Your average Hollywood blockbuster will go through a lengthy process of writing, rewriting, conceptual design, casting, more rewriting, shooting, editing, reshooting, and more editing before it reaches multiplexes. So, a ton of story ideas, character moments, and visual concepts fall by the wayside. This is especially true of the DC Extended Universe, which has been one long push and pulls between filmmakers and studio executives since the beginning.
On top of that, Joss Whedon took over Justice League from Zack Snyder midway through filming, Ben Affleck departed the role of Batman in the middle of his arc, and the franchise can’t seem to decide on a Joker. So, here are the 10 best-unused concepts from the DCEU.
Matthew Vaughn & Mark Millar’s Superman Trilogy
Before Man of Steel became the first seed planted in the DCEU’s soil, director Matthew Vaughn and comic book writer Mark Millar were planning an epic eight-hour trilogy that would tell the story of Superman’s life from his birth to Krypton to being the last remaining life on Earth after the Sun goes supernova.
Warner Bros. ultimately decided not to go ahead with the trilogy and hired Zack Snyder to direct Man of Steel. Vaughn and Millar certainly had ambitious plans. It would have been interesting to see where they went with it.
Including King Shark In Suicide Squad
David Ayer originally planned to include King Shark in Suicide Squad, but he wasn’t comfortable with having an entirely computer-generated character in the movie and replaced him with a disappointing one-dimensional incarnation of Killer Croc instead.
Without King Shark, a Suicide Squad movie felt incomplete. Thankfully, The Suicide Squad.
Batgirl Appearing In Birds Of Prey
During the writing process for Birds of Prey, the producers considered including Batgirl and Lady Shiva, and bringing back Katana from Suicide Squad (her sword traps the souls of its victims, ?), but none of those characters appeared in the final movie.
Warner Bros. wanted to cast Kristen Stewart as Barbara Gordon. She’s one of the best DC characters who hasn’t yet appeared in the DCEU, and Joss Whedon’s solo movie got called off, so it would’ve been good to see her in Birds of Prey’s Gotham City.
Introducing Black Adam In Shazam!
Dwayne Johnson has been cast to play Black Adam in the DCEU, and he was originally planned to be introduced in Shazam!, but Warner Bros. decided to make separate movies to tell the characters’ origin stories before bringing them together.
Even if Black Adam only made a cameo appearance in Shazam!, it would’ve been fun to see him show up in the movie. It was a shame that we didn’t even get a post-credits tease of Billy Batson’s greatest foe.
Making Batman V Superman As A Straight Sequel To Man Of Steel
an incongruous series of Easter eggs setting up the DCEU’s future.
Continuing the story of Clark Kent would’ve kept the movie a lot more focused than the Justice League prologue it ended up being. In its final form, BvS is basically the Iron Man 2 of the DCEU: the one that set up a wider universe instead of being a good movie.
Fleshing Out The Atlantean Surface Invasion In Aquaman, Feat. Batman
Orm, the villain in Aquaman, had a pretty solid plan: to invade the surface world as revenge for humanity polluting the oceans. However, the movie didn’t really flesh out the invasion; all we got was a couple of clips on the news.
The Atlantean invasion of the surface world was originally a much bigger sequence, with concept art depicting Batman arriving to defend Sydney in his jet. It’s a shame that this cameo was axed.
Superman Sends Zod To The Phantom Zone Instead Of Killing Him
One of the most controversial scenes in Man of Steel sees Superman – who doesn’t kill anyone as a defining characteristic – killing General Zod after a city-wide airborne scuffle. In the original script, he didn’t kill Zod. Instead, he sent him to the Phantom Zone and his characterization remained intact.
Director Zack Snyder and screenwriter David S. Goyer both wanted Superman to kill, and although executive producer Christopher Nolan objected, Goyer managed to persuade him otherwise.
Depicting Harley Quinn And The Joker’s Breakup In Birds Of Prey
Harley Quinn and the Joker’s breakup is the backbone of Birds of Prey, but it happens off-screen. Originally, it was going to appear in the movie and it was even filmed, with musician Johnny Goth filling in for Jared Leto, wearing his costume from Suicide Squad.
However, Margot Robbie and director Cathy Yan cut the scene to keep the focus on Harley and her team (although the team ended up being massively marginalized in favor of a breakfast sandwich), but it would’ve provided some clearer context.
A Proper Superman Cameo In Shazam!
Superman’s cameo appearance in Shazam! didn’t feature the character’s face, and he was played by Zachary Levi’s stunt double Ryan Handley as opposed to Henry Cavill. The initial plan was for Cavill to appear on-screen, but Cavill’s people reportedly wanted a pay rise and more creative control of the Superman franchise in exchange for the cameo.
Warner Bros. didn’t think that this was worth it, and frankly, it’s not worth it. But it would’ve been fun to see Supes in all his glory within Shazam!’s zany tone.
Introducing Darkseid In Justice League
In the final cut of Justice League (one of the biggest disasters in recent film history), Steppenwolf is hardly a sympathetic and well-rounded villain. According to one of Kevin Smith’s podcasts, the original plan was to introduce Darkseid in the movie, revealing Steppenwolf to be one of his slaves.
Darkseid would’ve executed Steppenwolf for his failure and mentioned his plan to visit Earth to meet “the Kryptonian,” setting him up as the villain of the Justice League sequel that never got made.
