UPDATE, September 3: Jay Oliva is out defending the work too, firing back at critics of Snyder’s Superman: “I was there.”
UPDATE, September 3: The rumors are working on his Wonder Woman, too. Gal Gadot told JoBlo: “If Zack comes back to run DC, I’ll come back.”
Zack Snyder got asked about The Dark Knight Returns rumors point-blank, and he didn’t shoot them down.
He endorsed them.
Appearing on WMMR’s Preston & Steve Show ahead of The Last Photograph‘s TIFF premiere, Snyder was asked directly about the rumors surrounding The Dark Knight Returns.
“I love the rumors,” Snyder said. “Maybe if there’s enough rumors, someone will make the movie. Someone will be like, the rumors are so thick that we just have to film it.”
The hosts pointed out that rumors — and the fan campaign behind them — are exactly what willed Zack Snyder’s Justice League into existence.
“That’s true. That’s true,” Snyder said. “I put weight on the rumors, because the rumors work. So, you know, yeah. Who knows? Who knows? Who knows?”
Snyder’s response lines up with what he said when we were at the Frank Miller and Snyder event in Los Angeles in July, when we asked him about doing The Dark Knight Returns movie, he responded, “When they let us.” Per our insiders, that when they let us is when the Paramount-WBD merger closes.
The Rumors Have Receipts
As we reported, The Dark Knight Returns is fully storyboarded — boarded out by Jay Oliva and Snyder himself, with the plan to adapt Frank Miller’s graphic novel “as is,” just like Watchmen — and the project is “ready to go,” built for IMAX.
Earlier today, our insiders added that Snyder is “well prepared” for a Dark Knight film, with Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy already taking pitches as the Paramount takeover reshapes DC.
And in the same interview, Snyder confirmed the De Luca and Abdy relationship in his own words, describing his movie night on the Warner Bros. lot.
“Mike and Pam had me out there to screen — they have a screening series, and I picked Excalibur. I’m a massive Excalibur fanatic, and they had a print. It’s an incredible privilege to see a print of Excalibur. I haven’t seen a print since I saw the movie in the theater,” he said.
The night included a Q&A about the film’s influence on him going back to 1981, the same year, Snyder noted, as Escape from New York, which happens to be his next movie.
The Justice League Sequels Are On A Whiteboard
Asked about the Joker post-credits scene in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Snyder said there is “a small layer of the onion that you can peel back.”
“We whiteboarded the entire — three other movies that have yet to be seen,” he said. “If you do a little bit of research, you can see the entire — what the vision was.”
And when the hosts joked that a whiteboard isn’t going to cut it, Snyder said, “Jim Lee did do some of the drawings. If you’re curious, that’s all I’m saying.”
“The Rumors Work”
So take stock of where this sits. The boards are drawn. The director calls the prep done. The incoming regime is listening to pitches. And per our reporting, the current DC leadership’s contract expires in 2027, with no new extension in place.
The man who watched a rumor become a four-hour movie once before just told you how he sees it: the rumors work.
Related: Snyder reveals The Last Photograph happened because a big movie got put on hold, and compares his 300 prequel to Game of Thrones.
