Zack Snyder couldn’t let his fans have all the fun.
Shortly after we’ve been documenting Henry Cavill looking like James Bond at the recent Royal Ascot event, the director turned up in a Taran Tactical Innovations video at the gun range, and he wasn’t the only familiar face there.
The reel also features Henry Cavill, the moment kicked off fan debate about Snyder’s Escape From New York remake.
Snyder Hits The Range With Henry Cavill
The video shows Snyder practicing loading and unloading a handgun, calling out “Bang! Bang!” before firing downrange.
Cut throughout the clip are rapid-fire images celebrating his filmography — the 300 logo, his Dawn of the Dead debut, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Justice League, and Man of Steel, along with shots of Henry Cavill’s Superman.
It plays like a highlight reel of Snyder’s career, set to him doing what he clearly enjoys. The clip ends with Snyder grinning as the Taran Tactical cameraman declares, “That was the Snyder Cut.” Snyder laughs.
And Cavill was there, too. One still from the reel shows the former Superman star at the range in a blue training shirt, ear protection in, giving a thumbs up, a reminder that Cavill, a well-known firearms enthusiast, approves.
Right: Zack Snyder screenshot from the IG video
“Zack Attack” Is Back
Here’s the part longtime SnyderCut fans will appreciate.
Among the rapid-fire images, the reel seems to deliberately include the original “Zack Attack” meme, the well-worn shot of Snyder pointing directly at the camera, labeled “ZACK SNYDER DIRECTOR.”
Among the rapid-fire images, the reel deliberately includes the original “Zack Attack” meme, the well-worn shot of Snyder pointing directly at the camera, labeled “ZACK SNYDER DIRECTOR.”
It’s an image the SnyderCut movement has used for years. And on top of it, the cameraman can be heard saying “Zack Attack.”
For those who don’t remember, “Zack Attack” was a rallying cry and meme during the early days of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign. We’ve got our own history with it, as we wrote about it back in 2019, where we noted at the time it was “good to see ‘Zack Attack’ is back.”
We even used it in a Gal Gadot Wonder Woman video on our YouTube channel all the way back in 2016 that pulled over 200,000 views.
So when we dropped a “Zack attack is back” comment on the Taran Tactical post, the account itself replied: “Totally.”
Actress and stunt performer Tetiana Gaidar — the competitive shooter seen training alongside Snyder and Cavill in the video, with credits in Bullet Train, Bosch: Legacy, and Borderlands — also chimed in on our comment with a “Yes,” and shared the video to her own Instagram.
The fan account The Zack Snyder Bible noticed, too, and is already pushing to get #ZackAttack trending in celebration.
Zack Snyder, the Architect
There’s another detail in the video that Snyder die-hards will catch. Snyder is wearing a shirt that reads “Howard Roark Architect” — and that’s no random name.
Howard Roark is the protagonist of Ayn Rand’s 1943 novel The Fountainhead, a fiercely independent architect who refuses to compromise his vision against a conformist establishment that tries to tear him down.
For Snyder, that’s deeply personal. He has called adapting The Fountainhead a lifelong dream project for years, telling fans, “I’ve always felt like The Fountainhead was such a thesis on the creative process and what it is to create something.”
Warner Bros. owns Rand’s script, and Snyder has long viewed Roark’s fight to protect his work as an allegory for the auteur filmmaker, a parallel his fanbase has embraced given the SnyderCut saga.
The connection runs even deeper. Snyder’s production company is named The Stone Quarry, and in The Fountainhead, the stone quarry is where Roark goes to work when he’s blacklisted from architecture. In other words, Snyder named his company after a location from the very book he sees himself in.
Snyder has said the Fountainhead film remains on the back burner, citing the divided political climate, and he even pitched it as a TV series to a streamer who passed.
But wearing the Howard Roark shirt is a quiet reminder of how much that material still means to him, the uncompromising builder protecting his vision, which is exactly how his fans see Snyder himself.
The Escape From New York Debate
The real talking point came from Taran Tactical’s caption, which tied the whole thing directly to Snyder’s next project.
“Settle this debate,” the company wrote. “Should Kurt Russell make a cameo in Zack Snyder’s Escape From New York? And who gets your vote for Snake Plissken?”
As we’ve covered, Snyder was recently announced to write and direct a reimagining of John Carpenter’s Escape from New York for StudioCanal, with Carpenter on board as executive producer.
We’ve also broken down the fan-casting conversation around who could play Snake Plissken where we named Henry Cavill.
Fans Want Cavill As Snake Plissken
With both Snyder and Cavill appearing in the same range video, fans immediately connected the dots and many want Cavill to be Snyder’s Snake Plissken.
“Henry Cavill or Aaron Taylor Johnson is perfect as Snake Plissken,” one fan wrote. Another went further: “Henry Cavill and Zack together again? The SnyderVerse is happening. Dreams really do come true!”
There’s no official word Cavill is attached to Escape from New York. But after years of fans wanting the two to reunite, a video featuring both of them — tied to a Snyder casting debate — is more than enough to set imaginations running.
The Bigger Picture
The timing only adds fuel.
This lands during a stretch where Snyder has been steadily posting Cavill’s Superman — from Justice League’s overseas Netflix surge to the Man of Steel anniversary — and as we’ve been reporting, our insiders say a SnyderVerse return is in active discussion with the Paramount-WBD deal in motion.
Whether the range video means anything for Escape from New York or not, one thing is clear: Zack Attack is back, and the fans are loving every second of it.
