Skip to main content
SnyderCon will arrive next week, with director Zack Snyder taking center stage to showcase his DC Extended Universe films and talk about what his fans love the most: himself. Arguably the most divisive director in Hollywood — certainly the most divisive in the comic book movie world — Snyder’s name provokes both intense devotion and furious backlash. It’s impossible to talk about him without acknowledging this ideological juxtaposition, to the point where his cinematic contributions have become somewhat tarnished.
And it’s a shame because, love him or hate him, there’s no denying Snyder is a unique filmmaker with a distinctive and instantly recognizable visual language. Highly stylized and uncompromisingly bombastic, Snyder’s movies like his extended cut of Justice League are a visual feast, moving paintings with exquisite, albeit harsh strokes of brilliance. His action sequences are dynamic and immersive and his worlds are rich and layered. Snyder is the type of director who cares more about how the characters look than how they act, an admittedly controversial approach for any genre outside the world of superheroes.
Above all, Snyder is daring. The man has a million ideas and attempts to execute them all at once. This method means his narratives are usually dense and heavily charged, overwhelming even; the average Snyder movie poses a thousand questions, offers half the answers, and calls it a win. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with this approach, but it’s hard to see it working outside the comic book or sci-fi realm. Perhaps that’s why his oeuvre has limited itself to these two genres. And contrary to what many people might think, Snyder understands his strengths.
Post-Quantumania, the MCU needs someone like Zack Snyder
If there’s something Marvel desperately needs right now, it’s ambition. The once-mighty MCU is now creatively bankrupt, struggling to find a suitable narrative to bring together the many worlds, characters, and threads it has used throughout the years. As the franchise continues its grotesque expansion, the cracks in the figure begin to show, proving that nothing is infallible.
Recent Marvel efforts have been uninspired, lazy even. There’s no spirit to them, no levity despite the numerous and often cringy jokes that bookend every sentence. The recent Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania is the obvious example, but one can easily make the case that She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, Eternals, heck, even Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, all lacked that Marvel magic that made Iron Man and Captain America: Civil War so special.
The MCU is now a sorry excuse for what it once was, incapable of feeding the once ride-or-die fandom that made it the most successful movie franchise in Hollywood history. Its attempts to innovate have been mediocre to disastrous, mainly because it doesn’t seem to be able to find the sweet spot between the product it needs to be to appeal to the masses and the artistry one expects from a cinematic effort. The MCU needs a bold and absolute director to prove it still has a spine. Who better than Snyder, who has proven his ability to quite literally take comic book panels and bring them to life?
Above all, the MCU needs Snyder’s thirst and bravado, his willingness to be bolder, bigger, and better. It needs a dose of life, a jolt to remind audiences it’s still alive and thriving, and Snyder might be the man to provide it. And while it might be disingenuous to count out the MCU just yet, it’s undeniable that something needs to change if it wants to stay afloat, let alone thrive.
Changes are happening already — why else would head honcho Kevin Feige hit the brakes on almost all of the MCU’s future slate? Marvel should aim for Snyder’s gung-ho approach to filmmaking. It would be divisive, extreme, non-stop, and narratively uneven — but aren’t most Marvel movies nowadays all those things? And Snyder’s movie would be something the latest MCU efforts haven’t been: memorable.
Where Snyder would fit in the MCU
Should Snyder truly go to the MCU, what property would suit him best? My first guess would be something wacky and mythologically adjacent; it’s a shame Eternals is already taken because Snyder would have done wonders with it. It’s better to keep him away from the largest and most commercially accessible IPs — no X-Men or Midnights Sons for him! Snyder needs room to expand, and operating Marvel’s heaviest machinery would limit his ambition.
How about the X-Men‘s British cousins, Excalibur? Sure, they don’t have any heavy hitters, but the team has several interesting characters like Captain Britain and his powerful partner, Meggan. Excalibur could also allow Snyder to bring some of his original DCEU actors over to Marvel — Henry Cavill is a popular fan cast for Captain Britain, to the point where he’s even expressed interest in the role.
More interestingly would be seeing Snyder tackle a group of misfits like the Morlocks or the Exiles. We are now on the obscure corners of Marvel, but at this point in its continuous storytelling, the MCU is turning to the company’s lesser-known teams. Snyder’s upcoming Rebel Moon, one of the most anticipated sci-fi movies of 2023, might be the perfect audition for him to take over the space corner of the MCU now that James Gunn is over at DC. The supposed Nova project is still happening, and Snyder would be a good choice; it might even allow him to play with the Nova Corps and the New Warriors.
Snyder’s style isn’t exactly flexible, but Marvel should be able to find a space to utilize his particular brand to its fullest. Sure, bringing Snyder aboard would come with considerable baggage — the director has possibly the most rabid fandom in the business, and that’s saying something. But the advantages of bringing him along would outweigh the detriments. His involvement with Marvel would also put his involvement with DC to rest, allowing Gunn’s DC universe to move on at long last. Ultimately, it’s all about what best suits the IP, especially when talking about a massive franchise like the MCU. And, against all odds, the answer could very well be Zack Snyder.
Editors’ Recommendations
-
10 X-Men who need to be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe -
10 DCEU actors who should join the MCU (and who they should play) -
Most popular DCEU movies, ranked by box-office gross -
Who is Steven Yeun playing in Marvel’s Thunderbolts movie? -
The 10 most popular movies of all time, ranked by box office gross
David is a Mexican freelance writer with a deep appreciation for words. After three years in the cold world of Marketing, David quit his desk job and began pursuing a writing career. His work has been featured in publications like Screen Rant, Film Daze, and now, Digital Trends. His novel, A Timely Knight, won the 2020 Watty Award for Science Fiction, and he’s currently working on his follow-up, a Steampunk adventure that blends action and romance. Whenever he’s not writing, David is usually playing video games (he’s currently on the first of many Mass Effect 3 playthroughs) or cooking.
All the Marvel Easter eggs in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania
Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania has finally premiered in theaters, starting Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with a wild bang. In Scott Lang’s third solo film in the MCU, he and his loved ones are sucked into the Quantum Realm, where they are forced to face the time-traveling villain, Kang the Conqueror.
Like many other Marvel movies, Quantumania is filled with references to previous MCU films and the comic book source material. Now that the film has been released to the public, readers can now see the list of all the Easter eggs found throughout Ant-Man and the Wasp’s latest subatomic adventure.
Scott’s memoir
Everything you need to know about Kang, the MCU’s next Thanos
Kang the Conqueror has arrived to dominate the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the release of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Jonathan Majors’s villainous character is set to shake up the MCU as the big bad of the Multiverse Saga, making for an Avengers-level threat far greater than Thanos.
Now that the stage is set for the Conqueror to wage war with the MCU, here’s everything audiences need to know about Kang and his long history in Marvel Comics.
He has powers like Iron Man
5 upcoming Marvel movies and TV shows that are really unnecessary
These days, Marvel seems to be shoveling out more films and TV shows than it knows what to do with. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become so saturated with content that it seems to have taken a toll on the overall quality of Phase Four of the MCU. And with complaints coming in from overworked VFX artists who have struggled to bring these projects to life, it seems like the studio could ease up on what it’s producing.
This also applies to the cinematic universe Marvel is producing alongside Sony, as it has already lined up multiple projects based on characters even die-hard comic book fans aren’t familiar with. It seems like Marvel should stop and reconsider its plans for some of the films and series currently in production, particularly the ones on this list.
Agatha: Coven of Chaos
