Popular YouTube cosplayer organizes Justice League rally to ask for Zack Snyder cut

Popular YouTube cosplayer Itzmoe is organizing a “peaceful photo op” rally with other cosplayers in Los Angeles, trying to bring awareness to an ongoing campaign in defense of Justice League director.

The campaign, appropriately titled #ReleaseTheSnyderCut, isn’t new. After Justice League was released in November to a lukewarm reception from both critics and fans, die-hard Snyder fans responded by demanding that Warner Bros. release Snyder’s original cut of the film. That would be the version he would’ve worked on before departing the project to tend to his family following the death of his daughter, at which point Joss Whedon stepping in to finish the movie.

Itzmoe announced the photo opportunity on Jan. 3 through Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, asking other cosplayers and Snyder fans to attend and show their support for the director. In a follow-up video on Jan. 4, Itzmoe said the photo opportunity wasn’t a protest, and asked that fans not show up with signs. Instead, the idea is to use a photo of cosplayers around one sign that calls attention to the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign.

“I’m the kind of person ... I take action,” Itzmoe said in the video. “I was so frustrated because I saw BvS [Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice] — the director’s cut, I was one of the few lucky ones who got to see it in a theater ... and I thought the Ultimate Edition was so much better. I thought it was such an injustice. I felt so bad for Zack and the crew that this better version was not seen by most people in theaters where it should have been seen.

“I was hoping [Warner Bros.] wouldn’t make that same mistake with Justice League, and they seem to have made that mistake again.”

Itzmoe’s goal is to have Warner Bros. release the reported director’s cut, whose existence is still in question. The rumor started circulating on the popular subreddit r/dccinematic, when a trusted moderator in the forum claimed to have a source at Warner Bros. confirming the cut was real.

After some digging, I have come across convincing proof that the Snyder cut of Justice League exists in an unfinished but relevant form. This was not simply an assembly cut derived from principal photography, but a rough version that had a lot of finished FX and music. Details concerning the sourcing of this information will be held in total confidence.

Fandango’s Erik Davis tweeted a Reddit post from a visual effects editor who worked on Justice League, saying an alternate Zack Snyder cut doesn’t exist. But that hasn’t stopped fans from campaigning against Warner Bros.

Itzmoe told Polygon over Facebook Messenger that she can’t confirm whether the Snyder cut actually exists, as she’s not a Warner Bros.’ employee, but pointed out there’s enough substantial evidence to campaign around the cause.

“I first heard about the deleted/extended scenes from Snyder’s version from Kevin Smith’s podcast, where he reads off a list of deleted/extended scenes from Snyder’s cut that were shown to executives, “Itzmoe said. “Others and a woman in the audience confirmed that she had actually seen most of those scenes when she saw that cut of the film, and that she liked Zack’s version better than the one that ended up being released.”

Itzmoe said the point of the photo opportunity is to “show [fans’] support for Zack,” after Warner Bros. “messed with his vision again.” Itzmoe is asking for people to not become violent with their protest; if fans do show up to cause a ruckus, Itzmoe has made it very clear they’re not welcome or associated with the original organizing group. Itzmoe’s Facebook group includes a note on acceptable behavior:

We want to show support for Zack Snyder, so we want to focus on our support and love for him and his work, NOT dissing others, so DO NOT bring shirts/ signs insulting others or you won’t be allowed in the photo. We don’t want to embarrass Zack and give Zack Snyder fans a bad name. We want to show him how much we appreciate him and make this a photo that he would be happy to share. PLEASE share this around everywhere so we can have a large group in the photo supporting Zack and his JL cut!!!

Itzmoe added that she would consider the photo opportunity and rally a success if Warner Bros. does release clips from Snyder’s original cut, which again, no one really knows if it actually exists.

“Even if it’s not a whole cut, even if we get to see some of the scenes that they cut out, I would be happy,” Itzmoe said. “We just want to see some of what they cut out, becuase it seems like they cut out a lot. The fans deserve it ... Zack deserves it.”

The photo opportunity is scheduled to take place at 11 a.m. PT in front of Warner Bros.’ studio in Burbank, California, on Jan. 6.