Zack Snyder Talks Joss Whedon's Justice League "I Tried" Dig, James Gunn's DCU, and 300 Prequel

Zack Snyder Talks Joss Whedon's Justice League "I Tried" Dig, James Gunn's DCU, and 300 Prequel

The Last Photograph director Zack Snyder has shared his take on Justice League's "I Tried" scene, why he won't watch James Gunn's DCU movies and TV shows, and plans for his 300 prequel.

By JoshWilding - Sep 17, 2026 08:09 AM EST
Filed Under: Justice League

When Joss Whedon was tasked with writing and directing Justice League's reshoots, many fans reacted positively to the news. After all, he'd helmed The Avengers and Avengers: Age of Ultron for Marvel Studios and seemed the right person to "fix" the struggling DCEU.

Whedon's version of Justice League was a disaster, and ultimately a career-killer for the filmmaker, who has since been branded a bully by those who worked with him on this and other projects. 

Zack Snyder eventually released his "Snyder Cut," and it was widely hailed as a considerably better movie. His DC journey ended there, of course, and in an interview with Josh Horowitz, Snyder reiterated that he has no desire to watch Whedon's version. 

"I think when Debbie came back to me after watching [Whedon's] cut of Justice League, and she said, 'You are to never see that movie,' I knew it was kind of... that was it," Snyder explained. 

"And I thought, 'Okay, that's going to be the legacy. I haven't seen this, but I believe that in the title sequence of. I've seen it meme'd, so I'm not 100% sure how it works, but where it says 'Directed by Zack Snyder,' there is a homeless person who has, I think, a sign that says, 'I tried,' or something like that."

"And I find it really... I was like, wow, that's cool," he continued. "That's a good... like, if I hadn't done my Justice League, that would have been the end of it, right? So, you can imagine, that's cool."

Something Snyder doesn't seem to realise is that the homeless person holding the "I Tried" sign is shown on screen alongside Whedon's screenwriting credit. Many fans have interpreted that as The Avengers director's way of saying he tried—and failed—to save Justice League, not that it was any sort of homage to Snyder. If anything, it's been considered a dig at his fellow director.

Elsewhere in the interview, Snyder confirmed that he considered casting Jeffrey Dean Morgan as the Flashpoint Batman and explained again why he won't watch DC Studios projects like Superman, Supergirl, and Lanterns

"Honestly, it's a personal thing for me. I want success for them, and I trust James's aesthetic and his take," Snyder mused. "He has a very particular way of making movies and looking at things. It's a difficulty. It's just got a lot of baggage."

Horowitz also asked Snyder about his 300 prequel TV series, which he confirmed he intends to direct episodes of. He couldn't reveal any plot details, but confirmed that it won't borrow anything from his scrapped sequel. That revolved around the love between Alexander the Great and Hephaestion.

You can hear more from Snyder in the player below.

About The Author:
JoshWilding
Member Since 3/13/2009
A lifelong comic book fan who grew up on Spider-Man: The Animated Series in the '90s, Josh Wilding has been contributing to ComicBookMovie.com since 2009.

While he's also written for websites like Batman-News, HeyUGuys, and WhatCulture, Josh is CBM's Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic and the site's #1 contributor with nearly two decades of experience covering film and TV news (including interviews with Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Gary Oldman, Halle Berry, Jon Bernthal, Tom Welling, and hundreds more).

Based in the UK with his wife, Josh is also an avid WWE and Formula 1 fan and writes about those passions on CBM's sister sites, TheRingReport.com and FullThrottleHQ.com. Favourite superhero? Spider-Man. Favourite pro wrestler? CM Punk. Favourite F1 driver? Max Verstappen.
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TheNewYorkerr
TheNewYorkerr - 9/17/2026, 8:35 AM
I wish Zack Snyder would just stop. Stop talking, stop making shit, stop reliving the glory days.
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 9/17/2026, 9:02 AM
@TheNewYorkerr - he is such a hack
Feralwookiee
Feralwookiee - 9/17/2026, 8:36 AM
"Something Snyder doesn't seem to realise is that the homeless person holding the "I Tried" sign is shown on screen alongside Whedon's screenwriting credit."

No one ever accused this guy of understanding subtext or being very bright. 🤪
JobinJ
JobinJ - 9/17/2026, 8:38 AM
I am a huge fan of the Snyderverse.

Problem is that people just want more Marvel movies. He was trying to do something different, more mature.

I guess there weren't enough fart jokes.
Fogs
Fogs - 9/17/2026, 8:41 AM
@JobinJ - here we got that "so mature" argument again. More like "edgelordy" IMO.
Feralwookiee
Feralwookiee - 9/17/2026, 8:42 AM
@JobinJ - Yes. Snyder's movies were soooo mature.

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TemporarilyHere
TemporarilyHere - 9/17/2026, 8:50 AM
@JobinJ -

Name one fart joke in the MCU.
0bstreperous
0bstreperous - 9/17/2026, 8:45 AM
His superhero movies are his best works I haven't seen his zombie movies
HeavyMetal4Life
HeavyMetal4Life - 9/17/2026, 9:02 AM
@0bstreperous - Dawn of the Dead is his best film
0bstreperous
0bstreperous - 9/17/2026, 9:20 AM
@HeavyMetal4Life - wow it says it was written by James Gunn you think he'd have a higher opinion of the DCU
OneMoreTime
OneMoreTime - 9/17/2026, 8:51 AM
Coming From..............

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CAPTAINPINKEYE
CAPTAINPINKEYE - 9/17/2026, 8:53 AM
Both versions had their problems. I don’t ever need to watch those movies again.
TemporarilyHere
TemporarilyHere - 9/17/2026, 8:54 AM
To repeat what I was discussing with another user earlier this week:

"Less shit that admits it's shit is definitively less shitty than more shit that pretends it's not shit. [...] The only reason Snyder's ever got accepted as passable, let alone occasionally praised as great (my ass) was because A) it was an easy banner for folks to really behind and bash the whole shtick of studio intervention, and B) nobody dared to consider that maybe, just maybe, an arrogant cunt losing his child doesn't automatically make him less of a cunt."

Joss Whedon's is, by definition, the objectively better version. Even if it never could (and for some never should) be openly recognized as such.
CarpesDiems
CarpesDiems - 9/17/2026, 8:59 AM
i loved 300 and i adore his take of wachtmen and sucker punch it s one of my guilty pleasures, you cant deny that dude has style.. i loved MOS for what it was besides some controversial choices.. but he went to dark with JL for my taste
LoudLon
LoudLon - 9/17/2026, 9:36 AM
@CarpesDiems - I agree that Snyder is a talented director. I love Watchmen, and was surprised at how good his Dawn of the Dead was (Romero's original is my favorite film, I fully expected to despise the remake.)

He's just a bad writer. Let him direct whatever he wants, just keep him away from the script.
vegetaray
vegetaray - 9/17/2026, 9:03 AM
Is this the only thing he has to hang on to at this point? It’s been nearly a decade ffs………………….
TheVisionary25
TheVisionary25 - 9/17/2026, 9:04 AM
Honestly , I would rather watch the Justice League theatrical dud again rather then Zack’s 4 hour slow mo tediousness.

One reason is I’m not nearly invested enough in those iterations of the characters to sit through 4 hrs of them and the second is that while not earned , the theatrical cut still has few of these character moments that are still the best parts of that film…

?is=1ihRa0v4TmDqR3_C

Also mentioning that he trusts Gunn’s aesthetic as the first thing tells you all you need to know about him imo since he doesn’t mention writing etc!!.
ArthurFuchsache
ArthurFuchsache - 9/17/2026, 9:05 AM
Let it go, bruv.

Your version of JL was also inadequate.
Matador
Matador - 9/17/2026, 9:05 AM
Still to this day haven't watched either version of Justice League or anything past Batman v Superman.
MotherGooseUPus
MotherGooseUPus - 9/17/2026, 9:31 AM
seriously though this f*cking guy and topic again.....

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zack, dude. just...


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