Justice League (2017 Film)

2017filmclassic

Published September 2, 2026

The 2017 DC superhero movie assembled Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg, and The Flash on screen for the first time, but a mid production director swap and hasty reshoots turned it into an internet punching bag. Henry Cavill's digitally scrubbed mustache and the years long fan campaign to release Zack Snyder's original cut made the film one of the most joked about superhero productions of the decade.

dc comics memesso bad its good memesfandom discourse memesuncanny valley memes2017 memes

Overview

The theatrical Justice League cut ran roughly two hours, carried a lighter tone credited to Joss Whedon's rewrites, and gave audiences a Superman whose upper lip did not match his face because of last minute visual effects work56. Jokes about Cavill's philtrum, the groove between nose and top lip, spread the moment the film opened, with critics and viewers screencapping the wobbly CGI to point out how obviously the mustache had been painted over5. The word 'philtrum' itself trended in reviews and reaction pieces, since suddenly everyone was Googling the anatomical term just to describe what looked off about Superman's face5.

Online, the film also turned into shorthand for studio interference and expensive reshoots gone sideways. Warner Bros. had brought in Whedon to lighten the tone Zack Snyder set with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and the seams showed on screen34. 'Release the Snyder Cut' grew into a sustained fan revolt that blamed the studio for gutting Snyder's darker version, and the campaign lasted long enough that HBO Max eventually funded a four hour cut for a 2021 release9. That gave the meme a second life, since fans could point to the finished Snyder Cut as proof they had been right about the theatrical version all along9.

Origin & Background

Platform
Theatrical release (viral meme spread on Twitter and blogs)
Creator
Zack Snyder & Joss Whedon; Warner Bros. / DC Films
Date
2017

Warner Bros. confirmed on April 27, 2014 that Zack Snyder would direct a Justice League film as a follow up to Man of Steel and the then upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, both Snyder projects1. Variety framed the announcement as WB's answer to Marvel's The Avengers, which had shown a shared cinematic universe could pay off at the box office1. Principal photography began on April 11, 20169, and after the mixed reception to Batman v Superman, the studio formed a dedicated DC Films unit under Jon Berg and Geoff Johns to give the franchise clearer oversight2.

In March 2017, Snyder's daughter Autumn died by suicide at age 20, though the family kept the news private for months while the movie sat on a brief production break3. Snyder initially tried to return, saying he thought burying himself in work would be cathartic, but by May he stepped away from post production to focus on his family3. Warner Bros. brought in Joss Whedon, fresh off directing The Avengers for Marvel, to shoot additional scenes and steer the film to its November 17, 2017 release3.

How It Spread

The film opened to weak reviews and worse reactions online. Rotten Tomatoes' critic consensus flagged the murky look, thin characters, and chaotic action7, and Metacritic aggregated a mixed to negative response from major reviewers8. Within hours of the movie hitting theaters, jokes about Henry Cavill's upper lip flooded Twitter and entertainment blogs, because his mustache from Mission: Impossible 6 had been contractually protected on that set and had to be digitally scrubbed out during Justice League reshoots6. Vulture built an entire review around the word 'philtrum,' walking readers through exactly how bad the digital shave looked one minute and thirty seconds into the movie5.

The studio had already spent around $25 million on roughly two months of reshoots split between London and Los Angeles, well above the $6 to $10 million range Variety noted as typical for pickup work4. Cavill later explained he wore facial tracking dots and had the fake mustache waxed back onto his top lip so effects artists could rebuild his face in post6. Once fans learned a longer, darker Snyder version sat unfinished on the shelf, 'Release the Snyder Cut' turned into a sustained pressure campaign across Twitter and Reddit that ran for years9.

The campaign paid off. In 2021, HBO Max released Zack Snyder's Justice League, a four hour cut assembled from Snyder's original footage plus new material, giving the meme a second wind as fans compared shots side by side with the theatrical release9. Those side by side comparisons themselves turned into a meme format, with clips of the mustache scenes shared as evidence of how differently the two versions handled the same moments9.

How to Use This Meme

The film generates a few recurring meme templates. The most common is the philtrum joke, where creators post the awkwardly smoothed close up of Cavill's face from the opening cold open and pair it with captions about bad CGI or contractual obligations5. 'Release the Snyder Cut' works as a rallying phrase whenever fans want a company to give in to a coordinated pressure campaign, and after 2021 it also functions as a cautionary punchline about being careful what you wish for9. Side by side comparisons pair a theatrical cut screenshot with the matching Snyder Cut shot to argue about tone, color grading, or costume design9.

Frequently Asked Questions

Justice League (2017 Film)

2017filmclassic

Published September 2, 2026

The 2017 DC superhero movie assembled Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg, and The Flash on screen for the first time, but a mid production director swap and hasty reshoots turned it into an internet punching bag. Henry Cavill's digitally scrubbed mustache and the years long fan campaign to release Zack Snyder's original cut made the film one of the most joked about superhero productions of the decade.

dc comics memes so bad its good memes fandom discourse memes uncanny valley memes 2017 memes

Overview

The theatrical Justice League cut ran roughly two hours, carried a lighter tone credited to Joss Whedon's rewrites, and gave audiences a Superman whose upper lip did not match his face because of last minute visual effects work56. Jokes about Cavill's philtrum, the groove between nose and top lip, spread the moment the film opened, with critics and viewers screencapping the wobbly CGI to point out how obviously the mustache had been painted over5. The word 'philtrum' itself trended in reviews and reaction pieces, since suddenly everyone was Googling the anatomical term just to describe what looked off about Superman's face5.

Online, the film also turned into shorthand for studio interference and expensive reshoots gone sideways. Warner Bros. had brought in Whedon to lighten the tone Zack Snyder set with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and the seams showed on screen34. 'Release the Snyder Cut' grew into a sustained fan revolt that blamed the studio for gutting Snyder's darker version, and the campaign lasted long enough that HBO Max eventually funded a four hour cut for a 2021 release9. That gave the meme a second life, since fans could point to the finished Snyder Cut as proof they had been right about the theatrical version all along9.

Origin & Background

Platform
Theatrical release (viral meme spread on Twitter and blogs)
Creator
Zack Snyder & Joss Whedon; Warner Bros. / DC Films
Date
2017

Warner Bros. confirmed on April 27, 2014 that Zack Snyder would direct a Justice League film as a follow up to Man of Steel and the then upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, both Snyder projects1. Variety framed the announcement as WB's answer to Marvel's The Avengers, which had shown a shared cinematic universe could pay off at the box office1. Principal photography began on April 11, 20169, and after the mixed reception to Batman v Superman, the studio formed a dedicated DC Films unit under Jon Berg and Geoff Johns to give the franchise clearer oversight2.

In March 2017, Snyder's daughter Autumn died by suicide at age 20, though the family kept the news private for months while the movie sat on a brief production break3. Snyder initially tried to return, saying he thought burying himself in work would be cathartic, but by May he stepped away from post production to focus on his family3. Warner Bros. brought in Joss Whedon, fresh off directing The Avengers for Marvel, to shoot additional scenes and steer the film to its November 17, 2017 release3.

How It Spread

The film opened to weak reviews and worse reactions online. Rotten Tomatoes' critic consensus flagged the murky look, thin characters, and chaotic action7, and Metacritic aggregated a mixed to negative response from major reviewers8. Within hours of the movie hitting theaters, jokes about Henry Cavill's upper lip flooded Twitter and entertainment blogs, because his mustache from Mission: Impossible 6 had been contractually protected on that set and had to be digitally scrubbed out during Justice League reshoots6. Vulture built an entire review around the word 'philtrum,' walking readers through exactly how bad the digital shave looked one minute and thirty seconds into the movie5.

The studio had already spent around $25 million on roughly two months of reshoots split between London and Los Angeles, well above the $6 to $10 million range Variety noted as typical for pickup work4. Cavill later explained he wore facial tracking dots and had the fake mustache waxed back onto his top lip so effects artists could rebuild his face in post6. Once fans learned a longer, darker Snyder version sat unfinished on the shelf, 'Release the Snyder Cut' turned into a sustained pressure campaign across Twitter and Reddit that ran for years9.

The campaign paid off. In 2021, HBO Max released Zack Snyder's Justice League, a four hour cut assembled from Snyder's original footage plus new material, giving the meme a second wind as fans compared shots side by side with the theatrical release9. Those side by side comparisons themselves turned into a meme format, with clips of the mustache scenes shared as evidence of how differently the two versions handled the same moments9.

How to Use This Meme

The film generates a few recurring meme templates. The most common is the philtrum joke, where creators post the awkwardly smoothed close up of Cavill's face from the opening cold open and pair it with captions about bad CGI or contractual obligations5. 'Release the Snyder Cut' works as a rallying phrase whenever fans want a company to give in to a coordinated pressure campaign, and after 2021 it also functions as a cautionary punchline about being careful what you wish for9. Side by side comparisons pair a theatrical cut screenshot with the matching Snyder Cut shot to argue about tone, color grading, or costume design9.

Frequently Asked Questions