Zack Snyder to Direct ‘Justice League,’ Slated for 2017

By  · Published on April 28th, 2014

DC Comics

It’s news we all saw coming, but the fact that it’s finally happening, after so many years of hemming and hawing, it just doesn’t seem like it can be true. A Justice League movie is actually going to happen, and it’s not just Warner Bros. messing with us. We’ve been burned before by DC Comics and it stung, but this time it seems like the wounds are finally going to heal. After the one-two punch of Man of Steel and 2016’s upcoming and much anticipated Batman vs. Superman (or whatever it is that they’re going to call it), Zack Snyder will once again be back in the director’s chair in 2017 to helm Justice League.

With confirmation that Batman vs. Superman will indeed be a direct lead-in to the Justice League movie, we’ll of course see Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot back in their roles as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, respectively. With the studio recently casting theatre actor Ray Fisher as Cyborg for Batman vs. Superman, the man who suffers a brutal laboratory accident that leaves him with a mostly metallic, cyborg body, they’ve got another hero checked off their list already. Warner Bros. is keeping a tight lid on exactly who’s making the cut to join their ultra exclusive version of the Justice League, but the usual suspects (the original lineup) also include Aquaman, Flash, Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern.

At this point in the game, the studio would be smart to bring along the entire original crew for the film. Batman and Superman, while undeniably the stars of the franchise over the course of its run, weren’t even that popular in the beginning of the series, rarely featured on the covers of the comics; heroes like Green Arrow, the Atom and Hawkman were added soon after the League’s inception. Warner Bros. has a varied roster of heroes to work with at their disposal that make up a beloved team of crimefighters – and it’s about time. Marvel has been beating DC at their own game for some time at this point, releasing the impossibly successful The Avengers in 2013, a still-developing and still-money gaining franchise that Stan Lee has past stated that he developed as his answer to DC’s Justice League.

Marvel has had their heads in the game for some time, and a well-developed plan in place to develop a sprawling universe and multiple, interconnecting franchises at the same time. What a gilded, nerdy, beautiful age we live in. DC is trying their damndest to keep up, but with Batman vs. Superman getting shoved back to 2016 and the faintest inklings of a Justice League in 2017 finally forming, their three-movie universe (Man of Steel) seems like they’re attempting to play a quick game of catch-up.

With the expanding DC universe, fans will be waiting to see when the one-hero films centered around their favorite characters will start cropping up, like the project supposedly in development around Dwayne Johnson. According to The Wall Street Journal, there still, STILL, isn’t a Wonder Woman movie in the works, but Warner Bros. says they are “warm to the idea” of making that happen. Where do we sign the petition?

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