The directors of “Avengers: Finale” Joe and Anthony Russo praise Zack Snyder’s “Justice League” as the final version of the DCEU film. The Russo brothers are known for their work in the MCU, having directed “The First Avenger: The Winter Soldier”, “The First Avenger: Civil War”, “Avengers: Infinity War” and the aforementioned “Finale”, which is also the second highest-grossing film of all time. Snyder directed Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice before moving directly to Justice League, which was originally planned as a trilogy.
Snyder experienced a family tragedy and numerous conflicts with the studio towards the end of the post-production of “Justice League”, which prompted him to leave the film. Director Joss Whedon was brought in to rewrite and reshoot almost 70 percent of Snyder’s “Justice League,” presenting a completely different film in theaters, which turned out to be unsuccessful at the box office. Last year, WB brought Snyder back to finish his version of “Justice League,” which will be released on HBO Max. The director presented a four-hour final version of the film with ready-made visual effects, new scenes and an R rating, which realized his original vision of “Justice League”.
During a Q&A for Wired, the Russo brothers were asked, “What if the Russo brothers ran the Justice League,” prompting Anthony to say, “I don’t know how to answer that.” Instead of discussing what their vision of the Justice League might have been, Joe said: “Look at Snyder’s version. This is the final version. You don’t have to watch anything.” which is high praise for Snyder from the duo. Russo did not provide any additional comments on this, which shows that their position is strongly in favor of watching the version of Snyder’s film, and not imagining something else.
After ending their stint at the MCU with “Finale,” the Russo brothers have moved on to streaming their feature films, making an adaptation of “Cherry” for Apple TV+ with Tom Holland and “Grey Man” with Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans this month for Netflix. Their next work will be the Netflix series “Electric State” with the stars of the series “Very Strange Things” Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt. Meanwhile, Snyder has also moved to streaming instead of theatrical productions, signing his own deal with Netflix to produce original content, including his “Army of the Dead” franchise and the sci-fi movie “Rebel Moon,” which is currently in production.
Having realized their own vision in the MCU, the Russo brothers’ comments demonstrate strong support and respect for fellow directors such as Snyder, as they are all well aware of the trials and tribulations that accompany the creation of high-budget superhero films. It’s nice to see how first-class filmmakers show closeness to the work of colleagues, which does not happen so often. Since Zack Snyder’s “Justice League” is such a revolutionary endeavor in terms of being able to fully realize his vision, it’s nice to hear that other directors are testing it for themselves and responding positively to it.
