After set to appear on HBO Max next year, Justice League had one of the most famously troubled productions in Hollywood history.
Director Zack Snyder stepped down in the middle of the production due to a personal tragedy, allowing Warner Bros. to hijack the movie’s tone and bring in Avengers director Joss Whedon to make a pale imitation of the MCU.
Half Of Justice League Was Directed By Joss Whedon
After Zack Snyder’s daughter tragically took her own life, the director stepped down from directing Justice League to mourn and spend time with his family. Warner Bros. was still determined to get the movie finished in time for its 2017 release date, and hired Joss Whedon of the first two Avengers movies to complete it.
Based on tone, it’s pretty clear in the final cut which scenes were directed by Snyder and which were directed by Whedon. The #ReleaseTheSnyderCut campaign has since raised a ton of money for suicide prevention.
Bryan Cranston Was Offered The Role Of Commissioner Gordon
The DCEU’s Commissioner Gordon is being rebooted in Matt Reeves’ The Batman with Jeffrey Wright taking the role, but the franchise’s first Gordon appeared in Justice League, played by J.K. Simmons.
Before Simmons was cast, the role was offered to Bryan Cranston, who had previously voiced Gordon in Batman: Year One, but he turned it down.
Henry Cavill’s Mission: Impossible Mustache Had To Be Removed Digitally
By the time that the reshoots began for Justice League, Henry Cavill had begun shooting Mission: Impossible – Fallout, and he’d grown out a bushy mustache to play August Walker.
Paramount and Warner Bros. got into an intense legal battle over whether Cavill could shave his mustache for the Justice League reshoot, but Paramount wouldn’t budget and the mustache had to be removed digitally instead. In a few scenes, this really stands out.
Warner Bros. Enforced A Two-Hour Limit On The Runtime
After Zack Snyder’s previous DCEU entries, Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, were both commonly criticized for being overlong, Warner Bros. demanded that the runtime of Justice League had to be two hours or less.
However, Snyder had set up so many storylines in BvS – not to mention having to introduce every member of the Justice League before they had their own solo movies – that the movie simply couldn’t be less than two hours long and be coherent. The final runtime is 119 minutes.
A Lot Of Cyborg’s Scenes Got Cut
Both Zack Snyder and Ray Fisher considered Cyborg to be the heart of Justice League as it was originally envisioned. However, when Joss Whedon took over, most of Cyborg’s scenes were cut.
An early draft of the script revealed that Victor Stone’s injuries were a result of the wide-scale destruction at the hands of Doomsday in Batman v Superman.
Tim Burton And George Miller Developed Unproduced Justice League Movies
Before the Justice League finally made it to the screen under the direction of Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon, there were a few League movies in development that never made it to the screen. Mad Max’s George Miller worked on a movie called Justice League: Mortal, which was called off due to a writers’ strike.
It would’ve starred Armie Hammer as Batman, D.J. Cotrona as Superman, Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, Adam Brody as the Flash, Common as Green Lantern, Santiago Cabrera as Aquaman, and Hugh Keays-Byrne as the Martian Manhunter. Tim Burton was also expected to direct a Justice League movie after Superman Lives, his unproduced Superman movie starring Nicolas Cage as Clark Kent.
Danny Elfman Replaced Junkie XL As The Movie’s Composer
The score for Justice League was originally set to be composed by Hans Zimmer, although he swore off superhero movies after Batman v Superman (but then went back on his word and scored X-Men: Dark Phoenix and Wonder Woman 1984), so he was replaced by Junkie XL.
When Zack Snyder departed from the project and Warner Bros. decided to lighten up the tone, Danny Elfman was brought on to write a new score. He even incorporated some of his own Batman theme from the 1989 movie.
Ben Affleck Was Considered To Direct Justice League
After being offered the chance to direct Man of Steel and turning it down, then being cast as Bruce Wayne in Batman v Superman, Ben Affleck was considered to direct Justice League.
He was also in line to direct himself in a Batman solo movie, which would make him the first Batman actor to do so, before he departed from the role.
The Post-Credits Scene Was Shot On Zack Snyder’s Personal Yacht
The post-credits scene at the end of Justice League reveals that Lex Luthor has somehow escaped from prison and he’s putting together the Legion of Doom.
This begins with Luthor meeting with Deathstroke on a lavish yacht. This scene was actually shot on Zack Snyder’s personal yacht.
Justice League Was Originally A Two-Parter
Warner Bros. initially announced two Justice League movies – Justice League: Part One and Justice League: Part Two – that would follow Batman v Superman and be released one year apart. The first part would’ve ended by teasing the arrival of Darkseid and the second part would’ve sent the League into space to fight the big bad.
However, the second part was called off and Justice League was streamlined into a single movie. The producers have since given conflicting reports about whether or not a two-parter was actually planned.
