Summary
- Zack Snyder and Gal Gadot's recent involvement in DC movie news shows the lasting impact of the SnyderVerse on DC's past and future.
- Despite not being creatively involved, Zack Snyder's tweet about Blue Beetle generated significant buzz, highlighting his influence and connection to DC.
- Gal Gadot's development of Wonder Woman 3 further cements the SnyderVerse's influence and ties to DC Studios, keeping it a prominent topic in the industry.
Zack Snyder and Gal Gadot are both at the center of recent DC movie news, highlighting how inseparable the SnyderVerse is from DC's past and future on film legacy. Zack Snyder's tenure as a director of DC Comics-based movies began with 2009's Watchmen, and later would go further with his 2013 Superman film Man of Steel, which would launch the DCEU. Gal Gadot would also become a core cast member of Snyder's DCEU franchise with her portrayal of Wonder Woman, beginning in 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and continuing in both solo and ensemble films.
After the formation of DC Studios, a new DC cinematic universe, dubbed the DCU, is set to commence, beginning with James Gunn's Superman: Legacy. Following the tumultuous behind-the-scenes history of Snyder's DC stewardship with WB's former leadership, his intended five-part story remains unfinished, though ongoing calls of #RestoreTheSnyderVerse continue. However, despite the apparent end of DC's SnyderVerse, recent surprising events involving both Snyder himself and Gal Gadot have shown the close association both maintain with DC, and illustrate that Snyder's DCEU is all but impossible for DC to truly move on from.
Snyder's Blue Beetle Tweet Gave The Movie Major Buzz
Though Zack Snyder is not presently involved with DC on film in a creative capacity, he nonetheless would provide one of the biggest marketing jolts for the upcoming Blue Beetle by tweeting that he is "Looking forward to taking my kids to see Blue Beetle", along with #RepresentationMatters. At writing, Snyder's Blue Beetle tweet has been retweeted over 15,000 times, with over 105,000 likes and 16 million views. While Snyder's ability to drum up excitement through social media posts is well known, the reaction to Snyder's Blue Beetle tweet is all the more remarkable due to Snyder himself having no involvement in the making of the film.
Despite Blue Beetle being rather nebulously classified by James Gunn as the DCU's "first character" (with Superman: Legacy being its first movie), Snyder's tweet would not only give Blue Beetle a significant injection of online buzz, but also one of the most talked-about elements of Blue Beetle's marketing campaign. The ultimate effect of that has been that, however much their present relationship might only be in the marketing sense, Zack Snyder and DC on film are, once more, part of the same conversation again, with the same arguably being true of Suicide Squad director David Ayer, who quote-tweeted Snyder's Blue Beetle tweet.
Gal Gadot's Prospective Wonder Woman 3 Is Another SnyderVerse Anchor
In another curveball of DC's cinematic future under DC Studios, news has also broken that Gal Gadot is developing a Wonder Woman 3 with DC Studios. An obviously surprisingly turn of events given Gunn's announced DCU slate, exactly what Gadot's continued attachment to Wonder Woman will end up looking like is unclear, whether it will be a continuation of Gadot's iteration of the character under DC Studios's designated Eleworlds label or something else. By the same token, Gadot's apparently ongoing portrayal of Wonder Woman will also inevitably tether DC Studios's plans to the SnyderVerse.
Gadot's portrayal of Diana has long been extremely popular, with Gadot's Wonder Woman also being one of the founding heroes of Zack Snyder's Justice League. Gadot's continued association with Wonder Woman also, by extension, continues to associate DC's future cinematic plans with those established by Snyder. One way or another, Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman continuing has the same effect of Snyder's supportive tweet of Blue Beetle, keeping both very much a part of the talk of all current DC cinematic news and developments.
Snyder's DC Movies Are Divisive, But Undeniably Impactful
Zack Snyder is a famously polarizing filmmaker, and few areas of his filmography are greater testimony to this than his DCEU films Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and Zack Snyder's Justice League. The divisive response to Batman v Superman especially highlights that, with Warner Bros. infamously retooling Justice League after Snyder's departure due to a family tragedy, reshooting much of the film under Joss Whedon's direction, with Justice League drastically changing over this time. The subsequent release of the Snyder Cut of Justice League is a divisive matter all on its own, but what cannot be denied is the kind of impact all three movies have had.
Indeed, Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and Zack Snyder's Justice League have all maintained a foothold in the cultural zeitgeist, with the three continuing to be dissected, discussed, and debated long after being released. The Snyder Cut itself would also lead to noticeable reappraisals by many detractors of its two predecessors and a re-energized interest in the unmade Justice League movies of Snyder's planned story and related spin-offs like Ben Affleck's solo Batman movie, even drawing 1.5 million #RestoreTheSnyderVerse tweets in a day after the Snyder Cut's debut.
The Larger Implications Of Snyder & Gadot's Recent DC Activity
Snyder and Gadot's recent DC-related stories are prime examples of just how hard it has been for WB and DC to leave the SnyderVerse in their rearview. Moreover, Snyder and Gadot's most recent DC stories could very well lead to #RestoreTheSnyderVerse calls intensifying. Snyder himself is seemingly not writing the idea off, either. Responding to a question about Robin's death at the hands of the Joker asked at Snyder's 2023 Full Circle event, Snyder stopped short of giving overt details, stating it would be "a spoiler for maybe a thing that will never need to be spoiled, but we should wait to see, don't you think, a little bit?"
Of course, Snyder also presently has his hands full with his Rebel Moon franchise at Netflix, and with his Justice League cast partaking in their own projects and Gunn's DCU plans getting underway, a full-blown restoration of the SnyderVerse seems unlikely in the immediate future. Nonetheless, what Snyder and Gadot's most recent DC-related activities do ensure is that on top of the Snyder Cut itself remaining inescapable for WB, the roadmap of Snyder's unfinished Justice League story is continuing to be fresh in the cultural zeitgeist and very much at the center of everything related to DC cinematically.
Virtually everything about the story behind Zack Snyder's DCEU franchise is unique, from the release of the Snyder Cut to the longevity of Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and Zack Snyder's Justice League despite the troubles each would have to overcome. As questions continue to swirl around Gunn's DCU slate, Gadot's continued portrayal of Wonder Woman, and whether Snyder will eventually be able to complete his five movie Justice League story, Snyder and Gadot's attachment to present tense DC movie news is evidence of a larger point - one way or another, the SnyderVerse continues to be a central pillar of DC on film.
