Warner Bros.’ haphazard handling of the DCEU can be summed up rather neatly by the fact the theatrical edition of Justice League didn’t turn a single penny of profit for the studio and remains one of the franchise’s least popular installments, despite gathering its heaviest hitters for an all-star epic.
Zack Snyder’s HBO Max exclusive went a long way to righting those wrongs, but we’re closing in on five years since Joss Whedon’s dismal misfire first hit the big screen, and it’s still grabbing headlines for all the wrong reasons. In fact, we’ve now reached a stage where even distinguished English gentleman Jeremy Irons is weighing in with his own two cents’ worth of negativity.
In an interview with Variety, the Academy Award winner admitted that while he has a copy of the Snyder Cut stashed away somewhere, he hasn’t gotten around to actually watching it yet.
“Strangely, I think I have it and I haven’t seen it. I shall have to hunt it out and see if I have it somewhere online or on a DVD. I remember talking to Zack before he did it and being very interested to see what he came up with. It couldn’t have been worse. I don’t think it could have been, could it?”
If that wasn’t enough, when the interviewer offered their opinion that the initial edit was dreadful, Irons responded with a succinct “well, so did I”. The veteran star was a solid counterpoint to Ben Affleck’s grizzled Batman, not that he was given a great deal to do in either version of Justice League other than spout sage words of wisdom, but he’s nonetheless become the latest in a long line of alumni to decry the initial cut of the superhero blockbuster.
