The future of Zack Snyder should be in the MCU, not the DCEU

The success of Zack Snyder’s Justice League has reawakened talks of the director’s future in the realm of comic book movies.

For a lot of people, Zack Snyder belongs in the DC Extended Universe, or whatever is left of it at this point. He has already staked his claim in that realm, working with some of the biggest heroes DC has to offer and then some.

But when talking about what comes next, it might be time to look somewhere completely different. To be more specific, Snyder might be destined for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and one character in particular might be incredibly interesting for him to work with.

Zack Snyder in the DCEU

For almost ten years, Zack Snyder’s career has been defined by his participation in the DCEU. It all started with Man of Steel in 2013 and then Batman v Superman in 2016.

Snyder’s daughter tragically died during the post-production of Justice League, and he quite understandably had to step down. Fresh off his success in the MCU, Joss Whedon was then brought in to finish post-production on Justice League.

Instead of simply finishing up the work, Whedon proceeded to re-write the vast majority of the script and spend millions of dollars on reshoots. While Zack Snyder retained sole directorial credit, it has been estimated by some that less than 10% of the theatrical edition was his.

The Whedon cut of the film that made it to movie screens was horrifying, and that’s being generous. Fans spent the next few years lobbying for the Snyder cut, which they got in 2021. It’s not the best comic book movie ever made but it’s a vast improvement over Whedon’s cut.

Why Zack Snyder needs to move on from the DCEU

After the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the same parties have started pushing for him to finish his planned DC movies. Warner Bros. has stated that they are not interested in moving forward with those films. But they said that about the Snyder cut, and look what happened.

That being said, they seem pretty serious this time. James Wan’s The Trench and Ava DuVernay’s New Gods were both suddenly cancelled, and a shocking variety of other DCEU projects have been stuck in development for some time with few signs of moving forward.

While there will always be DC films on the big screen, the future of the DCEU as an overriding concept may be in jeopardy, if not unnecessary. As such, coming back to this world of storytelling may not be worth Zack Snyder’s time at this point.

Even if he starts working on a project in the DCEU, there’s no guarantee that it’s going to make to theaters. And there’s also no guarantee that there won’t be issues with Warner Bros. messing with his vision the way they have with other directors. Greener fields may be calling him.

The MCU is ready for Zack Snyder

Much like James Gunn, it could be time for Zack Snyder to take a good look at the competition. Gunn made waves with the MCU Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but was subsequently fired by Disney due to old tweets resurfacing.

He was re-hired later on and has returned to the franchise but not before signing on to work on The Suicide Squad. While the movie has yet to hit theaters, the trailers look great and Gunn most likely has another hit on his hands.

The same thing could be true for Zack Snyder. While critics haven’t always been kind to his movies, they have done relatively well at the box office for the most part. As such, Kevin Feige and the MCU would likely be interested in his services. And there’s one character he needs to work with.

At some point, Wolverine is going to get his own movie in the MCU. It’s all but inevitable. That’s the exact type of Marvel hero that Zack Snyder could make a great movie with. It’s a scenario that may not happen, but it could be fun for him to work in both comic book universes.

Would you like to see Zack Snyder direct a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie? Let us know in the comments below!