Did Zack Snyder Just Confirm a Black and White Justice League Cut?

Along with a fresh look at a newly-brutal Steppenwolf, earlier today filmmaker Zack Snyder shared [...]

By Russ Burlingame

       

Along with a fresh look at a newly-brutal Steppenwolf, earlier today filmmaker Zack Snyder shared a clip with his fans that seems to confirm a theory we advanced just last week: the idea that Zack Snyder's Justice League, a massive, four-hour, artistically-uncompromising cut of what began its life as a popcorn action superhero movie, might also end up with a black and white release. In showing off the clip, which is in black and white, Snyder said that he was working on the "Justice Is Gray Edition." Lacking additional context, it seems very plausible that Snyder is developing a black-and-white version of the film, either for HBO Max or perhaps for the seemingly-inevitable Blu-ray box set.

When Snyder departed Justice League during production, and was replaced by Joss Whedon, the "Snyder Cut" of Justice League became a piece of internet lore, debated and teased, demanded and derided. Once HBO Max came along and said they planned to actually release the film, it took on a new life. Speculation about what it would be, teases of what had been changed, and more.

Of course, it even changed shape within that context, at one point being pitched as a four-part event before settling back into a single four-hour film that has the potential for a separate theatrical release. One thing that has remained consistent throughout that roll-out? The movie has been presented largely in black and white for promotional purposes.

For a long time, black and white films were the exclusive domain of pretentious, arthouse directors or broke indie filmmakers who were financing out of pocket. In more recent years, digital filmmaking has made it possible for movies originally shot in color to be viewed in high-contrast, ultra sharp black and white that gives it a decidedly cool affect.

We saw a little bit of that when James Mangold released Logan in black-and-white, of course. That cut of the movie was included on the Blu-ray release of the theatrical cut, but it did get a one-night stand in movie theaters.

With Snyder talking about a theatrical release for his long, intense cut of the movie, and with the movie itself premiering on HBO Max, it's likely that fans (and maybe Snyder himself) will feel like there should be something a little extra on the home video release (assuming there is one, which seems like a safe bet, since comic book fans are collectors and will buy it).

Snyder is, somewhat famously, a guy who keeps tweaking and tweaking his movies. Not quite as dramatically as a George Lucas, but there have been extended director's cuts of his films Dawn of the Dead, Watchmen, Sucker Punch, and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice on home entertainment platforms. He has also, more recently, reworked Batman v Superman again -- this time to make it an IMAX film, with an eye toward a possible, limited theatrical release for that as well. He hasn't even ruled out an IMAX version of Man of Steel -- which up to this point seems to have been a movie he was pretty pleased with.

WIth all of that backstory, the idea of producing a black-and-white version of Justice League for inclusion on a special edition Blu-ray certainly seems like something that's within the realm of reasonable possibility. In fact, you can look to the Criterion Collection box set for Terry Gilliam's Brazil for an example of what it might look like: three discs, packaged separately and placed in a box set for display, representing the three different cuts of the film that got major releases.

Would you like to see a black-and-white regrading of Zack Snyder's Justice League? Sound off in the comments below. The film will be available on HBO Max on March 18.

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