Twilight and Starlight: The Road to Zack Snyder's Justice League

by Fanfic27

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, Mystery, Science Fiction, Starlight Glimmer, Adventure, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 7216

Twilight and Starlight go on a journey to discover why Zack Snyder's cut of Justice League is so special to so many people.

One day Twilight and Starlight discovers a strange box in Twilight's room and when they open it they are taken on a journey that will change their lives forever. They are brought on a journey to explore the mysterious Snyder Cut and why is means so much to so many people.

Along the way they discover stories of heroes vs villains, good vs evil, hope vs fear, as they uncover the life of director Zack Snyder and his vision of Justice League. Follow along as Twilight and Starlight discover what the true power of fandom can really do when united to achieve a common goal. And how a family tragedy can inspire hope and selflessness in people. Join Twilight and Starlight as they discover truth of one of the most popular director cut that ever existed and it was almost never even released.

This is the Road to Zack Snyder's Justice League.

Note: This is NOT a reaction story, but it's more of a narrative structured story.

Published 2021-02-01 00:10:00 UTC
Last updated 2021-02-23 17:45:42 UTC

It Begins

Location: Princess Twilight's Castle, Ponyville

Time: 8:00 pm

We join Princess Twilight Sparkle and her student Starlight Glimmer as they are getting ready to head to bed after a long day of solving problems around town. They have recently entered a romantic relationship with one another to the point that they are sharing one bed each night.

"Wow, I'm exhausted I've never had to solve so many problems in one day before, it really wears you out." Twilight said tiredly as she walk with Starlight to their shared bedroom.

"Me too, at least it just you and me in the castle tonight, with Spike spending the night at Rarity's." Starlight said to Twilight

"It's a good thing that Rarity need some extra help with her dresses for her store in Manehatten." Twilight said

As they entered their shared bedroom, which is Twilight's room, Twilight started to head to the bathroom to go freshen up, when she heard a question being asked by her marefriend.

"Um Twilight?" Starlight asked.

"Yeah Starlight." Twilight said turning to face her.

"What's that strange box on your bed?" Starlight asked as she pointed her hoof at the strange box on Twilight's bed.

"I don't know that wasn't there when we left this morning." Twilight said as she and Starlight approached the box.

"Yeah, that's strange." Starlight said as she looked at the box.

Twilight then used her magic to levitate the box to take a closer look at the box.

"I wonder what's inside it?" Starlight asked.

"Well there's only one way to find out." Twilight said as she began to take the lid off of the box.

As Twilight took the lid off of the box, both Twilight and Starlight are suddenly sucked into it as the lid fell back on top of the box that now lays on the floor in the now empty room.

Location: Unknown
Twilight and Starlight were looking around the place they ended up after being sucked into the box. There was nothing but darkness everywhere so the two mares are using their horns to illuminate the darkness around them.

"Twilight, where are we?" asked Starlight.

"I don't know Starlight." Twilight said.

"Your in a pocket dimension." a female voice said coming from the darkness around them.

Both Twilight and Starlight jumped at the sound of the new voice and then a mare approached them coming out of the darkness and with a wave of her hoof illuminated the darkness where it was bright enough for the three of them to see one another. Twilight and Starlight then laid their eyes on the new mare. She had a coat of fur as black as the night sky, with a dark purple color mane and tail, but what stood out to the two of them were her eyes. The eyes had a golden iris with a pitch black pupil. But what shocked the two mares is that this mare that stood before them who looked like the same age as the two of them did not have a cutie mark.

"Hi, my name's Shadow Mane and please do not be scared I'm very friendly." The mare said to them.

"Well Shadow, I'm Twilight Sparkle Princess of Friendship and this is my personal student Starlight Glimmer." Twilight said motioning to Starlight.

"I'm also her marefriend." Starlight said as she walked up to Twilight and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Starlight." Twilight said embarrassed by the action of her marefriend.

"Oh, you two are so cute together." Shadow said as she looked at the couple before her.

"Well anyway what are you doing here and how did we get here?" Starlight asked Shadow.

"Oh I brought you here forgive me I couldn't think of any other way to get you two here,as for what I am, I'm a multi-dimensional traveler, well at least in training." Shadow said.

"In Training?" Twilight asked.

"Yep, you see in order for us to travel to different dimensions we must complete different test and trials. And right now I'm about to complete my final test, which is were you two come in." Shadow said as she gestured to the two mares in front of her.

"What's so important about us?" Starlight said.

"Well you two are some of the smartest ponies in Equestria and even saved it from certain doom multiple times, and you two have even been to the human world at some point." Shadow said to them.

Both Twilight and Starlight agreed with her observation of the two of them.

"Well each dimensional traveler's has to complete a final trial and that trial is to show certain individuals an event that is important in either history or personally to certain individuals." Shadow said.

"So.. what event are you going to show us." Twilight asked.

"Well first thing we are going on a trip to a different world similar to the human world you've both been to. This world is called earth and we'll be traveling to different points in time having to do with the event that I'm about to tell you about." Shadow said.

"And what event are you going to show us." Starlight asked Shadow.

"I'm going to take you on a journey to show you and to explain to you two the truth behind the most dedicated, hardworking, and passionate fan driven campaign ever. They fought for three years in support of the most mysterious director cut of a movie that has ever been talked about. Of course I'm talking about The Snyder Cut of Justice League."

"What?" both Twilight and Starlight asked confused by the statement being said to them.

"You maybe confused right now but when this is all over you'll both be some of the most informed about this cut and why it means so much to so many fans of the director himself, Zack Snyder. So are you ready to take the step to learn more about this director's life and why his vision for the DCEU was supported by so many people. Are you ready?" Shadow asked them

Twilight and Starlight looked to one another and then they looked back to Shadow as the both nodded their heads.

"Great This is the story of love, lost, hope, tragedy, and unity. This is the story of Zack's Snyder's Justice League." Shadow said as she begins to transport Twilight and Starlight to begin their adventure.

Author's Note

Here we go the start of my passion project that I've been planning on doing for some time. There won't be a schedule of when I will post chapters, but I plan on trying to get this story finished by the time Zack's Snyder Justice League which will be released on HBO MAX on March 18

Pre DCEU Synder Films

Location: Earth

Date: March 19, 2004

A portal opened and out steps Shadow, Starlight, and Twilight as they step in front of a movie theater where a remake of one of the most influential horror film is about to make it's premiere to millions .

"First thing you should know is that we wont have to worry about attracting any attention from these people as we are currently unable to be seen or heard as long as you two are near me." Shadow said.

"Ok, but where are we?" Starlight asked as she looked at her surroundings.

"We are currently outside a movie theater where a movie is currently premiering that will change one mans life forever." Shadow said

"And what man is that?" Twilight asked

"None other then Zack Snyder." Shadow said

"Who's that?" Starlight asked.

"He's the director of this film." Shadow said.

"So what movie did he make?" Twilight asked.

A remake of one of the most definitive zombie movie ever made, Dawn of the Dead." Shadow said.

"Will it be a successful film for him?" Starlight asked

"Well for him yes, but as for the studio who proved him the money, It became what they would called moderate success, it wasn't a flop, but it didn't do as well as they had hope it would." Shadow explained.

"Oh, ok." Twilight said .

"But the one person who would benefit most from this movie is Zack Snyder himself as he will go on to be handed a lot of well known projects in his future." Shadow said.

"But you said we'll be seeing something called the Snyder Cut and the way that your talking about this movie, that it isn't what you've been telling us about?" Starlight said

"True, but in order for you two to understand the Snyder Cut, you must first understand his story and the journey he went on and that is why we needed to start at the beginning when he started on his path as a director and later you'll understand why so many people love him and his directing style, which he style is quite unique compare to other directors of his time." Shadow said

Both Twilight and Starlight nodded as they agreed with the answer they were given.

"But the next film of his will become even more successful than this one." Shadow said with a smile on her face.

"And what's that?" Twilight asked

"Let's see shall we." Shadow said as she opened another portal for the three of them to walk into.

Date: March 9, 2007

The portal opened in front of the same theater they were at earlier but this time a different movie was about to premiere on this day. As the three mares stepped out of the portal Shadow started to explain to the other two the meaning of this day.

"Today is the day that Zack Snyder makes a name for himself, this is when people started to take notice of him as a creative person as well as an cinematic director who can craft scenery and fight scenes very well." Shadow said "This movie was also one that people were really anticipated to see."

"Why is that?" Starlight asked.

"Because this is the day of the release of his adaptation of the graphic novel 300, which is fictional retelling of earth own old history of two armies fighting a war, so people had really high hopes for him to nail this movie, even from those who were fans of the source material at the time." Shadow said.

"Wow." Both Twilight and Starlight said.

"This movie was actually more successful for Snyder than his last one." Shadow stated.

"Really how successful was this one compared to the other one he made?" Twilight asked.

"Dawn of the dead made $102 million worldwide on a budget of $26 million, while this one made $461 million worldwide on a $65 million budget." Shadow said

"Wow that sounds like a lot?" Starlight said at a lost for words about the amount she just heard.

"Yeah it's a lot." Shadow said with a smirk on her face amused by Starlight's reaction. "But as I was saying this was the movie that put Zack Snyder's name out there in the Hollywood world." Shadow said "Now we have one more stop to make before we get to his more important films that will truly have an impact on his fans and will influence what will eventually become The Snyder Cut."

Both Twilight and Starlight nodded at this response.

Shadow then opened up the portal to teleport the three mares to their final destination before they start to really get into the story of Zack Snyder's DCEU.

Date: March 6, 2009

The portal opened and the three mares stepped out to their final destination before exploring some of the more major films of Snyder's.

"So what is the movie that got released this time?" Twilight asked.

"Watchman, another film based on a graphic novel, but this graphic novel was more well known and more respected by their fans than 300, because Watchman has a more serious tone to it and it talk about really serious topics, like war and power, and if you have as much power as the main character in this novel what do you do with that power." Shadow said.

"Wow." Starlight said "That's a really insane tone for a movie to explore."

"Yeah this movie must've done really well."Twilight said with a smile on her face.

Shadow frown at this comment and said "Unfortunate for both the Zack Snyder and the studio this movie became a major flop for them as it was made on a budget of $130 million, but it only made about $185 million worldwide."

Both Twilight and Starlight felt disappointed in the results of the movie."

"But this is the movie that made Zack Snyder known for one thing." Shadow said with a smile on her face

"What's that?" Starlight asked

"His ability to put together the scenes that ended up getting cut from the movie, due to the length of the movie already being so long and make a longer more cohesive movie, that explains things better than the one shown in theaters. This is what people call a director's cut, where a director of a film release a different version of their film either with more footage added that ended up on the cutting room floor or even reshuffling an entire movie by placing scenes in a different place that they were when they were shown in the theaters. The cut of Watchman that was shown in theater was 2 hours and 40 minutes, Zack's Snyder director's cut or what he called an Ultimate Cut, a term he would later use for another director's cut of his. His Ultimate cut of Watchman clocked in around 3 hours and 35 minutes, which is currently the longest superhero movie ever made, at least until one of his later ones, which we will be discussing later." Shadow explained to them.

Both Twilight and Starlight barely had time to really think about all that info that was given to them as Shadow spoke up again.

"Now it's time to head back where we first met to explore the start of what will be known as the DCEU to people who will eventually become fans of Zack Snyder's version of the DC heroes and villains and the start of the passionate fanbase that Snyder will eventually gain due to his movies."

Shadow then opened her last portal to bring Twilight and Starlight back to the place where they first met to truly begin the road to figuring out the true mystery behind the Snyder Cut.

Author's Note

Next Chapter will focus entirely on the film Man of Steel and will probably be a longer chapter than the first two were.

Justice League's Production/A Family Tragedy

"Now then it's finally time to get to the main event, the both of you been waiting for...... Justice League." Shadow said

"Finally!" both Twilight and Starlight exclaimed.

"Production began in 2016 and some key characters were cast in the movie such as J.K. Simmons as James Gordon, head of the GCPD and trusted ally to Batman, Amber Heard as Mera, protector of Atlantis and Aquaman's love interest, Joe Manganiello as the assassin Deathstroke, and Ciaran Hinds as the main villain of the movie, Steppenwolf. " said Shadow

"Wow!" said Starlight

"It was not know at the time, but it was soon revealed that actor Ray Porter was cast in the movie as Steppenwolf's master and ruler of Apokolips, DARKSEID!" said Shadow in a menacing voice

A wave of fear rushed though both Twilight and Starlight as they heard that name. Leaving them shaken and scared.

"Filming began on April 2016 and finished on December of that year, but it was not without it's problems."

"What does that mean?" asked Starlight.

"Shortly before filming began, after the reception to Batman V Superman, the studio began to panic at the reaction to the film and not having the film making more money than it did, decided to switch priorities and immediately told Zack Snyder to change a lot of specific things in his Justice League movie, such as making it more funnier, changing the look of the villain to make him "less scary", and to make it a brighter lighter movie overall, to make it a more "audience friendly movie".. whatever that means." Shadow said getting a little mad herself.

Both Twilight and Starlight began to get mad again.

"But what Snyder didn't know is that the studio was working behind his back to replace him as the director, they decided to bring in their competitors biggest director at the time in 2017 which was Joss Wheadon, who helped their competitors make two movies that both made over $1 billion, to come in and finish the film and do multiple re-shoots instead of Snyder." Shadow said getting a little angry at having had to say that.

Both Twilight and Starlight started to shake with anger at this.

Snyder tried to fight back against the studio after he heard about this aftyer he finished filming. he fought agasint them with all of his passion until......" Shadow immediately stopped mid sentence suddenly, realizing what happens next in Zack's Snyder life.

"Until what?" Twilight asked wondering why she stopped all of a sudden

Shadow began to tear up as she tried to continued "Until......"

"Until?" Starlight asked

Shadow remained silent and then began to lower her head to face the ground as tears fell down her face.

“Shadow what’s wrong?" asked Starlight concerned for her new friend.

"Yeah, why are you crying all of a sudden?" asked Twilight just as concerned for Shadow.

Shadow was staring at the ground and whispered to herself "They deserve to know what happens next."

As Shadow lifted her head back up to face the two mares in front of her, tears still coming from her eyes and dripping down her face she said

"Unfortunately for Zack Snyder while working on post production for Justice League, the most horrible thing that could ever happen to a father, happened on March 2017."

Shadow then stopped once again getting choked up with new tears starting to flow from her eyes, as she turned her head away from the two of them to compose herself.

"Shadow what happened?" asked Twilight now beginning to worry for her friend.

"You need to be strong enough for them to know." Shadow again whispering to herself as she turned back to face them.

Shadow then continued "In March 2017" Shadow said as tears continued to flow down her face "Zack Snyder lost his daughter Autumn..........

....she died by suicide."

Once those words were said both twilight and Starlight were at a lost for words and both holding each other hoof's to comfort each other as tears fell down their faces.

"Oh my Celestia, that's horrible to lose a child."Twilight said, but continued to cry silently to herself.

"And then to lose them by them taking their own life, I can't imagine what he was feeling when he found out." Starlight said while hanging her head low and weeping out loud.

"This was the thing I was most scared of sharing, because Zack was a father first and filmmaker second. Him and his current wife Deborah have eight kids, half of them were adopted, Autumn was one of them. Her death broke Zack's heart and made it difficult for him to keep his mind anywhere else except for thinking of his daughter who he lost too soon, and his family who needed him by their sides to get through tragedy they've experience." Shadow said as she let her tears run down her face and openly cried in front of her two new friends.

Both Twilight and Starlight were now crying along side her sharing the emotion that Zack was probably going through when he found out what happened.

"Sorry to break this emotionally moment, but the story's not over yet." Shadow said composing herself to finished up the events.

Both Twilight and Starlight started to compose themselves so they can finish listening to the story

"It was because of this lost and other heated arguments with the studio that had Zack made the choice that he needed to be with his family and not focus on this stupid game with the studio because his family needed him more than just some silly film. He once described himself as having no fight left in him and he left the project to go be with his family, leaving Justice League’s fate in the hands of Joss Whedon." Shadow said.

Both Twilight and Starlight were at a lost for words.

"This was the end of Zack's involvement with the theatrical version for Justice League, but soon, this will help start a spark of a fight and a new movement for Snyder's fans." Shadow said with a small smile on her face knowing that the future had a brighter outcome for Zack.

Author's Note

I felt that I needed the tragedy to feel very emotional as I could describe it. It was very tough for me to write about, as I have dealt with an attempted suicide in my own life. Without going into details as I don’t want to reveal the identity of that person, I just wanted to let you know that, luckily that person survived their attempt and they’ve gotten help and has now been living a better life than before.

I’ve also had problems with serve depression and thoughts of suicide myself, but I’m always reminded that I have a loving family that supports me. So if you are going through some dark times just remember that there is always someone that loves you for who you are. You don’t need the respect of everyone just the ones that care about you.

Just remember you are not alone.

And if you need help don’t be afraid to get it.

#RELEASETHESNYDERCUT

"The theatrical cut of Justice League or as fans dub it as "Josstice League", that had too many complicated problems that I can't go into to much details, was released in theaters on November 17, 2017, to many negative reviews from critics calling the movie messy and uneven, and normal movie going public say that it was an ok movie. The rumor budget for this version of justice League reportedly cost $300 million to make mostly for the reshoots caused by Whedon, and it made only about $630 million that's about $200 million less then Snyder's previous film." Shadow said

"Good I'm glad they lost money, they deserve to for how they treated Zack." Twilight said very angrily

Starlight just nodded in agreement

"But beside the release of this this date was known mostly for one thing." Shadow said

"And what's that?" Starlight asked

"The start of a movement, which was called #ReleasetheSnyderCut, a hashtag is something in their world on a social platform." Shadow said "A lot of fans of Snyder's thought that Zack wasn't given a far shot at making his film, so they decided to tweet out a hashtag to get the release of Snyder's original vision. For the first year the movement didn't get any traction with anyone, in Hollywood or in general, but silently the movement was growing and it's all thanks to one person......Zack Snyder who helped stoke the flames of the movement by releasing images from his cut, some with visual effects finished, others that had rough outline of vfx."

"Wow!" Twilight said

"But the following year is when the movement really started to work hard to get the word out there about the Snyder's cut. Throughout the year 2019, the movement had raised money to help get the word out by producing T-Shirts, posters and other collectibles. And with every item purchased they make a donation to AFSP." Shadow said

"What's AFSP?" Starlight asked

"It stands for American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, which is an organization who's mission is to help save lives and bring hope to those affected by suicide." Shadow said

Both Twilight and Starlight got emotional at this good deeds.

"As of today over $500,000 has been raised by the #ReleasetheSnydercut movement." Shadow said with a smile on her face.

"They did something in July of 2019 called Project Comic Con, where for the full weekend of comic con they covered bus stops and billboards which was covered in quotes from both Zack Snyder and the cast themselves about Zack's cut of Justice League. They spent the entire weekend talk to people to help spread their message out about their fight for the Snyder Cut. Then in October they rented a Time Square billbored filled with more quotes about the Snyder Cut, for the entire Saturday of New York Comic Con , which to rent one is pretty expensive, but again they did it to get the word out." Shadow said

"Wow!" said Starlight

"But it was on November 17, 2019 is when the movement really pulled out all the stops and gave it their all to get the word out." Shadow said with a smile on her face.

"Why that date specifically?" asked Twilight

Because two years ago on that date was the release of the theatrical version of Justice League. And so senior members of the movement came up with a plan for one last fight to get the cut released. So on November 17, 2019 #ReleasetheSnydercut became the most tweeted about thing on that day, and the movement was joined by the stars of Justice League. Ray Fisher, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, and Ben Affleck joined in to tweet to release the Snyder cut." Shadow said

"Wow, that is such an incredible passionate fan movement." said Starlight

"Then everything changed in the year 2020, in more ways then one." Shadow said with a serious tone of voice

"What does that mean?" asked Twilight

"In 2020 the world went into lock down as it was affected by a deadly disease called the corona-virus or COVID-19. The virus then became a pandemic causing everyone to remain home and are advised to wear face masks every time they leave to go somewhere." said Shadow "And everything was closed for the first few months restaurants, schools, even movie theaters."

"But what does that have to do with The Snyder Cut?" asked Twilight

"Everything, you see Warner Brothers was planning on releasing their own streaming service called HBO MAX to compete with Netflix and Disney+, a streaming service is where anyone can get access to an entire catalog of film and tv and their only paying a small fee a month to get that access.

"It was on May 20th, 2020 that everything changed, you see Zack Snyder was doing a watch along to one of his movies, Man of Steel, where you can watch the film alongside him as he gives details about the movie. As the movie ended, he was joined by Henry Cavill who plays Superman in Snyder's DC films, and together they answered the fans biggest question, "Will you release the Snyder Cut?" and then Zack, with a push of a button revealed this:

Once Twilight and Starlight saw this poster they both burst into tears of joy and happiness for someone who lost some much in his life, is not getting a chance to finish his movie.

"Only Minutes later was it revealed to the public and the entire #ReleasetheSnydercut movement celebrated a victory." Shadow said with a wide smile on her face.

"Then after that Zack got to work by bring back his old crew to help finish the movie, it was revealed in article later that zack did not wanted to get pay for this as he thought that by not getting paid would aloud him to retain creative control of the film which he did, the first teaser for the film was released on August 22, 2020. Then the biggest surprised came in October where it was revealed that Jared Leto, who played Batman's arch enemy The Joker, would return to do some additional filming for Zack's version of Justice League. Leto version of The Joker first appeared in another DC project that was set in the same world as Snyder's films, but was directed by a different director, called Suicide Squad, even though the movie was a success at the box office a lot of people hated Leto's performance as The Joker, I'm one of the few that actually enjoyed his performance, and wanted to see more of his Joker." Shadow said with a smirk on her face.

"Cool." said Twilight

"Then in January it was revealed that Zack Snyder's Justice League was going to be released as a full 4 hour film on HBO MAX on March 18,2019. In February Zack released his first official trailer for his film, generating a new level of excitement for the film. Finally Zack has said that the movie would end displaying two words on screen." Shadow said with a little bit of emotion in her voice.

"What are those words?" asked Starlight

Shadow just looked at both Twilight and Starlight and with a small smile on her face simply said "For Autumn."

Both Twilight and Starlight teared up once again at the mention of her name.

"What's next?" asked Twilight

"Next, it's time to for me to bring the both of you home." Shadow said with a sad smile on her face.

"What!" Both Twilight and Starlight exclaimed.

"But what about you?" Starlight asked with tears running down her face

Shadow, with a sad smile on her face said "My job's finished, but I'll always remember you two as my the greatest friends that I've ever had, and maybe one day we will see each other again."

Both Twilight and Starlight looked at one another and smiled as tears were running down their faces "We're ready."

"Good--" Twilight started to say, but was interrupted

"Don't say goodbye, I hate goodbyes." Shadow said with a sad look on her face.

"Ok, see you later." Twilight said smiling at her as Starlight did the same.

"See you later."" said Shadow with a sad smile on her face. She then waved her hoof and magic began to circle around both Twilight and Starlight as they were engulfed in a bright light. Then the spot that they were standing in was empty as she had transported both Twilight and Starlight back their room in Ponyville. Leaving Shadow alone in the dark once again. Knowing she was alone Shadow opened a small portal and reached her hoof into it. As she pulled her hoof out of the portal, she was now holding a picture in her hoof.........the picture was of Zack Snyder and his daughter Autumn.

Shadow smiled at the picture and with a single tear falling from her eyes simply said
"I miss you........daddy."

THE END.

Created in the memory of Autumn Snyder.

Author's Note

Thank you all for sticking with me throughout this process as with every new story I post and everyone who likes these stories and helps supports me, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Now here are some answers to some questions you all may have.

Was Shadow always intended to be who she was revealed to be?

Yes, Shadow was always intended to represent Autumn in a way, I first had this idea in my mind as a way to pay tribute to her. I wanted to do it in the most respectful way possible, and I wanted to do it in a way that was both surprising and touching at the same time.

Will there be more stories like this?
YES, I've always had the idea to continue this format in other stories that I have plans for.

In fact I think I can announce my next two projects that I am currently working on and will be coming out on March 22 and April 5

March 22:
Twilight and Starlight: Zack Snyder's Justice League Reaction and Aftermath. A two part limited series

April 12:
Untitled Project, details coming soon.

Man of Steel/Batman V Superman

Author's Note

I decided to write about both Man of Steel and Batman V Superman in one chapter as they tie in with one another as most of the rest of the chapters ahead will be dealing with Justice League and the Release the Snyder Cut movement.

Man of Steel/Batman V Superman

Location: Unknown

Time: Unknown

As Shadow, Starlight and Twilight returned from their travel Shadow spoke up band said

"Now it's time to see the beginnings of what will eventually be known as the DCEU, are the two of you ready because this first part will take a while to explain."

"We're ready." Both Twilight and Starlight said.

"Ok we will first start off with the film that started it all Man of Steel. It was the year 2009 and the film studio Warner Brothers were looking for a way to compete with their rivals over at another studio named Disney, who had their own superhero film franchise of interconnected movies in Marvel Studios. So they began planning to bring back one of the most well known DC Superheroes back to the big screens, Superman." Shadow explained to them.

"Superman, wow what a cool sounding name." Starlight said imminently drawn into the story so far

"But the studio was hesitant on doing it as their last outing in bring the character to theaters didn't go so well." Shadow continued "But they decided to give it a try and so they set to work getting the movie developed and hired a writer named David S. Goyer to write the screenplay for the movie and in October of 2010 hired none other than Zack Snyder to direct the film and began casting actors and actress in November of that year to help bring these fictional characters to life."

Both Twilight and Starlight remained silent as they were so bought into the story being told to them.

"First up was The Man of Steel himself Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman, and the actor who was cast to fill these very enormous shoes was Henry Cavill. Snyder said in speaking of Cavill " He's the perfect choice to don the cape and the S shield." Shadow said "Other casting included Amy Adams as the fearless reporter/ love interest Lois Lane, Harry Lennix as the brave but mysterious General Calvin Swanwick, Diane Lane as the loving adoptive mother of Clark Kent, Russell Crowe as the biological father of Kal-El, and rounding out the casting is Micheal Shannon as the villainous General Zod."

Both Twilight and Starlight shivered at the mention of Zod's name.

Shadow then started to continued the story "Filming of the film began in August of 2011 and would continue until February of 2012. Famous composer Hans Zimmer was brought on to compose the score for the film. Man of Steel was released on June 24, 2013 worldwide. It grossed $668 million worldwide making it the highest grossing solo Superman film ever."

"So this film was a success for him then." Starlight said.

"Yep." Shadow said "But what Snyder's fans didn't know that the biggest movie was on the horizons and was about to blow people minds with what's coming up."

"And what's that?" Twilight asked.

"A month after the release of Man of Steel Zack Snyder had a panel at San Diego Comic-Con." Shadow said , but before she could continued Starlight asked her a question.

"What's Comic Con?"

"Comic Con is a three day convention, where fans celebrate their love for various form of media such as comic books, anime, movies, and tons of other things. It's the definitive place for movie studio to go to to announce something big that would be the talk of the convention for the entire week or as people describe it as "breaks the internet." Shadow explained

"Wow." Both Twilight and Starlight said.

"Warner Brothers, the studio that owns the right to the DC Characters, were finishing up a panel, but decided to end it in a very big way." Shadow said.

Both Twilight and Starlight were very excited about something that could be a very big announcement for these fans.

Shadow then continued by saying " At the end of the panel Zack Snyder came out on stage in front of thousands of DC fans to officially announce that he was beginning work on Man of Steel 2, the crowd of course became very excited at this news but nothing could possible prepare them for what would happen next. Zack Snyder invited Harry Lennix up onto the stage to read something written down on a piece of paper."

"What was written on the paper?" Starlight asked

Shadow smiled and said "A passage from one of the most popular graphic novel/comic book of all time, THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS. Harry gets up to the microphone and everyone in the room is silent waiting for what he is going to say. Then he starts to read the passage."

"What did he passage say?" Twilight asked

Shadow looked to the two of them and said "I want you to remember, Clark, in all the years to come, in all of your most private moments. I want you to remember, my hand, at your throat, I want you to remember, the one man, who beat you. Then the room's lights turned off and up on the screen on the stage Superman's logo appeared, but then another logo appeared from behind it, a logo of a bat. Once that happens the entire room of people suddenly broke out in applause and began to cheer and clap, completely blown away from what had just happened. And with that one announcement DC had won Comic Co, beating their rival Marvel that year."

"What does the bat logo mean to those fans?" Starlight asked.

"It means that the two greatest superheroes in comic book history will finally face off against one another for the first time in live action and in theaters, Batman vs Superman." Shadow said

Both Twilight and Starlight began to become very excited at this, even though they don't really know who this Batman character is.

"After that Zack got to work searching for the right actor to bring his version of the caped crime fighter to life. The past four actors who played Batman or as I should call him by his alter ego Billionaire Bruce Wayne, were fairly young, but what Zack wanted for his Batman is an older actor, one who could portray his version of Batman who has been fighting crime for a long time, who is at the end of his rope and is now willing to break his own code to strike fear into his enemies."

Both Twilight and Starlight were hugging one another shriving in fear based on the description that was given to them just now.

"After many months of searching Zack finally found his Bruce Wayne/Batman in none other than actor Ben Affleck. He believed that Ben had the right look and physic he was looking for to portray his Batman." Shadow said "After that he got to work finding other actors to bring the other members of the Justice League to life."

"What's the Justice League?" Starlight asked.

"The Justice League is a group formed by some of the greatest heroes of the DC Universe. The members included have changed throughout the years with different iterations of the group, but the trinity would always be on it no matter what."

"The Trinity?" asked Twilight

"The Trinity is the three most popular DC heroes ever, Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman." Shadow said with a big smile on her face.

"Cool." Both Twilight and Starlight said

"And speaking of Wonder Woman." Shadow continued "Zack Snyder found his Wonder Woman, who is one of the strongest fighters in the DC Universe in Gal Gadot. He also finished casting the rest of the Justice League as well. Ezra Miller was cast as Barry Allen/The Flash, the fastest hero ever, Jason Mamoa was cast as Arthur Curry/Aquaman the rightful king of Atlantis, and finally Ray Fisher as the bio-mechanical Cyborg."

Both Twilight and Starlight became very excited at those casting.

"Of course with every hero needs a great villain and Jesse Eisenberg was cast as Superman's arch enemy Lex Luthur. And to round out the new casting of characters is Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth Bruce Wayne's trusted butler and assistance. Amy Adams, Diane Lane, and Harry Lennix also came back to reprise their roles from the previous film." Shadow said

"Wow, what an amazing cast." Starlight said.

"The score for Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice was done by Hans Zimmer with some added help from another composer, Junkie XL." Shadow said. "The movie was then released on March 25, 2016."

"Wow with all that it must of been one of Zack Snyder's best film ever right?" Twilight said.

Suddenly Shadow's face turned from a smile into a deep frown." Unfortunately for Snyder before he could release his movie which was supposed to be a three hour movie. The Studio came in and told him to make it sorter, so Zack ended up cutting thirty minutes from his final cut and ended up having to rearranging scenes from the movie. The final product ended up being a messy movie that film critics panned and disliked a lot. But the movie did end up making about $876 million worldwide on a $250 million budget."

"Wow, so it was still successful." Twilight said with a smile.

Shadow again frowned and said "Yes it was, but the studio saw it as a complete failure."

"What!" Starlight exclaimed "Why?"

"Because it didn't make a $1 billion that's why. So they got extremely worried about the direction Snyder was taking the next movie he was going to direct which was Justice League, which will be the start of many fights between Zack and the studio in what direction the film should go." Shadow said. "As Batman V Superman set up a lot of scenes that Snyder was going to revise including some of the most controversial scenes in the movie which included, Superman's death at the hands of Doomsday, the Knightmare timeline where Batman is one of few surviving heroes on a ruined earth where it's ruled over by an evil and corrupted Superman, and of course what a lot of people who hates the movie is the worst ever which of course is seeing Batman using guns and kills people/criminals with no remorse, where as in the comics Batman has mortal code about not killing and not ever using a gun."

Both Twilight and Starlight started to get very angry at the studio for the way their were thinking about Zack and his movies.

"But eventually Snyder did eventual release the full three hour version of his film, as he calls it the Ultimate edition, which was received better than the theatrical edition by both critics and by the fans of Zack Snyder." Shadow said.

Both Twilight and Starlight smiled at this.

"But, unfortunately for Zack the worse to in terms of both his professional career and in his personal life." Shadow said with a sad look on her face.