The theatrical cut of Justice League disappointed critics and many fans, but now director Zack
Snyder has gotten the green light to make his original version of the movie a reality.
We already know a few things about what it'll look like here's what fans can expect.
The biggest issue that Warner Bros. reportedly had with Zack Snyder's version of Justice
League was that it was too long. In 2017, The Wall Street Journal claimed that the studio's
CEO had stepped in and demanded that the film be trimmed down to two hours, a full hour
shorter than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Snyder managed to turn in a version that ran
for two hours and 20 minutes before he departed the project, but that isn't the cut we're
going to see on HBO Max in 2021.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Snyder's, quote, "optimal version" of Justice League
was actually four hours long. He was well aware that Warner Bros. was unlikely to release
a four-hour film in theaters, but now that the project is destined for streaming, Snyder
may actually get his wish.
"Stop right there. I'm in."
In fact, we may even get more than four hours. The director told THR that the studio was
considering releasing Zack Snyder's Justice League as a series.
After hosting some Warner Bros. execs at his home to discuss the idea of finally releasing
his version of Justice League, Snyder floated the idea of fleshing out what they already
had and creating six "chapters" that would end with cliffhangers. The studio has reportedly
allocated $20-$30 million to add the finishing touches to the existing material, so a six-part
Justice League series is a very real possibility.
The extensive reshoots conducted by replacement director Joss Whedon drastically changed large
sections of Snyder's film, and one of the biggest victims was Ray Fisher's Victor Stone,
a.k.a Cyborg. Snyder once told USA Today:
"Ray's story is in a lot of the ways the heart of the movie."
But the character was on the periphery for much of the theatrical cut. His origin story
was filmed but completely cut from the final movie, as were a number of big moments involving
his family. Speaking to GameSpot, Fisher revealed that he shot some, quote, "really special"
scenes with Karen Bryson, who played Cyborg's mom, that wound up on the cutting room floor.
We did get to meet Cyborg's father Silas Stone, the genius behind his son's restoration, but
what we didn't see was his dad's death. In a post shared to his Vero, Snyder revealed
a still from his version of the movie that shows a helpless Cyborg reaching out as his
father is consumed by an explosion. According to Vulture editor Kyle Buchanan, Snyder intended
Silas Stone to be the voice of the movie's closing monologue. He tweeted:
"Cyborg finds a video from him at the end [...] Whedon gave those lines to Amy Adams"
Kiersey Clemons was clearly excited to be debuting as Barry Allen's longtime love interest
Iris West. The Dope star was meant to cameo in the team-up movie, but she wasn't invited
back for reshoots when Whedon took the reins, and in the end her small scene was removed
altogether.
"Are you gonna be in the new Justice League?"
No. I'm not."
Chances are this scene will be reinstated for Snyder's cut, and we even know what it's
going to look like because a rough version of it leaked online in 2017.
Sources told Batman News that Warner Bros. was at one stage mulling over the idea of
completing the visual effects on this scene so that it could be included as part of the
Blu-ray release, though the studio was apparently considering removing West from the equation
and just having the Flash save a random person instead.
This could well be how the scene plays out in Snyder's upcoming cut, though Snyder has
always been a vocal supporter of Clemons and Miller's partnership. In November 2019, he
shared a still of the quote "cute couple" in character.
Jason Momoa's Arthur Curry spends most of his time above the waves in the theatrical
cut of Justice League, but don't expect that to be the case in Snyder's finished version.
According to Momoa, he filmed scenes at an underwater location that never made it into
Whedon's reshuffled film. Momoa told GameSpot:
"There's a place where [Aquaman] goes down to, and it got cut out of the movie. He knows
spots where he can go and he can see these statues, the remnants of [Atlantis]."
The actor also revealed that Willem Dafoe's Vulko was originally supposed to debut during
this section of the film, but said:
"There just wasn't enough time."
Of course, Vulko went on to feature heavily in 2018's Aquaman, but now fans will likely
get the chance to see his original introduction, as Snyder intended it.
"The king has risen."
There's also evidence that Amber Heard's Mera had a much larger role in Snyder's version
of the film a previz that shows Aquaman's fellow Atlantean in an extended battle with
Steppenwolf has been making the rounds online for some time now.
Pretty much everyone on the original Justice League cast has given their support to the
Snyder Cut campaign at one stage. Jesse Eisenberg said that he wasn't necessarily part of, quote,
"the movement" when he spoke to the Toronto Sun in April 2020, but added that if his version
was ever released, quote, "it would be great." With Warner Bros. confirming Snyder's Justice
League is finally coming, we should get to see more of Eisenberg in action as iconic
villain Lex Luthor.
Eisenberg's return as Luthor was announced pretty early on. The character was meant to
play a larger role in the film, as a piece of leaked concept art seemingly proves. The
mock-up scene shows Luthor in a prison cell with what appears to be a notebook nearby.
The fact that Batman discusses the importance of Luthor's "journals" in the theatrical cut
of the film could be a hint that the LexCorp CEO was vital to the plot at one stage.
"Those squares, in Luthor's notes. I think they must be containers of some kind."
"Of what?"
"I don't know, money. Power. Something worth starting a war over."
Eisenberg has confirmed that he shot more than the end credit scene. Even that will
likely be different. Luthor's line about the villains needing a "League" of their own was
apparently Whedon's idea, and Deathstroke actor Joe Manganiello has confirmed that Snyder's
version played out differently.
Even those with a mere passing interest in the Snyder Cut have long been aware that Darkseid
was supposed to debut in Justice League, but it might still be surprising to know just
how heavily the evil galactic god was going to feature in the film, especially considering
he's only mentioned once in the theatrical cut.
"For the unity! For Darkseid."
Snyder has teased what he had in store for Darkseid on numerous occasions, meaning we've
been able to piece together his intended Justice League arc. The director planned to use the
cosmic tyrant during the film's history lesson segment, in which Amazons, Atlanteans, and
humans fight off an invading force from Apokolips.
Snyder reportedly planned to kick off the big flashback with Wonder Woman discovering
a mural depicting this first invasion, led by Darkseid. The director has already given
a glimpse of what this younger version of Darkseid looks like, but what we're still
waiting to see is his battle with Ares. Actor Nick McKinless has confirmed that he shot
an entire fight sequence as the Greek God of War, going toe-to-toe with Darkseid.
The climactic battle ends when Wonder Woman shatters Steppenwolf's axe with her sword
and the villain's Parademon army smells his fear. The creatures turn on him and they're
all sucked back to Apokolips through an extra-dimensional portal. The idea of the Parademons being able
to smell fear was reportedly introduced by Whedon during reshoots, and that's not the
only thing he changed about the final showdown.
The battle against Steppenwolf was supposed to have a far more definitive and brutal ending.
In a series of images that Snyder shared to Vero, the director revealed that the villain
was going to meet his end at Diana Prince's hand, but it isn't his axe that she slices
through. It's his neck. Snyder captioned his post:
"Not sure how they killed Steppenwolf in the theatrical version of JL this was never finished
all the way but I use Gods to kill Gods"
"No. This cannot be."
We can also expect the Amazon to have a major assist when this scene plays out.
In 2019, Jason Momoa shared a still image from the original climax, revealing that Aquaman
impales Steppenwolf on his trident before his death. According to storyboard artist
Jay Oliva, a quote, "unhinged" version of Superman was also going to go to town on Steppenwolf
before Wonder Woman delivered the killing blow.
One of the most polarizing moments from Batman v Superman was the Knightmare scene, in which
Ben Affleck's Bruce Wayne has a vision of a ravaged, post-apocalyptic earth. He watches
over a burning city with a huge Omega symbol imprinted in the ground below him. DC fans
know that the Omega pretty much confirms that this future is Darkseid's doing, but nothing
ever came of the sequence.
Snyder has since confirmed that he intended to expand upon it in Justice League, but it
never happened. A second Knightmare sequence was deemed surplus to requirements by Whedon,
but expect to revisit this hellscape with Snyder. During a Director's Cut event in 2019,
he explained:
"The truth is that the Knightmare sequence in this movie is always something that I intended
to explain [...] There was a scene in the trailer apparently, it didn't make it into
the movie where Bruce says Flash came to him and warned him that 'Lois was the key' and
something darker was coming."
"I think it's something more. Something darker."
That something darker was, of course, Darkseid, who kills Lois Lane in order to turn Superman
bad, Snyder confirmed.
Fans have been waiting to see Henry Cavill don the black Superman suit on the big screen
ever since his version of the Kryptonian kicked the bucket in Batman v Superman. The black
suit is deeply connected to the death and rebirth of Superman in the comics, one of
the iconic character's most famous story arcs. Cavill began teasing the black Superman suit
the year before Justice League hit theaters, but the outfit didn't appear in the final
movie. He can be seen walking past the suit during a deleted scene that made it to the
Blu-ray release, but in Snyder's original vision, he was not only going to be wearing
the black suit, he was going to be in it for the entirety of the movie.
It appears as though Superman's resurrection went down very, very differently in the Snyder
Cut. In Whedon's version of the film, the Man of Steel gets angry with the Justice League
for a few moments before Lois Lane quickly talks him down, but Snyder wouldn't have him
be so easily placated. All the evidence points towards a much bigger battle between black
suit Superman and the Justice League, who are not able to reason with the Kryptonian
quite as successfully upon his resurrection. One of the early Justice League trailers included
a shot of Cyborg protecting some cops from a burning tank that the rampaging Superman
has apparently sent flying their way.
Harry Lennix made his debut as General Swanwick in Man of Steel and was supposed to reprise
the role in Justice League, but his character didn't make the final cut.
"What just happened?"
Fans guessed back when Man of Steel came out that Swanwick was actually the shapeshifting
alien detective J'onn J'onzz in disguise, and when Justice League went with the tagline
"unite the seven" early in production, it seemed clear that there was one member of
the team that had not yet been revealed. Snyder has since confirmed that the fans were absolutely
right. Swanwick was the Martian hero, and he was going to have more than one disguise.
In October 2019, Snyder shared a storyboard to Vero that depicts Martha Kent visiting
Lois Lane. After their conversation, Superman's mother briefly turns into Martian Manhunter
before changing back to Swanwick. The director confirmed that he was able to shoot the vast
majority of this scene, he just needed to get a few more shots with Lennix. The actor
seems pretty excited about the news that Snyder's version of the film will finally be seen.
He tweeted out a picture of his character along with the caption:
"Re: Justice League and the Snyder Cut...Things don't Just happen things happen Just."
Darkseid and Martian Manhunter are perhaps the two biggest characters that were cut from
Justice League when Whedon assumed control, but they were far from the only ones. Responding
to a fan on Vero, Snyder revealed that the dialogue used in an early trailer:
"No protectors here."
"No Lanterns, no Kryptonian."
...was actually Steppenwolf speaking to Desaad, Darkseid's sadistic right-hand man. Dasaad
was removed with Darkseid, leaving the movie two villains down. When it comes to cut characters,
however, the heroes took a bigger hit.
In Snyder's vision for the movie, the history lesson sequence was going to feature a younger
version of Robin Wright's Antiope. Snyder evidently liked the character, who was killed
during the attack on Themyscira in Wonder Woman, and wanted to give fans a brief glimpse
into her past. He's also confirmed that he intended to use a different Green Lantern
during the invasion flashback.
We were also supposed to meet Ryan Choi, a.k.a the Atom. Snyder confirmed that the scientist
who works alongside Silas Stone at S.T.A.R. Labs was going to be revealed as Choi back
in 2018, and the director shared an image of the character in action not long before
the HBO deal was announced, writing:
"This will be fun"
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