4 Beers for 4 Hours of ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’

In case you haven’t heard, this is one long movie.

The Movie: Director’s cut of the 2017 superhero movie / 2021 / Warner Bros. – DC Films

The Beers: Four hours, four different beers!

*Some Spoilers*

Despite all the hype, the bar wasn’t overly high for Zack Snyder’s Justice League. With a couple exceptions, the DC films of the past decade have been a snore fest, trying too hard to be like the MCU in some ways and not hard enough in others. So, with the usual disappointing 2017 release of Justice League, a new, never-before-seen director’s cut offered fresh hope for the lagging franchise.

In case you missed it, director Zack Snyder bowed out of Justice League during post production due to family tragedy (the death of his daughter). This was already after the initial production ran into numerous issues, including several script rewrites both before and during shooting. Joss Whedon (who previously directed 2012’s The Avengers and 2015’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron for the MCU) was brought in to replace Snyder and finish the film as an uncredited director. Whedon decided to inject more humor into the movie and give it a lighter tone, which called for reshoots and supposedly significant changes to Snyder’s vision. The final result flopped at the box office and was a critical failure, prompting many cast and crew members to ask for Snyder’s original version to replace it. It’s also worth noting that two of the movie’s stars, Ray Fisher and Gal Gadot, went on the complain publicly about Whedon’s on-set behavior. Co-star Jason Momoa voiced his support of the complaints.

So here we are four years later, with Snyder’s original cut for the movie finally released to public audiences (via HBO Max).

In case you skipped right over the title of this article, this new cut ended up being four hours long. This is interesting, because the movie revolves almost entirely around its six superhero characters: Wonder Woman / Diana Prince (Gadot), Batman / Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), Aquaman / Arthur Curry (Momoa), Cyborg / Victor Stone (Fisher) and the Flash / Barry Allen (Ezra Miller). Compare that to the MCU’s Avengers: Infinity War from 2018, which ran 2 hours and 40 minutes and had 19 top-billed cast members, in addition to dozens more slightly less-important characters.

While one could argue that Infinity War and its 2019 follow-up, Avengers: Endgame, are basically one long movie that’s almost six hours put together, that still doesn’t explain why Justice League needed this lengthy of a movie to show Batman rounding up his fellow superheroes and fighting a pretty straightforward battle.

For those declaring that Justice League is in a totally different universe than the Avengers and therefore should not be compared at all, it’s time to do a double-check of the plot. Our heroes are fighting to stop a powerful alien named Thanos, sorry, Steppenwolf, and his buddies from collecting multiple infinity stones, sorry, mother boxes, and using them to snap his fingers and destroy life– sorry, destroy life everywhere. The desire to snap fingers is yet to be determined.

The Snyder Cut does elaborate on the plot enough to explain that Steppenwolf is actually just the henchman of Darkseid and is just carrying out some evil bidding. So if anything, he’s now more like Ronan while Darkseid becomes Thanos. Also, the next Justice League movie is set to explore the team’s effort to stop Darkseid, so there’s your Endgame right there.

And this cut is still four hours long.

You’d think that, because of the length, this would be one great epic tale, a true saga, the Spartacus of superheroes. But alas, it is not. It’s energetic enough though, and the action scenes seem to float in just when the audience starts to drift.

Why not embrace the spirit of unnecessary indulgence with four beer pairings? One for each hour! Let’s go:

Hour 1 – Allagash White

The characters get longer introductions in the Snyder Cut, and while there is some action upfront, you don’t want to get tired too fast. So, how about starting off nice and easy with a modern classic like Allagash White? This Witbier from Maine’s Allagash Brewing Co. has been around since 1995, which practically gives it super powers of its own as far as today’s craft beer scene goes.

It’s flavorful, nuanced and only 5.2% ABV. Heck, you could probably drink two while the first hour finds its footing!

Hour 2 – Tröegs JavaHead Stout

The second hour elaborates even further on character subplots, though not a significant amount of individual development is seen (though that’s understandable, considering this is an ensemble movie). The tone is nice and dark by now though – a considerable departure from the 2017 release, and a welcome one.

At this point, it’s time to embrace the darkness and pop open a Stout. JavaHead from Pennsylvania’s Tröegs will do nicely – it’s an Oatmeal Stout infused with coffee to help you keep your viewing energy up.

This dark sipper is layered and complex, much like Cyborg’s much deeper plot line in the Snyder Cut. Honestly, the only real issue with Cyborg is that he is still pretty much all robot with most of a human face, which is a tad disturbing considering he was once all human (most comic renditions have him retaining more human parts, but it can be assumed that it was cheaper/easier for the CGI folks to just robot-up the whole actor).

Hour 3 – KCBC Superhero Sidekicks IPA

The third hour starts to get a little lighter in tone (but only slightly), and an IPA is a great way to stay in the action. Superhero Sidekicks from New York’s Kings County Brewers Collective (KCBC) is like its own Justice League of hops, packed with a stunning array of Citra, Mosaic, Idaho 7, Cascade and Centennial. Let each sip linger, and flavors of ripe oranges, juicy pineapple and pine glide across the tongue like the Flash in slow-mo.

Speaking of slow-mo, there’s plenty of action in the Synder Cut, but it all keeps getting bogged down with too many slow-motion action shots (haven’t we moved on from The Matrix years?) Whereas X-Men‘s Quicksilver did an excellent job making superhuman speed look badass while in slow-motion, Justice League 2021 doesn’t make any improvements over 2017’s incredibly dull Flash sequences. You get the feeling he’s doing something important while he’s frozen in place surrounded by blue lightning, but you don’t really care.

Hour 4 – Speakeasy Ales & Lagers Metropolis Lager

Despite the movie’s flaws, the pacing stays pretty steady by the last hour. Of course, it’s all leading up to one big battle and, finally, some final MCU-like scenes that allude to future superheroics. A Lager is just the thing to keep you refreshed all the way through. And what better choice than one called Metropolis Lager? Superman is back, baby!

In addition to coming in awesome packaging, Metropolis Lager has a super drinkable 5.3% ABV and quenching notes of citrus leading to a crisp, dry finish. It comes from Speakeasy Ales & Lagers in San Francisco.

Will a bottle of this Lager make up for the movie’s pitfalls? No, but it might help those final action sequences feel even more kickass.

With or without beer in hand though, the movie probably didn’t need to be four hours long.

*Bonus Brews*

Four beers strung together can be a lot! Here’s are some non-alcoholic options to take a break with or just swap in entirely:

• Victory Citrus Wheat / NA Wheat Ale / 0.19% ABV / WellBeing Brewing – Maryland Heights, MD
• All Out Stout / NA Stout / 0.3% ABV / Athletic Brewing – Stratford, CT
• IPNA / NA IPA / 0.4% ABV / Lagunitas – Petaluma, CA
• Bitburger Drive / NA Pilsner / 0.0% ABV / Bitburger – Germany