What's The Song In The Justice League Snyder Cut Trailer?
What's in store with the Snyder Cut of Justice League? Well, it goes like this: the fourth, the fifth...
During the Hall of Heroes DC FanDome event on Saturday, August 22, Justice League director Zack Snyder unveiled the first trailer for his upcoming cut of the 2017 superhero film.
As all good trailers do, the one for Zack Snyder's Justice League gently taps on all the emotional beats it plans to fully smash in the feature film's full glory: hope, despair, determination, wonder, resilience, and more. It achieves this through captivating footage, of course, but it also does this through a heartstring-tugging song that plays out over the action.
It's a familiar tune — one you've likely heard a hundred times before — and is the perfect fit for Zack Snyder's Justice League: a director's cut for which fans have longed for nearly three years, and that has a lot of emotion wrapped up in its creation.
"Hallelujah" really works for Zack Snyder's Justice League
The song in the trailer for the Snyder Cut of Justice League is "Hallelujah," the powerful folk-rock ballad written by Leonard Cohen. Released on Cohen's 1984 album Various Positions, "Hallelujah" evokes all sorts of emotions — from blue melancholy to hopeful joy. There are many atmospheres that the song is capable of creating, and the one that listeners experience largely depends on who's performing the tune. The trailer utilizes the original version of "Hallelujah" that feels wholly bittersweet.
This aligns with what the director's cut of Justice League represents. For one, it embodies the bitterness that Snyder endured in exiting the project following the death of his daughter and having to learn that replacement director Joss Whedon made such major changes to what was already filmed that only 25 percent of Snyder's original vision made it into the theatrical cut (via The Hollywood Reporter). If Whedon had done things differently while completing the movie, perhaps Snyder's vision would have been preserved in a larger proportion. On the other hand, the song in the trailer also captures the sweetness of Snyder finally having the opportunity to create and release his cut of Justice League.
For the director, making this cut of Justice League was never about the money, or apparently even about proving anyone right or wrong. It was reported that Warner Bros. gave Snyder between $20 and $30 million to make his Justice League cut — but Snyder stated during Justice Con in July 2020 that he's thrilled to have the opportunity and is doing it "for free" (via CinemaBlend). Truly, Zack Snyder's Justice League is a labor of love. The film using "Hallelujah" in its first full-length trailer doesn't get more perfect or more on-the-nose for the situation.
All about Zack Snyder's Justice League
The Snyder Cut of Justice League will feature all of the same stars that the Whedon-directed version of the flick did: Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne / Batman, Gal Gadot as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman, Ray Fisher as Victor Stone / Cyborg, Ezra Miller as Barry Allen / The Flash, Henry Cavill as Clark Kent / Superman, Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry / Aquaman, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Ciarán Hinds as Steppenwolf, Joe Manganiello as Slade Wilson / Deathstroke (who appeared in a post-credits scene). However, the Snyder Cut is also bringing in Ray Porter as Darkseid, who didn't show up in Whedon's iteration of Justice League at all.
Darkseid's inclusion in Snyder's Justice League isn't the only difference between the theatrical cut and the version fans will see on HBO Max. The director's cut is rumored to feature a number of key changes: Darkseid rocking up in the film's climax as another big bad, Lex Luthor having more scenes, Cyborg getting a more fleshed-out and meaningful storyline, Martian Manhunter showing up, other members of the Justice League simply having more screen time (thus allowing audiences to get to know them more), time travel taking place, among others.
Snyder also told The Hollywood Reporter in May 2020, when news that the Snyder Cut was real first went public, that the fresh version of the movie will "be an entirely new thing, and, especially talking to those who have seen the released movie, a new experience apart from that movie."
After years of waiting, fans can stream the movie on HBO Max in 2021.