over all universes, realizing it is on Earth. He tells Darkseid and DeSaad, and Darkseid promises to redeem him if he can find the third box and transform Earth with the boxes. Meanwhile, Victor retrieves the Mother Box, which he had hidden, and tells the rest of the team that the device was used by Silas to save his life and rebuild him as a cyborg after a horrific car crash that also killed his mother. After this, the team realizes that the Box can be used to return Superman to life and they all agree to try and bring him back, though they realize the box will alert Steppenwolf either way. They dig up Clark Kent's body before sneaking it to the Kryptonian ship under watch by S.T.A.R. Labs, placing it in the waters of the ship's Genesis Chamber. Clark is resurrected when Barry charges the box with his speed, but having lost his memories, he attacks the team when Victor targets him in self-defense. Lois Lane arrives and calms Clark down before he can kill Bruce, and they go back to Smallville so he can regain his memories.