DCEU: All 16 DC Extended Universe films ranked from worst to best (including Aquaman 2)

6. Zack Snyder’s Justice League

There had been so much dialogue about Zack Snyder’s Justice League since the 2017 theatrical disappointment that the “Snyder Cut” itself was almost doomed to fail. With Snyder fans expecting it to be the best thing ever and Snyder critics prepared to hate it, there was little room for the HBO Max movie to breathe. But breathe it did, producing a loud, epic Justice League spectacle the likes of which Snyder longed to make.

It’s well-established that the 2021 director’s cut isn’t a perfect movie. For starters, it’s too darn long, with its four-hour runtime making it seem hard to get through at times. But that wasn’t enough to prevent the once-lost-to-history film from proving its worth as the superior Justice League film… and then some.

What we got wasn’t just a superior rendition of the story. Yes, it blew Joss Whedon’s campy, poorly-edited and hard to watch failure out of the water. But Zack Snyder’s Justice League also followed through on in its promise of delivering a must-see larger-than-life showcase worthy of its titular heroes.

With some stunning visuals, engaging and moving character journeys and a far greater emotional hook, it exceeded fans’ expectations and proved that they were right to campaign for its release. This is the Justice League we should have gotten in theaters in 2017.