Justice League: Zack Snyder Confirms Snyder Cut Spinoff Plans for Ryan Choi’s Atom

Justice League director Zack Snyder had big plans for Ryan Choi, who would have become the shrinking superhero known as the Atom. In the Snyder Cut of Justice League now streaming on HBO Max, Snyder restores scenes cut from the theatrical version depicting Dr. Choi (Zheng Kai) as a S.T.A.R. Labs scientist and co-worker of Silas Stone (Joe Morton) — the father of the part man, part machine Justice League member Cyborg (Ray Fisher). When Choi references his expertise in nanotechnology, Snyder was setting up a “Chinese-cast” spin-off where Kai’s size-altering scientist becomes the next superhero in the SnyderVerse corner of the DC Extended Universe.

“I had been pitching Warners to do an Atom movie with him in China, like a Chinese-cast superhero movie,” Snyder told Entertainment Weekly. “That was my goal.”

Kai’s Ryan Choi is one of several characters to appear in Snyder’s director’s cut after being removed from the theatrical version released in 2017: Iris West (Kiersey Clemons), Elinor Stone (Karen Bryson), DeSaad (Peter Guinness), and Darkseid (Ray Porter) all have their scenes restored in Zack Snyder’s Justice League.

The Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice filmmaker expects Warner Bros. to move on from the so-called SnyderVerse, including the last two installments of Snyder’s famed five-movie plan: Justice League Part 2 and Justice League Part 3.

“Listen, as far as I know, this is all you’re gonna get from Zack Snyder’s DCEU,” Snyder told Jake’s Takes about the Snyder Cut and its teases for sequels and spin-offs. “The reality is I didn’t think we’d do this [the Snyder Cut release], but stranger things have happened. Let’s put it that way.”

The studio has “no interest and/or appetite to do more of these movies” from Snyder, according to the director, whose versions of Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) and Aquaman (Jason Momoa) were spun off into their own blockbuster franchises. Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) will reunite with Batman (Ben Affleck) in The Flash film set for release in 2022.

“I did do my best to — as far as the creation of the Justice League, those different personalities being brought together — that idea, that’s what this movie is about,” Snyder previously told I Minutemen. “There is a suggestion of course in the film, as there would be within any of these movies, of a larger universe that’s still out there.”

Starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Ciarán Hinds, Ray Porter, Joe Manganiello, and Jared Leto, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is now streaming on HBO Max.