Director Zack Snyder isn't mincing words when it comes to defending the #ReleasetheSnyderCut fan movement. In a recent interview on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast (via Dexerto), Snyder told critics of the movement to "go f*** yourself."
Snyder's comment comes at the tail-end of a 10-year retrospective about 2016's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and the wider DCEU shared universe. Snyder reflects on the unlikely victory that was Warner Bros. releasing his original director's cut of Justice League in 2021, noting that the Snyderverse fandom was instrumental in making that happen.
"I think the fans should never forget that they did that," Snyder told Horowitz. "We raised a lot of money for suicide prevention and they really did a lot of good. They catch a lot of flak for being toxic or whatever, but they literally saved human lives, so you can go f*** yourself if that's what you think."
Snyder is referring to the fact that members of the Snyderverse fandom raised roughly $500,000 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, in honor of Snyder's daughter, Autumn, who died in 2017. Snyder departed Justice League that year in the wake of his daughter's death, leading WB to bring in Joss Whedon to reshoot and recut the film.
As Snyder alludes, the Snyderverse fandom has been the subject of criticism over the years, with some pointing to a pattern of online bullying and harassment. That harassment has seemingly intensified with the pivot from the DCEU to James Gunn's DCU. Mods on r/SnyderCut were forced to delete a post calling for a campaign of review-bombing and spoilers after Gunn glibly replied, "Lol I think we'll survive. I'm not sure the eight people that listen to that guy (I'm going to go out on a limb and guess it's a guy) are going to impact the course of events.”
Even Snyder's colleague, Suicide Squad director David Ayer, hasn't been immune from online harassment. Ayer famously backed away from social media in late 2024 after voicing support for Gunn's Superman movie and receiving death threats in response.
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Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.
