From the 2017 petition to the four-hour film on HBO Max, and everything that came after. The history of the movement in milestones, each with a date, source and, when available, the image of that day.
#ReleaseTheSnyderCut was born small and stubborn. Six days before Justice League hit theaters, Puerto Rican Roberto Mata opened a petition on Change.org for the director's cut and Junkie XL's soundtrack. At its debut, the hashtag appeared almost immediately, and never went offline.
Over the next two and a half years, thousands of people turned stubbornness into a method: appointment tweets, letters, a plane over Comic-Con, a big screen in Times Square and more than half a million dollars for suicide prevention. On May 20, 2020 the announcement came, and on March 18, 2021 the film premiered. Then the campaign became #RestoreTheSnyderVerse, and continues to this day.
The line below is divided into five phases. A photo of a fan or journalist appears in the original X post, which only loads when you ask: the photo is of the person who was there.
78 milestones from 2016 to 2026, each one with a date and a source.
2016 to 2017
Before there were hashtags, there were trailers. And they showed a film that didn't hit theaters in 2017.
Film
At San Diego Comic-Con, Warner shows the first Justice League video and releases it on the internet on the same day. There's Bruce chasing Aquaman in an Icelandic village, Barry stunned in the Batcave and Victor Stone before becoming Cyborg. It was Snyder's film, with Snyder's look.
Source: Warner Bros. no YouTube / Justice League no X
Film
After five teasers, one per hero, the complete trailer comes out, with Come Together in the Junkie XL version. It's the trailer with the most Snyder material that later disappeared from the film. The shot of Aquaman standing on the hull of the overturned boat, in the middle of the storm, is from here.
Source: Warner Bros. no YouTube / Justice League no X
Zack Snyder
After the death of his daughter Autumn in March, Snyder told The Hollywood Reporter that he will step away from the film to be with his family. Deborah Snyder, producer, leaves together. Warner keeps the premiere on November 17th and hands the finalization to Joss Whedon.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter / Time
Warner
Not even a month later, the press recorded new filming on the outskirts of London, expected to continue through June and July. There is no official start date: what we can say is that at the beginning of June they were already happening.
Source: CBR / Bleeding Cool
Cast and crew
Warner takes the League back to Hall H with a four-minute trailer. On stage, Ray Fisher rips off his t-shirt and shows another underneath, written I ♥ ZS. Snyder wasn't there, and yet it was his name that appeared on the panel.
Source: Warner Bros. no YouTube / Why So Blu
RUMOR
In the Comic-Con trailer, Steppenwolf says that the Earth has no Lanterns to protect it. Okay: the internet spent months betting on a Green Lantern hidden in the film. In the same week, the prevailing opinion was that Steppenwolf only opened the door for Darkseid. It was a theory, and both remained unanswered in 2017.
Source: Screen Rant / Inverse
Warner
Variety reveals that reshoots had already lasted around two months, between London and Los Angeles, at a cost of close to US$25 million, well above normal. Cavill was filming Mission: Impossible at the same time, Paramount wouldn't let him shave his mustache, and it would have to be erased on the computer.
Warner
The credits look like this: story by Chris Terrio and Zack Snyder, script by Chris Terrio and Joss Whedon. According to the rules of the screenwriters' union, credit like this does not come from retouching: it requires a large portion of the final text.
Source: Collider / Wikipédia (EN)
Film
The last big trailer opens with Clark and Lois on the farm, set up with a dreamlike look. Until then, Superman had been left out of all marketing. In the film it wasn't a dream, and in the Snyder cut the scene came back in one piece, with the ring.
Source: Warner Bros. no YouTube / CinemaBlend
RUMOR
The end of the Comic-Con trailer turns into a mystery: Alfred tells someone outside the frame that he was expected. The bets ranged from Superman to a Lantern. Fans also expected the black-suited Superman from the comics. None of this made it into the 2017 film, and it would all appear in the Snyder Cut.
Source: ComicBook.com / Inverse
Before the premiere, Warner released videos and trailers with scenes that did not reach theaters in 2017. Some of them returned in the Snyder cut. Each scene has the official trailer and the exact minute, for you to check out.
The trailer shows Bruce crossing glaciers on horseback behind Aquaman. In the 2017 film, all that was left was his arrival in the village.
Not in the 2017 film
Victor before the accident, walking around campus in his team jacket. The scene disappears from the 2017 film, and in the Snyder cut his past takes on another dimension.
Not in the 2017 film
Cyborg says he didn't think Batman was real, and he responds that he's real when he's useful. The exchange is not in the 2017 film.
Not in the 2017 film
The face closes into the armor as he flies. It disappeared in 2017 and returned in the Snyder Cut.
Not in the 2017 film Back in the Snyder Cut
A quick cut of Victor on the field, before the accident. It doesn't appear in 2017, and is in the Snyder Cut.
Not in the 2017 film Back in the Snyder Cut
Wonder Woman lands in the middle of the battle with the two behind. The shot was cut in 2017 and restored in the Snyder Cut.
Not in the 2017 film Back in the Snyder Cut
The Commissioner teases Batman about finally working as a team. The speech is not in either version.
Not in the 2017 film Not in the Snyder Cut either
Aquaman traverses the underwater ruins of Atlantis. The plan did not enter into 2017.
Not in the 2017 film
Bruce with his arms crossed in front of the image of Superman. It's not in the 2017 film.
Not in the 2017 film
In slow motion, Barry shatters the window with his fingertip. The plan is not in the 2017 film.
Not in the 2017 film
Alfred tells someone outside the frame that he was expected. It didn't make it into 2017. In the Snyder cut, the line is for Superman.
Not in the 2017 film Back in the Snyder Cut
Clark walking in the cornfield at sunset, in the scene with Lois that the trailer sold like a dream. It's not in the 2017 film. In the Snyder cut, it is.
Not in the 2017 film Back in the Snyder Cut
Lois with the engagement ring in her hand. It's part of the farm scene, which was left out of 2017 and returned in the Snyder Cut.
Not in the 2017 film Back in the Snyder Cut
The newspaper Planeta Diário on the floor with the headline World Without Hope. The plan is not in the 2017 film.
Not in the 2017 film
2017 to 2018
Six days before the premiere, a petition. After the premiere, a hashtag. And an entire first year of people insisting that there was another film.
Movement
Six days before the premiere, Puerto Rican Roberto Mata opens the request for the director's cut and the Junkie XL track on Change.org. On the day of its debut it had just over a thousand signatures. A week later, it surpassed 100 thousand. It closed with almost 179 thousand.
Source: Change.org / TheWrap
Film
Justice League arrives in US cinemas with two hours, another score and another tone. Those who followed the production immediately recognized that this was not the film that was being made. According to those who were there, #ReleaseTheSnyderCut appears almost immediately.
Source: The Ringer / ComicBook.com
Cast and crew
Fabian Wagner, who photographed the film, tells The Hollywood Reporter that he's rooting for a director's cut. He is the first voice from the team to speak about this in public. Two years later he would return to the subject on Instagram, thanking them for their support of the film they made.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter / CBR
Movement
No one was able to prove who wrote the hashtag first: the posts from the end of November cited by the press were deleted. The oldest one we were able to check on the air is this one, from December 8, 2017, already having the petition signed.
Source: BuzzFeed News / Post original no X
IrinaS @Vampirina17
SAY NO stupid jokes from @wbpictures, #ReleaseTheSnyderCut sign the petition
Movement
Thirteen fans, many in costume, organized by Itzmoe, from Los Angeles, pose with the hashtag banner at Warner Gate 2, in Burbank. On the same day, the Film Junkee channel uploaded the video of the protest: the partnership between the movement and YouTube creators began.
Source: Screen Rant / BuzzFeed News
Batman-News.com @BatmanNewsCom
Fans gathered in front of Warner Bros. HQ today to take a photo and ask them to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut
Movement
ForSnyderCut.com was born, with a timeline, the petition and an archive of everything that came out about the cut. Behind him, Fiona Zheng, a fan who lived in China and became one of the most active organizers of the campaign.
Source: ComicBook.com / The Ringer
Zack Snyder
In the comments on Vero, the social network that Snyder adopted, he confirms what fans read about a cut scene: Superman back choosing between the blue and black suit. It is the first time that the director has shared the theory in public, and the prints went around the world.
Source: ComicBook.com / Prints no X
smalls @nickalbright
Taking a little hiatus from my Twitter break to freak out a little
Movement
Six months after the debut, fans agreed to upload the tag at the same minute. According to ForSnyderCut himself, she entered the world's affairs with more than 11 thousand posts. No large vehicle covered it: it was the movement learning to organize itself.
Source: ForSnyderCut (Internet Archive)
Movement
The ForSnyderCut community asks for five dollars from each fan to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the AFSP. This is where the movement ties the campaign to Autumn's memory, and that bond will never break.
Source: ComicBook.com / CBR
RUMOR
Since June, there was an idea that the cut would be announced at San Diego Comic-Con. In July, Snyder posted that he was in a hotel near the convention center, and expectations went through the roof. His representatives announced that he would not be attending the event, and nothing was announced.
Source: ComicBook.com / CBR
Zack Snyder
Snyder shows on Vero conceptual art that never became a scene: Batman in a room full of cocooned bodies, people turning into parademons. According to Screen Rant, Warner found it too scary. That's where the memory of Batman investigating parademons comes from, which many people swear they saw in a trailer.
Source: Screen Rant / Heroic Hollywood
Movement
On the one-year anniversary, a banner with the hashtag crosses the sky above Warner's offices in Burbank. Fans raised almost US$900 and donated the same amount to AFSP. Snyder filmed the office plane he still had in the studio and thanked him on Vero.
Source: ComicBook.com / CinemaBlend
2019 to 2020
In 2019, the movement became a machine: tweeting by appointment, plane, billboard, Times Square and real money to prevent suicide. Until the cast itself enters the conversation.
Zack Snyder
Snyder himself launches the All the Gods t-shirt with proceeds going to suicide prevention, and thanks the fans who bought it. Director and movement begin to row in the same direction, in public.
Source: CBR / Batman-News
Movement
With two weeks in advance and a time guide by zone, fans schedule a tweet for the director's birthday. Even a Brazilian account started the countdown.
Source: ComicBook.com / Post original no X
Snyderização @snyderizacao
10 days... We need your help! RT RT RT
#ReleaseTheSnyderCut
Zack Snyder
Over three nights at ArtCenter in Pasadena, Snyder screens the director's cuts of Dawn of the Dead, Watchmen and BvS, with proceeds to renovate the school auditorium. In the middle of the questions, a fan shouts asking for the cut. Whoever spoke to him came away with the answer: the film is ready, it exists.
Source: ComicBook.com / ArtCenter
Devin @Devin_AF
@ZackSnyder confirms that the Snyder Cut is DONE! It was an honor to meet him 🐐 SPREAD THE WORD! #Releasethesnydercut
Movement
Film Junkee, one of the channels that most uploaded the movement on YouTube, noticed a detail on the event's poster: the number 214. In December, Snyder himself would show the cans of the film with 214 minutes noted.
Source: Film Junkee no X / Film Junkee no YouTube
Film Junkee @TheFilmJunkee
The magic number that appears on the Snyder Event poster...is 214
Movement
Hundreds of fans record videos asking for the cut and tagging Warner. Film Junkee comes in with an undercover Batman, Casual Batman.
Source: ComicBook.com / Screen Rant
Film Junkee @TheFilmJunkee
Hey @wbpictures...this guy insisted on giving you message about that certain cut of the #JusticeLeague
#ReleaseTheSnyderCut #CasualBatman
Movement
The Ringer publishes the first long profile of those behind the hashtag. Among them, Chris Wong-Swenson, from Hawaii, owner of the Ping Pong Flix channel, who talked about the campaign almost every day on YouTube, Fiona Zheng, from ForSnyderCut, Will Rowlands, an actor from London who organized the fundraisers, Sheraz Farooqi, from ComicBook Debate, Joseph Todd, ZodWriter, and Jason Maher, who moved the tag on Instagram from Australia.
Source: The Ringer
Movement
The account that coordinated the movement launched a letter campaign for Ann Sarnoff, who would take over at Warner in August. In September there were still people posting the envelope on their way to Burbank.
Source: ComicBook.com / CinemaBlend
Insert Cool Name Here @Ubermensch1938
Off you go!!! @warnerbros #annsarnoff #ReleaseTheSnyderCut
Movement
With a fundraising of almost US$27,000, half for AFSP, organized by Will Rowlands with Alessandro Maniscalco, fans buy a digital billboard on the road and a bus stop near Comic-Con, with quotes from Snyder and the cast. The billboard company sent the photos, and the organizers posted them.
Source: IndieWire / GoFundMe #ProjectComicCon
Raveryn @raveryn
Good news! The billboard company sent photos! #ProjectComicCon #ReleaseTheSnyderCut
Movement
On Friday morning, the WB track #ReleaseTheSnyderCut of Justice League spends two hours over Comic-Con. The reporter from The Hollywood Reporter took a photo from below. Snyder wasn't even at the event, and the cut dominated the conversation all the same.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter / Screen Rant
Patrick Shanley @pshanley88
Slightly better shot (please appreciate what taking this picture did to my eyeballs)
Banner reads: "WB #ReleaseTheSnyderCut of Justice League"
Cast and crew
Jason Momoa posts a video giving Snyder a camera as a gift and thanks him for seeing his cut. In November, in an interview with MTV, he confirmed again that he had seen it.
Source: Birth.Movies.Death. / ComicBook.com
Movement
During New York Comic Con, the movement buys space on a big screen in Times Square, with half of the funding going to AFSP. Snyder responded on Vero that he was speechless.
Source: ScreenCrush / IGN
Brandon Davis @BrandonDavisBD
They did it. They really did it.
#ReleaseTheSnyderCut
Movement
The foundation itself published a text saying that Snyder's fans had already raised more than US$100,000 to prevent suicide in two years.
Source: AFSP
Cast and crew
In an interview with Screen Rant, Tom Holkenborg, Junkie XL, says that his score for the film is complete and saved. The same trail that the petition requested from day one.
Source: Screen Rant
Movement
An image of Barry and Iris posted by Snyder triggers the hashtag, which reaches the top of topics in the United States and has more than 60 thousand mentions worldwide.
Source: ComicBook.com / Screen Rant
Movement
On the two-year anniversary, a week of campaign ends with a goal: 214 thousand posts in one hour, at 2 pm in New York, marking Warner and AT&T. The hashtag reached the top of the topic list in several countries.
Source: ComicBook.com / NBC News
Cast and crew
At the end of the afternoon, Gal posts the hashtag with a behind-the-scenes photo. Two hours later, Ben Affleck posts just the hashtag. It was Wonder Woman and Batman asking for the cut in public, on the same day.
Source: The Ringer / Variety
Zack Snyder
Snyder cites both: This ancient Amazonian can't be wrong, for Gal, and Neither can Batman, for Affleck. He would later tell NBC News that that was the turning point: the next day, the studio called asking, in theory, what would be needed.
Source: Zack Snyder no X / NBC News
Movement
A day later, director Kevin Smith writes to Warner that the cut would be a great reason to subscribe to HBO Max, the streaming service that the company would launch in 2020. Six months later, it was exactly like that.
Source: ComicBook.com / Kevin Smith no X
Kevin Smith @ThatKevinSmith
Dear @wbpictures: If even Batman is calling for it, it’s time to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut! Sounds like it would be a great subscription driver for @hbomax!
Zack Snyder
On Vero, Snyder publishes a photo of the cans marked Z.S., JL and Director's Cut, with 214 minutes noted, and writes above: is it real? exists? Of course it exists. The movement gains the proof it needed to stop being called a theory.
Source: Screen Rant / NME
Movement
The movement's bill asks Subway for 10,000 sandwiches for needy families. The network promises to donate if the post reaches 5,000 shares in five hours. Fans make it in less than 214 minutes, Subway makes 15,000 sandwiches and even writes the hashtag.
Source: ComicBook.com / Screen Rant
Subway @SUBWAY
So you’re fast… and since you did it in under 214 minutes we are going to up the donation to 15,000 subs! And oh yeah, #ReleaseTheSnyderCut
Zack Snyder
Snyder publishes Cavill in a black costume on Vero, with the caption my Superman, and confirms in the comments that this was Superman's costume in his cut. The 2017 theory became a photo.
Source: ComicBook.com / Superman Homepage
Movement
A banner written Ann Sarnoff please #ReleaseTheSnyderCut flies over the studio in Burbank, with half of the proceeds going to suicide prevention. Snyder reacts on Vero saying that he was watching it and that it was incredible.
Source: Heroic Hollywood / CBR
Movement
In a kitty opened by Will Rowlands, the tag appears on the stadium signs for Middlesbrough x Tottenham, in the FA Cup, with the AFSP logo. Each minute of plaque cost £600, and the same amount went to the foundation.
Source: Screen Rant / Reuters via Gulf News
Zack Snyder
On the four-year anniversary of Batman v Superman, with the world in quarantine, Snyder comments on the film live on Vero and jokes that they should make a sequel. The hashtag did not appear in the comments.
Source: ComicBook.com / Screen Rant
2020 to 2021
Two and a half years after the petition, the impossible. Then came the part about finishing the film, and the whole world watched it.
Movement
In a commented session on Man of Steel on Vero, Snyder says that his cut will be released on HBO Max in 2021. Minutes later he posts: This is real. It was not yet known whether it would be a four-hour film or a series in chapters.
Source: Variety / TechCrunch
Movement
A banner with Thanks HBO Max & WB passes over the studio. The movement that spent two and a half years asking for it was now returning to the sky of Burbank to say thank you.
Source: ComicBook.com / CinemaBlend
Steven Weintraub @colliderfrosty
Someone paid for a plane to fly over @wbpictures to say thanks to @hbomax and @ZackSnyder for releasing the Snyder Cut. Pics by a friend of mine.
Film
The HBO Max channel releases 34 seconds of the cut. Among the images, the mural with Darkseid, the villain that the 2017 film didn't even show.
Source: HBO Max no YouTube
Film
At the DC online convention, the first teaser for the cut comes out, with Darkseid and the black costume. Snyder had announced the time the day before.
Source: ComicBook.com / Deadline
Zack Snyder @ZackSnyder
Teaser Premiere 8/22 2:30pm (PDT) #DCFanDome
Movement
The community has raised more than US$250,000 for AFSP, and Snyder celebrates with the art of the achievement: Closing in on half a million.
Source: Zack Snyder no X / CBR
Zack Snyder
In September, Warner approved a week of new filming with part of the cast. On October 27, Snyder posted the clapper board with the League's logo and confirmed: the cameras started rolling again.
Source: MovieWeb / ComicBook.com
Movement
On the three-year anniversary of the 2017 premiere, the #UsUnited campaign raises half a million dollars for AFSP through the Snyder family's Autumn Snyder Tribute Fund. Two days later, Ben Affleck asks for support for the fund.
Source: AFSP / Ben Affleck no X
Movement
The goal of half a million dollars is reached. Snyder posts the art with the League and AFSP logos and thanks: This movement is so powerful. The foundation would publish the official thank you in February.
Source: ComicBook.com / Screen Rant
Movement
The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention publishes a thank you to #ReleaseTheSnyderCut for $500,000 raised. In March, NBC News was already talking about more than US$600,000, according to the institution itself.
Film
The official trailer for Zack Snyder's Justice League is out, with the surprise of Jared Leto's Joker. He himself posts the line that became a meme: We live in a society.
Source: The Ringer / Jared Leto no X
Movement
The Dreamscapes of Zack Snyder's Justice League exhibition opens at the AT&T Discovery District in Dallas, with the Knightmare costumes and the twelve frames from the future that they didn't film. It stayed until May 1st.
Source: The Direct / Central Track
Film
Four hours and two minutes debut on HBO Max. On the same day, HBO Asia apologizes for an unprecedented spike in traffic, with HBO GO down for around two hours, and Cavill sums it up on Instagram: And what a movie it is!
Film
Bell Media announces that the Snyder Cut is the most watched title of all time on Crave in Canada, passing on the final season of Game of Thrones.
Source: Bell Media / Newswire
2020 to 2026
The film came out, and the campaign didn't turn off the microphone. It became #RestoreTheSnyderVerse: the request for the sequels that Snyder designed. Until today.
Movement
With the cut on the way, fans are already asking for the next step: restoring the entire universe. On the last day of 2020, with the new hashtag trending, Snyder posts Wonder Woman diving against Steppenwolf and dedicates the image to Fiona, from ForSnyderCut.
Source: ComicBook.com / Zack Snyder no X
Movement
A van with a digital panel drives around Warner with movement phrases and numbers, and a plane carries the #RestoreTheSnyderVerse banner marking AT&T, HBO Max and WarnerMedia.
Source: ComicBook.com / ComicBookMovie
Cast and crew
On the anniversary of the film that opened everything, Restore exceeds 70 thousand posts. Among them, Wayne T. Carr, Green Lantern John Stewart that Snyder filmed and who was left out of the cut: I'm with you.
Source: ComicBook.com / Wayne T. Carr no X
Zack Snyder
The black and white cut, which Snyder calls his favorite version, wins IMAX benefit screenings in Los Angeles, New York and Austin. To compete for admission, donate to AFSP.
Source: SYFY Wire / SuperHeroHype
Zack Snyder
On the one year anniversary, Snyder posts the stamp with the two dates of the story, 11.17 and 3.18, and writes: This means something.
Source: ComicBook.com / ComicBookMovie
Movement
On Oscar Sunday, a banner with #RestoreTheSnyderVerse passes through the Warner studio, the Hollywood sign and the Dolby Theater. More than half of what was raised went to AFSP and humanitarian aid in Ukraine.
Source: GamesRadar / Daily Planet
Taylor @lanmx8
#RestoreTheSnyderVerse @warnerbros @Discovery
Zack Snyder
Between April 28th and 30th, in Pasadena and Universal City, Snyder organizes three days of sessions on Man of Steel, BvS and Justice League, with questions and answers from him. All proceeds went to AFSP.
Source: Deadline / ComicBook.com
Zack Snyder
Snyder takes Justice is Gray to the Egyptian Theatre, in Los Angeles, in a free 4:3 session with an intermission, as part of an exhibition of his work.
Source: Egyptian Theatre / SuperHeroHype
Zack Snyder
On the fourth anniversary, Snyder writes that he still feels honored just by the fact that the film exists, and thanks everyone who made it happen.
Source: Zack Snyder no X / SuperHeroHype
Movement
With the advice of Warner Bros. Discovery accepting Netflix's proposal, the movement's hashtags rise again with a new request: that the new owner reopen the saga. Two days later, Snyder thanked 500 thousand followers on Instagram toasting many more stories together.
Source: Screen Rant / Wikipédia (EN)
Zack Snyder
Snyder publishes on Instagram storyboards of sequels that were never filmed: Darkseid dominating Superman, the Knightmare five years later and the entire world united against the invasion.
Source: Zack Snyder no Instagram / SuperHeroHype
Zack Snyder
Netflix does not cover the offer and leaves, and Paramount Skydance announces the purchase of Warner. On the same weekend, Snyder said on Happy Sad Confused that he would never say there is no way, remembering that cost and politics played against the Snyder Cut and yet it exists.
Source: Paramount / Heroic Hollywood
Zack Snyder
Eight days earlier, Snyder had already posted Wayne Manor in ruins announcing the date. On his birthday, he releases new black and white art featuring Darkseid and the League, and thanks those who turned a shelved project into a film.
Source: MovieWeb / SuperHeroHype
RUMOR
Snyder posts a selfie on Instagram in front of the studio's water tank, saying he spent the day with a bunch of amazing people at WB. He did not explain the reason for the visit and no studio confirmed a meeting. It's a photo, not an advertisement.
Source: MovieWeb / SuperHeroHype
Movement
SnyderVerso publishes the documentary about the history of the Snyder Cut, with dubbing in English, Spanish and Japanese and subtitles in all 4 languages. It's this story here, told on video.
Source: SnyderVerso no YouTube