When the Justice League of America first graced the pages of DC Comics in 1960, it was a decision that seemed both incredibly ambitious and a bit of a no-brainer. After the majority of DC’s superhero titles had been cancelled and reworked across the 1950s – with audience interest and changes in continuity fluctuating along the way – the publisher reimagined and modernized its idea of a superhero ensemble. It allowed new takes on its best and most beloved heroes to join forces in a single book, and forever impacted the world of mainstream comics in the process. Over six decades later, the spirit of that choice has echoed across Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the extended and fully realized film (which Snyder was unable to initially complete in 2017 due to a family tragedy) that makes its long-awaited debut on HBO Max this weekend. In many ways, the film sets out to make its own reimagined and modernized take on the superhero team – a take that an ever-growing movement of fans have wanted to see, even as audience interest and changes in continuity have also made their way across DC’s modern film universe. For some, it might seem like an impossible task to throw aside the theatrical “Whedon Cut” of the film, and the subsequent years of punchlines and online discourse, but the film creates a cinematic experience that makes it relatively easy to do so. While it isn’t without its flaws, Zack Snyder’s Justice League is complex, bold, and incredibly rewarding, in a way that uniquely captures the joy of the DC universe.
