I’m skeptical about the release of the Justice League “Snyder cut”—skeptical at best, actually. I have never felt so upset and attacked after a movie in the way I did after watching the cobbled-together mess that was the theatrical, Zack Snyder/Joss Whedon-directed version of Justice League, and the idea of revisiting that with an alternate version doesn’t excite me.
What I will say, though, is that Zack Snyder released a look at new footage from his cut, with Wonder Woman learning of something to do with the Amazons (the symbols she sees in the new clip are Amazonian, according to Cheatsheet) and then cutting to Darkseid, and I am intrigued.
Already, it’s promising because Diana Prince is standing with a torch, and the shot isn’t instantly from her ass up, like most of the shots in the Whedon version of Justice League. Starting with a voiceover that says, “The bell’s already been rung. And they’ve heard it. But in the dark, among the stars, ding dong, the god is dead,” the clip is short and to the point, but I just feel a little bit more at ease about what this Snyder cut holds for Diana.
I feel like I should explain my worry. This scene, while not giving us much, does show (at least to me) a bigger understanding of Diana Prince—which isn’t surprising, since Snyder’s Batman v Superman didn’t do her dirty in the way the Whedon cut of Justice League did. Granted, I don’t know how much of that came from Whedon, or if any of the parts I hated most about her portrayal the film traced back to Snyder anyway, but I will say that Whedon has a track record of woefully misunderstanding Diana Prince as a character, so I kind of just instinctually blame him.
Diana Prince isn’t just a “female hero” to me. She’s one of the strongest out there, and she can, in a lot of instances, take down Superman—not in Whedon’s world, but in comics and other properties, yes, she can. And I just felt like the original version of the film didn’t do her justice.
So, my hope is that Snyder does her right. I wish I could film myself writing this, because I’m getting teary-eyed thinking about Diana actually being the goddess I know her to be in a Justice League film, instead of whatever happened to her in the theatrical version, with her forced her into being just a pawn and a love interest. Yes, Wonder Woman does stand for love and truth, but that doesn’t mean you have to ship her with Batman and make her whole storyline about how she’s sad that Steve Trevor died. (Trust me, I get it. I’m also sad Steve Trevor died, but come on.)
So, to Zack Snyder, you have my attention. Please do not hurt my baby girl again. I love Diana Prince more than you know, and she deserves better than what she got in the theatrical cut of Justice League.
(image: Warner Bros.)
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