Eagle-eyed fans saw a very brief part of Snyder’s Vero video, displaying his family’s Thanksgiving turkey. But while the turkey may be the center of the image, it’s what is in the background that had fans talking. The hype was so palpable that it trended on other social media platforms such as Twitter. What message could the popular film director be sending his army of fans? Read on for more about the possible Snyderverse rebirth.
A Final Crisis?
Snyder has not been idle for a long while. The genre director has been busy with Netflix projects such as Army of the Dead, Army of Thieves, and the upcoming Rebel Moon. But despite Warner Bros. seemingly distancing from the Snyderverse, he has continued to drop subtle hints that he might not be done with the DCEU. It has been months since Zack Snyder’s cut of the Justice League film was released on HBO Max. The successful campaign to get it released was mainly thanks to massive fan support and online persistence. But the key elements to making it happen were the hints and unreleased details that Zack Snyder shared on his social media.
— Zack Snyder (@ZackSnyder) May 27, 2020 Snyder would often tease on social media, whether it was a concept art and description of Uxas (aka Darkseid) or describing shots that were on the cutting room floor that did not make it to the theatrical release. These fueled the interest of fans further, wanting to see what the director’s vision was. The fact that the Joss Whedon version of the DCEU Justice League received mixed to overtly negative reactions further drove fan interest to the Snyder Cut. Now, the fan-favorite director just reignited geek speculation. In a post on his Vero account, Zack Snyder showed their home’s Thanksgiving turkey… but with a notable addition. Just behind the turkey is a batch of books, with one in particular that is eye-catching. It is the collected edition of DC Comics’ Final Crisis. Snyder further added to the cryptic conundrum with the simple message “Thankful”.
We’ve been getting several Justice League teases recently from Zack Snyder and his crew. Is something really happening?#RestoreTheSnyderVerse pic.twitter.com/xaSZVDZSjD — DC Fans Kerala (@DcKerala) November 26, 2021
What is Final Crisis?
Final Crisis was a 2008 crossover and standalone mini-series that ran through all the DC Comics superhero titles at the time. The comic book and event was written by Grant Morrison (Animal Man, Doom Patrol, JLA, The Invisibles). It is essentially the third entry in the series of CRISIS stories. These CRISIS stories began with 1985’s Crisis on Infinite Earths. That monumental series aimed to reboot the entire DC Comics line into a more streamlined continuity. Before then, the continuity of the comic books had multiple universes, and different versions of characters such as Earth-1, Earth-2, Earth-S, Earth-X, and so on. Supposedly, this led to new readers being confused by the complexity. Crisis on Infinite Earths was intended to fix this, by both merging the elements from different universes in the DC Multiverse, as well as restarting some of their most popular properties. This is what led to the famed John Byrne reboot of Superman with the mini-series Man of Steel. Other changes included Wonder Woman appearing later, thus not being a founding member of the Justice League of America and Wally West taking over the mantle of The Flash from Barry Allen. However, it would not be long before the new DC Comics continuity created the same problems as it did before, as new stories were told that involved alternate timelines and different realities. A smaller event called Zero Hour: Crisis in Time (1994) written by Dan Jurgens attempted to do a cleanup, but this did not last long. In 2005, DC Comics ran Infinite Crisis, which is the second true CRISIS event. By the end of this series, the DC Multiverse was reestablished, though with a smaller number of 52 separate universes. Many of the old continuities returned, though with modified elements, such as Earth-3 where the villainous dopplegangers of the Justice League resided. Final Crisis in 2008 was Grant Morrison’s attempt at mapping out the new DC Multiverse in a way that makes everything, including the previous CRISIS events, count. Instead of streamlining the complicated continuities, Final Crisis was going to embrace all of it. Moreover, Final Crisis established Darkseid as the biggest threat in the DC Multiverse by taking over reality thanks to the full Anti-Life Equation. There were huge ramifications after Final Crisis, with the biggest being the death of Batman at the hands of Darkseid. Although in truth, Darkseid used the Omega Sanction to send Batman to a never-ending cycle of birth and rebirth in progressively worse lifetimes, Bruce Wayne was gone for a period of time, with Dick Grayson taking on his mentor’s mantle and Damien Wayne as the Robin at his side.
And then there’s Jim Lee
But Zack Snyder is not the only one who is apparently teasing a coming CRISIS. DC Comics CEO and veteran superstar artist Jim Lee worked on a mosaic for the recently concluded DC Fandome 2021. The mosaic artwork is an homage to the cover of the first issue of Crisis on Infinite Earths maxi-series from 1985. While this would not be unusual, the mosaic Jim Lee drew took inspiration from the various live action versions of the DC Comics characters. You can take a look at the Jim Lee art below: Fans will note there are characters from such DCEU films and shows such as The Suicide Squad (Starro, King Shark, Polka Dot Man), Ben Affleck’s version of Batman, Shazam! (Zachary Levi and Asher Angel), Peacemaker (John Cena), Doom Patrol’s Robotman (played by Brendan Fraser), Black Adam (to be played by Dwayne Johnson), and Aquaman in his stealth costume (as played by Jason Momoa). The mosaic also includes CW shows such as Stargirl, Batwoman, The Flash, Black Lightning, and Titans. Interestingly, there is a section of Zatanna referring to Odessa TX in the year 1925. As there is currently no show or film specifically starring Zatanna, this may be alluding to a future DC Entertainment project. Could there be a connection to the potential Final Crisis Zack Snyder is teasing? It would not be the first time Zack Snyder trolled both fans and critics alike for a project that comes into fruition later on.
Crisis coming?
It should be noted that CRISIS was already touched on in the CW Arrowverse shows. The television crossover did have the shows Arrow, The Flash, Black Lightning, Supergirl, and Legends of Tomorrow (with allusions to Titans and Doom Patrol, Lucifer, and even Smallville) conduct a recreation of the comics version, allowing for merging of timelines, thus making Supergirl occur in the same Earth. However, the most noteworthy take away from that version of CRISIS is that it is all interconnected with the DCEU. This is due to the fact that it brought in Brandon Routh’s Superman (from 2006’s Superman Returns) and, more importantly, Ezra Miller’s Flash from the Snyderverse. It has been rumored that the television version of the Flash played by Grant Gustin will repay the favor and appear in the big screen The Flash in 2022. But while The Flash is playing with elements from Flashpoint (a separate multiverse crossover from the comic books), it would not be unlikely that Zack Snyder could have a CRISIS project in the works. There were many plot threads left on the table that were supposed to be included in the Justice League sequel, like Darkseid taking control of Superman and the death of Batman. If the DCEU follows the “it all counts” mandate in the comic books, there would certainly be room to explore Final Crisis and give the Snyderverse fans the closure they want. For now, fans can catch Zack Snyder’s Justice League trilogy and the Justice is Gray version on the HBO Max streaming service.
