The Snyder Cut of 'Justice League' is locked, director promises fans a 'giant amount of movie'

Watch: The new Zack Snyder’s Justice League trailer

Christmas is still over a month away, but Zack Snyder has an early holiday gift for his followers.

The director dropped an updated trailer for the once-mythical Snyder Cut of Justice League, the all-star comic book team-up featuring DC’s biggest heroes that’s debuting HBO Max (and the rest of the world) in 2021.

A previous version of that film — assembled by Joss Whedon, who replaced Snyder during production — debuted to critical pans and audience disappointment on 17 November, 2017. So it’s no accident that Snyder picked the exact same date to premiere his Snyder Cut trailer, a black-and-white version of a two-and-a-half-minute teaser that HBO Max debuted in August. (The trailer was later removed from the internet over music licensing issues.)

During a Vero live stream that accompanied the trailer reveal, the director declined to reveal a premiere date for the Snyder Cut, but he did drop one major piece of news.

Read more: Jason Momoa backs Ray Fisher in Warner Bros row

“The cut is locked, and I’m looking at these shots as they’re coming in,” Snyder said, confirming that additional shoots —including a new scene featuring the return of Jared Leto’s Joker — have wrapped and the film is now in the hands of the VFX artists who will help bring his original vision to the screen.

“I’m excited for you guys to see the giant amount of movie you have coming your way in 2021.” (Watch the trailer below.)

“Don’t also forget that it is probably a solid two-and-a-half hours of unseen footage in this movie, I would imagine. Something like that!” Snyder revealed. “It’s going to be fun for everyone to experience for the first time.”

Snyder called out some of the new material in his live stream, including a bigger backstory for Ray Fisher’s Cyborg — who the actor has alleged was one of the victim’s of Whedon’s “abusive” on-set behaviour — and his father, played by Joe Morton; a scene that hints at a possible friendship between the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel after they went head-to-head in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice; and a new look for Justice League’s central bad guy, Steppenwolf.

According to Snyder, the studio was initially concerned that his version of the villain was “too scary and intense” for audiences, resulting in the makeover he received in Whedon’s cut.

Twitter seems evenly spilt about whether the Snyder Cut’s version of Steppenwolf represents an upgrade or a downgrade.

Steppenwolf isn’t the only villain getting a makeover. In a separate YouTube interview with Beyond the Trailer, Snyder teased that Leto’s Joker won’t be the same Clown Prince of Crime we saw in 2016’s Suicide Squad, directed by David Ayer.

“He’s a road-weary Joker,” the director teased. “I wanted to honour what had been created with him because I thought it was really cool, but there is some water that has gone under the proverbial bridge between when last we saw Joker and this appearance.”

Snyder also hinted that the new vignette will feature a reckoning for Batman’s nemesis. “The scene is a thing I felt needed to be added to this movie, and it’s really the only thing that I’ve added outside of the original photography. [Jared] was really gracious with entertaining my idea.”

Justice League: The Snyder Cut will premiere in 2021