The ever-present, inescapable, unkillable Snyderverse continues to loom over all things DC like a ghost of what might have been – and depending on how you interpret Zack Snyder’s recent social media activity, what might still be if enough ducks are put in a row. Snyder recently joined the social media platform Instagram, with much of his activity being a near-daily update of the production of his upcoming passion production The Last Photograph, with Snyder providing a multitude of behind-the-scenes images of the upcoming war movie/murder mystery hybrid. On the flip side, conventional wisdom would indicate that Snyder’s days with superhero movies are over, with the DCEU left abandoned and unfinished with the formation of DC Studios in late 2022, and the new DCU underway under the stewardship of James Gunn with the animated series Creature Commandoes, 2025’s big-screen adventure Superman, and Peacemaker season two getting the DCU underway.
Then Snyder started posting images on Instagram of his Justice League cast, and the internet reacted exactly the way you’d expect.
From that point forward, the conversation has completely flipped from “The Snyderverse is dead” to “Could the Snyderverse return?” in just a matter of a few short weeks. At this point, it’s abundantly clear that the Snyderverse – as constituted by Snyder’s DCEU trifecta of Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Zack Snyder’s Justice League, along with spin-off movies like Wonder Woman and Aquaman – while not technically active, is anything but dead, as the ceaseless chatter over it among Snyder’s fans, detractors, and everyone in between, and especially Snyder’s social posts relating to it offer irrefutable testimony to. However, Snyder’s recent social media posts pertaining to his unfinished Justice League saga has inevitably raised the question of whether Snyder is simply reminiscing about his time making DC movies, whether he’s teasing that calls of #RestoreTheSnyderverse may finally be on the verge of achieving their goal, if he’s throwing gasoline on that fire in a bid to get those calls across the finish line, or something else altogether. The truth is a bit more complex than all of that, but within that, there is also one iron clad fact that bolsters the hope of Snyder’s fans that there may be a shot at seeing Snyder’s intended five movie arc with the Justice League franchise through.
Snyder’s Instagram Posts Are Re-Igniting #RestoreTheSnyderverse Hype
Following Snyder setting up an Instagram account, he chose to celebrate three weeks on the social media platform with a black and white photo of Henry Cavill’s Man of Steel from Batman v Superman, with the caption “Henry Cavill is Superman”. Naturally this one post easily dominated all DC social media discourse for days thereafter, and Snyder was just getting started. Snyder subsequently followed up with a post of Joe Manganiello’s Deathstroke from the Knightmare epilogue of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, captioned with Snyder describing Manganiello as a “perfect Deathstroke”. Snyder then followed up with three images of Ben Affleck’s Batman, the third captioned similarly as the first Cavill pic with Snyder stating “No question – this man is Batman“. This was followed by Snyder’s posting a film reel with an image of Cavill’s Superman, captioned with “Henry in his natural setting“, which was then followed by Snyder’s most recent (at writing) DC related post, a black-and-white image of Jared Leto’s Joker from the Knightmare timeline.
Additionally, in that timeframe, at least one of Snyder’s Justice League cast has also made some social media posts overtly supporting the completion of Snyder’s Justice League story. Specifically, Joe Manganiello made multiple (albeit since removed) Twitter reposts and one Instagram post (via Twitter/X) of fan videos with his Deathstroke bearing the #SellSnyderverseToNetflix hashtag. (Gal Gadot also made what could arguably be interpreted as a teasing post of her own on Instagram on Halloween, showing her in various roles she’s portrayed, including two images as Wonder Woman.) While there remains plenty of debate about the sudden emergence of Snyder’s DCEU related social media, there is at least one aspect of them where there is no room for interpretation.
Let’s Call A Spade A Spade – Zack Snyder Knows The Response That His Posts Will Inspire
Over the course of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut fan campaign, Zack Snyder proved himself the undisputed king of teasing the internet with his frequent Vero posts showing snippets and storyboards of his cut of Justice League, all the way up to its eventually greenlighting and release. That’s important context to keep in mind when breaking down Snyder’s new posts on Instagram, because let’s be clear – the notion that Snyder is not fully and completely aware that his posts will spark an immediate #RestoreTheSnyderverse wave is as flimsy an argument as Bart Simpson pleading ignorance to the damage of throwing a cherry bomb down a toilet in Springfield Elementary. The fact that Snyder has also included captions commending Cavill, Affleck, and Manganiello as the perfect casting choices for their respective roles amid undying calls by fans for their return only adds further indication of that.
James Gunn even got in on the game himself in his social media picture with Snyder earlier this year, Gunn later making clear that he and Snyder were well aware of the response that would arise from it. To be sure, DCEU pictures are hardly the only posts Snyder has made since joining Instagram, with Snyder liberally including the aforementioned behind-the-scenes photos of The Last Photograph, and images from other films in his filmography like 300, Watchmen, and Sucker Punch. Nevertheless, the specific circumstances and legacy of Snyder’s DCEU work make his posts relating to it a very different animal. While it can certainly be debated whether Snyder has any particular endgame with these posts, there’s no question that the reaction to them is something he’s most assuredly seen coming 100 miles away.
The Timing Of Snyder’s Apparent Teases Is Interesting
While Snyder’s ongoing DCEU posts on Instagram would surely cause a stir in a vacuum, the timing right as Warner Bros. is headed right into its third merger of the last decade is inspiring no shortage of conspiracy theories. Paramount has already made three bids to buy Warner Bros., while Netflix is also reportedly throwing its hat into the ring. With rumors of numerous other studios and streamers preparing bids of their own, the writing is clearly on the wall that Warner Bros. Discovery is headed for new ownership in the near future, and per other rumors, potentially as soon as the end of this calendar year. Add in the fact that Snyder’s recent DCEU related posts are dropping with November 17th is right around the corner – a red letter date in the Snyderverse fandom, as both the date of Justice League’s theatrical release in 2017 and the date of the massive #ReleaseTheSnyderCut social media push in 2019 that led to the movie’s greenlighting – and you can’t exact fault people for at least entertaining the notion that the wind might be blowing a certain direction.
A forthcoming corporate merger raises many questions about the direction of Warner Bros. subsequent film and TV slate, with all eyes inevitably turning to what that means for DC Studios above all else under the WB umbrella. With conflicting rumors about Gunn and DC Studios own post-merger future, the rumor mill has wasted no time in diving on Snyder’s DCEU-derived social media posts to conclude that he’s either teasing a Snyderverse return or drumming up support for one following WB’s upcoming merger. That leaves us with the question of whether or not that’s actually what Snyder is doing with his recent social media activity, or whether Snyder’s fans and detractors alike are just getting ahead of themselves.
Is Zack Snyder Teasing The Snyderverse’s Return?
With Snyder’s history as a master of social media teasing and the response among both fans and the media to his recent DC-related Instagram posts, it would certainly be naive, if not truly ignorant, to suggest that Snyder is just shrugging in total surprise to said response. With that said, the question of whether Snyder is hoping to flex his teasing talents to fulfill the calls of his fans for the Snyderverse’s return is a bit more complicated. Sure, Snyder has stated on multiple occasions that he’d love the opportunity to complete his intended five-movie Justice League story (effectively stuck at part three right now after the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League), but there’s also nothing to suggest that Snyder would want to step on Gunn or DC Studios’ toes to accomplish that goal (fortunately, with the doorways provided by DC having an Elseworlds and multiverse wing, it wouldn’t have to, but that’s a topic for another article.) Gunn has spoken of Snyder being quite supportive of what he’s developing with DC Studios, and the two filmmakers are clearly on good terms, as evidenced by their aforementioned social media image together and mutually complimentary statements on one another’s work.
By the same token, Snyder’s posts (and that pic with Gunn) also inevitably lead us back to the fact that he surely knows that the Snyderverse’s shadow will only grow larger over DC and make the calls for the Snyderverse’s resurrection to grow louder. The fact that Snyder even included such definitive captions of support as “Henry Cavill is Superman” and “No question – this man is Batman” makes that all the more undeniable.
In all, no one can say definitively whether Snyder is teasing that a return of his Justice League saga is secretly in the works, whether he’s stirring pot for that to happen, or anything in between. What can, however, be stated with a large degree of confidence is that Snyder still has a clear attachment and affinity for his Justice League cast and the story he was telling with them. Moreover, even with multiple projects like The Last Photograph, Brawler, and others in the works, it seems highly likely that Snyder has not, in an absolute sense, moved on from his DCEU saga, or from the desire of his fans to see its conclusion. It’s certainly worth asking that if Snyder, his detractors, and the media have not, or will not, “move on” from the Snyderverse, why, pray tell, should his fans be expected to?
In the end, no one truly knows what Snyder’s aim is with his renewed wave of DCEU Instagram posts, if he even has one at all, or where they’ll ultimately lead. However, what we do know is that no one can tease the internet or social media better than Zack Snyder can. With DC trying and continuing to fail to leave the Snyderverse in its rear view and an impending Warner Bros. merger throwing all expectations into upheaval, Zack Snyder’s Instagram could very well soon become the biggest source of hype and excitement DC has as he posts more glimpses at his Justice League cast – and that alone says everything about the Snyderverse’s virtually immortal legacy as fans yearn to one day see its completion.
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