When a runtime of less than two hours was announced for Justice League, some fans were
shocked, suspecting that the team-up movie had been drastically cut down during reshoots
and the final edit.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, it's Jan here, and today I'm breaking down and explaining
everything deleted and changed in the final cut of Justice League, including some great
lines and scenes teased in the trailers, plus some cameos we never got to see.
I'm also currently running a giveaway for two Justice League: The Art of The Film hardback
books which are full of gorgeous concept art and behind-the-scenes shots from the set.
To enter, make sure you're a subscriber and let me know what you think about any of the
deleted scenes or reshoots.
Quick spoiler warning, I'll be discussing changes to the movie, so be aware of that
if you haven't seen it yet.
One reported objective of the movie's reshoots was to lighten the tone of the film.
For example Joe Morton who plays Victor Stone's father, Silas, said he believed the studio
had requested adjustments to Cyborg to make him less serious.
There's evidence of a lot of deleted scenes with Cyborg from the early trailers.
Some of them indicate we were going to learn more about his previous football career.
And there's another cut scene with Cyborg which included a cameo by Marc McClure, the
actor who played Jimmy Olsen in the Christopher Reeve-era Superman movies.
In the deleted Justice League clip, McClure plays a policeman who Cyborg saves from a
burning wreckage.
"You should probably move."
Ray Fisher has also revealed there was a scene of Victor and his mother, presumably a flashback,
which Fisher described as "really special and […] unique".
And there's another cut scene in the trailers where Cyborg tells Batman he thought he wasn't
real.
"I heard about you."
"Didn't think you were real."
"I'm real when it's useful."
In early 2016, it was also reported that Willem Dafoe was cast as Vulko for Justice League;
however, his character was completely cut from the movie.
According to Jason Momoa, in an earlier version of the film, Aquaman spent more time underwater
than we see in the final movie, and we would have seen Dafoe's character Vulko as Aquaman's
'connection to Atlantis' and as the person who gave Aquaman the idea that he's 'the rightful
king'.
Zack Snyder's vision for the film was to establish Aquaman's anger at feeling like an outcast
who's not at home either at sea or on land.
Comic book movie fans will know Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin from Sam Raimi's Spider-Man
films, however, his character Vulko will be appearing in next year's Aquaman movie.
The first Justice League trailer reveals deleted scenes of some rather Snyderesque shots of
Bruce Wayne trekking with his horse through the icy wilderness before he reached Aquaman's
fishing village.
"We have to be ready.
You, me, the others."
I suspect this sort of visual storytelling was a casualty of the editing process and
the reported directive from the Warner Bros CEO that the final movie should be no longer
than two hours.
A number of comedic moments were also victims of this pretty strict requirement with Diana
and Bruce's "more more or more less" quip getting the chop from the final film.
"He said he'll fight with us?"
"More or less."
"More-more or more-less?"
"Probably more less."
"He said no."
Another Bruce Wayne scene that ended up on the proverbial cutting room floor showed him
looking at what seems to be a hologram of Supergirl.
I wonder if the idea was to have her in contact with Batman after her cousin died.
There's also some deleted dialogue in one of the trailers, where Bruce talks about having
a dream.
"I had a dream."
"It was the end of the world."
And I'm guessing this was a reference to Batman's Knightmare in BvS.
Batman himself also had a short line cut when he says "my turn" after getting into the Nightcrawler.
"My turn."
Ezra Miller's Barry Allen had a stack of deleted scenes too.
First is an intriguing and very cool shot of Barry breaking through a pane of glass
with the tip of his finger.
The cut scene has an interesting visual parallel to how Flash appeared to Bruce Wayne at the
end of the Knightmare sequence in BvS and, more importantly, to a moment in Justice League
where Barry gently pushes Wonder Woman's sword back towards her, showing how far he's come
since he broke that glass.
Notice also that there's a woman behind Barry in this cut moment, and I wonder whether this
could be a flashback to when either Barry got his powers or how he learns about what
he can do.
There's a cool shot of the Flash taking out a parademon during the tunnels sequence and
this looks like it was cut to shorten the action scene.
Ezra Miller and Jason Momoa have also revealed there was a comical scene cut where Barry
and Aquaman are in a van and they're trying to figure out what superhero name to give
him as he's not called the Flash yet.
In the deleted scene, Barry is going on and on about it, and makes a few suggestions such
as Lightning Boy or Lightning Lad.
Aquaman then quips back, "how about Motor Mouth?"
which makes Barry spit out his food and then he replies, "[well what] about Comedy Man?"
The names Lightning Boy and Lightning Lad are actually comic-book easter eggs as they're
aliases for Garth Ranzz, one of the founding members of the Legion of Superheroes.
By the way, while filming this van scene, Ezra Miller had to stuff his face with burgers,
which I'm guessing would have tied in with Barry complaining about how hungry he was
in the Batcave.
Originally, we were going to get the introduction of Iris West to the DC movie universe; however,
it looks like we won't be seeing her now until the Flashpoint movie.
Actress Kiersey Clemons was cast and confirmed she filmed scenes with Zack Snyder, however,
she wasn't involved in the reshoots, so it looks she was a casualty of the edits.
The elevator scene of the team entering the Batcave in their superhero costumes was changed
to them dressed in just their regular clothes.
And the Batcave scenes were also scaled back.
Reports from the Batcave set in August last year talk about numerous scenes of the Justice
League joking around with Alfred which we never got to see in the movie.
In one of those lost scenes, after seeing the number of metahumans who've suddenly descended
on the Batcave, Alfred sarcastically remarks to Bruce Wayne that, "If you'd warned me,
I would have baked a cake", "I'll break open the party hats and the piñata" and also "I'll
make some tea.
Don't know where I'll find the cups."
Alfred did still get some nice lines in Justice League though, like his sardonic easter-egg-laden
remark about "exploding wind-up penguins", but there are also some trailer scenes with
him that were chopped from the final film.
"How do you know your team's strong enough?"
And there's one scene in particular that hints there might have been a different return for
Superman.
"He said you'd come."
"Now let's hope you're not too late."
The way the film played out suggests this might have been Superman visiting the Batcave
after he'd disappeared to his family's farmhouse with Lois.
Alternatively, in this cut scene, it may be Lois Lane who Alfred is talking to, after
all, Batman has asked him to 'bring in the big gun' to help them deal with the volatile,
resurrected Superman.
Clark and Lois also had their scene in Smallville cut down.
And you can see the missing part in the trailers.
"I'll take that as a yes?"
"What?"
"The ring."
We do see Lois touch her ring as she talks to Clark in the movie, but this dialogue about
the ring was cut.
A Superman moment that we didn't get to see in the film was Superman in his black suit.
Now the black suit appears in a number of comics including the Death of Superman storyline
in which he was killed by Doomsday.
And many comic book fans were hoping for the suit to make an appearance in Justice League,
especially after Henry Cavill posted a photo of a section from a dark-looking Superman
suit on Instagram.
Of course, it's possible Cavill was just having a bit of fun with fans, like Hugh Jackman
did when he posted a picture of a yellow-suited Wolverine toy before Logan was released.
By the way, the movie does still give a little nod to Superman's black suit from the comics
via the dark, seemingly black, trousers Superman wears after he's resurrected, as well as in
the colour of the Superman banners on buildings after his death.
And despite having a shortish screentime in Justice League, Henry Cavill was still involved
in the reshoots, which meant the moustache he had for his role in Mission: Impossible
had to be digitally removed in post-production.
Wonder Woman's opening scene in London where she saves a group of hostages from a terrorist
group looks like it could have played out quite differently.
The trailers seem to reveal the bomb going off inside the building suggesting that, in
this version, she might not have saved all the hostages.
Which makes me wonder if this was reshot to have a happier outcome at the beginning of
the film rather than something darker because, in the actual movie, Diana throws the bomb
through the roof, saving everyone.
I noticed a major visual change in the final act when the Justice League go to Russia to
take down Steppenwolf.
In the first trailer, the scenes for this part of the film all have a bluish colour,
whereas in later trailers this changed quite drastically to red.
The decision to have red skies might be a comic-book reference to the red skies from
the Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline, or perhaps a nod to the fiery, hellish landscape
of the planet Apokolips which Steppenwolf hails from.
However, I think the red filter on the scenes might have contributed to the CGI looking
less realistic in the final battle compared to the original look.
Speaking of Steppenwolf, the movie's big bad has some menacing dialogue deleted from in
the trailers where he references the fact that there's nobody protecting the Earth.
"No protectors here."
"No lanterns."
"No Kryptonian."
"It's World War 4."
And there are still a few more deleted scenes.
One is a shot of the team walking into Star Labs.
Another is a cool shot of Wonder Woman facing off against Steppenwolf with Aquaman and Cyborg
behind her.
"Shall we?"
In the final movie, we only see her alone in this pose.
Now, are there any deleted scenes you wish had been included in the movie?
And are you happier with the shorter runtime and lighter tone or would you have preferred
something darker?
Be sure to let me know in the comments below and don't forget to also subscribe for your
chance to win one of these two Justice League: The Art of the Film books.
The winners of my Thor Ragnarok giveaway are on the screen right now, and here is the winner
of my Stranger Things giveaway as well.
If that's you, be sure to send me a message with your details so I can get your prizes
out to you.
Also, while you're here check out some more of my Justice League and movie deleted scene
videos by tapping the screen now.
Thanks for watching and see ya next time.
Yippee-ki-yay movie lovers!