Zack Snyder Acknowledges His Fervent Fanbase, Potential Bots Manipulating #SnyderCut Outcry

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Few filmmakers have a fanbase as passionate as Zack Snyder’s – or at least, one passionate enough to will his cut of The Justice League into being released.

But there’s another side to that too; as a recent THR cover story points out, the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut fanbase frequently went overboard, even spurring security to be upped on the Warner Bros. lot. In conversations of toxic or extreme fandom, Snyder enthusiasts are frequently pointed to as a prime example.

“I’m not going to comment on the details of whether they are good or bad, whether they are toxic or bullying,” Snyder said of his fanbase in Wednesday’s THR cover story. “That’s in every chat room. It’s what comes with the internet. But I do know that the work they did on some level was good. I can say for a fact that they did good. That is undeniable.”

The good that Snyder is likely referring to are things like the work the campaign did for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, helping raise more than $1 million for the organization after the death of Snyder’s daughter, Autumn.

“But I do know that the work they did on some level was good. I can say for a fact that they did good.

Additionally, in a separate interview with Wired published on the same day as the THR story, Snyder admitted there’s “tons of toxic fans, and I don’t condone that behavior.”

“But for every toxic fan, there were legitimate and ridiculous and really, incredibly dark attacks on me, my family,” he went on. “I’m not justifying any bad behavior, but also, I’m in this conversation with this fandom, where I have tried to make the work as best I can.”

There, too, was a Rolling Stone report last year that the fan campaign was at least partially fueled by fake social media accounts. On that, Snyder doesn’t feel strongly one way or the other; after all, he says, “they won” with the tools at their disposal.

“The truth is? It doesn’t matter. The movie got made,” he said in the THR story. “If they were smart enough to employ bots in this thing, then they won. That movie has no business existing — and it does.”

The #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign, of course, was spawned in 2017 after Snyder had to step away from post-production on Justice League, with Joss Whedon coming in to complete it as an uncredited director. That 2017 version was largely panned, spurring fans to call on Warner Bros. to release Snyder’s version of the movie – which it actually did, on HBO Max, in 2021.

Snyder is currently on the press tour for his upcoming film Rebel Moon, which will have a Snyder Cut of its own. Part 1 of the saga, A Child of Fire, will hit Netflix on Dec. 22.

Thumbnail credit: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/WireImage

Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.