After debuting as a streaming exclusive for HBO Max, Zack Snyder's Justice League is now available on digital, demonstrating a lasting demand for the DCEU's biggest headache. The story of the Snyder Cut goes back to Zack Snyder's first DCEU movie, Man of Steel, and adds important context to many of Warner Bros. decisions regarding almost every DC Film since The Dark Knight Rises, making the Snyder Cut (and the idea of the "Snyderverse") one of the biggest problems for the future of the DCEU.
After directing Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Zack Snyder was already deep into post-production on Justice League and embroiled in behind-the-scenes creative conflicts with a number of former Warner Bros. and DC Films executives when a family tragedy resulted in him leaving the project. While Jim Lee denied that Snyder was fired, the studio's desire to take the movie in a drastically different direction, against Snyder's wishes, certainly taints the nature of his departure. In his absence, the studio hired Joss Whedon to conduct extensive re-writes and reshot a significant portion of the movie, resulting in a critical and commercial bomb, leading to demands for the Release of the "Snyder Cut."
The movie was eventually released on HBO Max and largely praised as a superior version of the movie, exposing a number of confounding changes made to the story and tone of Whedon's version. WB was quick to clarify that after Zack Snyder's Justice League there wouldn't be any more Snyderverse movies, meaning Justice League 2 & 3, marking the end of his planned five-film arc, would not be pursued. Despite no plans to continue the Snyderverse, the recent digital release of Zack Snyder's Justice League demonstrates a maintained financial interest in the property by Warner Bros. Discovery (the newly formed company following AT&T's sale of WarnerMedia to Discovery), cementing the Snyderverse's status as the DCEU's biggest problem.
The question of whether or not the Snyder Cut campaign was authentic was a topic of conversation from the very beginning. In one of the first major articles about the campaign for the film's release, the Wall Street Journal cited an anonymous person close to the film, "Who are these people who won’t stop talking about the magical Snyder cut that doesn’t exist," inferring both that the movie didn't exist (which we now know it did) and that the demand for the Snyder Cut wasn't real or serious. -Collider