It's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's the Snyderverse. While James Gunn is currently at the reins of the DC IP over at Warner Bros., it wasn't long ago that Zack Snyder was attempting to build out his own Snyderverse.
As Warner Bros. Discovery officially goes under the hammer and the likes of Amazon and Apple are said to be circling the media giant, could Netflix step in as an unexpected white knight for the Dark Knight?
Sadly for Snyder and WB, the Snyderverse is proof that not every franchise can reach the record-breaking highs of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Snyder started strong with 2013's Man of Steel, but the strain started to show when he delivered 2016's divisive Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The DC Extended Universe grew with other directors helming Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad, as all this culminated in 2017's infamous Justice League.
Fans want Netflix to restore the Snyderverse
Snyder had to step away due to personal tragedy, and as Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Joss Whedon took over to finish the project, Justice League was a critical and commercial failure. Despite reportedly losing WB up to $100 million, the DCEU limped on (without Snyder) for the likes of Black Adam, The Flash, and bowed out with 2023's maligned Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
Snyder's original vision for the DCEU included a trilogy of Justice League movies, and following the release of the three-hour Zack Snyder's Justice League, which recut the OG as his own story, there have been continued calls to #restorthesnyderverse.
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Warner Bros. Discovery is officially for sale, with Deadline reporting that Netflix isn't 'slamming the door' on the idea of a sale. Netflix France stirred the pot when it shared a post announcing that the middling Black Adam is now on the streaming service, and as you can imagine, there was a flurry of interest.
One fan cheered: "Buy @warnerbros and show us. #RESTORETHESNYDERVERSE and bring back #Batfleck."
Another added: "Netflix, do your best and buy Warner Bros ASAP. We need you to #RestoreTheSnyderVerse and save it from studio's mismanagement."
A third concluded: "I would’ve paid to see anything with Cavill’s Superman in it. Gunn’s DCU won’t get a dime. @netflix Go get Cavill’s Superman. And watch the 💰 fall."
Could Netflix buy Warner Bros. Discovery?
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The question remains, is Netflix even interested in scooping up Warner Bros. and an impressive catalog of IPs that includes Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and all things DC? Netflix boss Ted Sarandos has continued to dodge the issue, and in an after-market analyst call following Netflix's third-quarter earnings, he didn't mention WBD but simply said: "Nothing is a must for us to meet our goals that we have for this business." This came the same day that WBD said it had received 'unsolicited interest' from 'multiple parties'.
Snyder has an overall deal with Netflix, while the idea of 'restoring' the Snyderverse has been floated before.
In 2024, Scott Stuber, Netflix's former Head of Films, mulled it over and explained: "That’s always tricky because you don’t own it...The more Zack we have, the better we are."
Snyder's Stone Quarry Productions has a first-look deal with Netflix, but even in a world where the streaming giant gobbles up WBD, would it really throw so much money back into a failed franchise to compete with Gunn's DCU?
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As some of the biggest companies in the world scramble to scoop up the lucrative goldmine of Warner Bros. Discovery IPs, something tells us that someone is about to spend a lot of money on a lot of big franchises.