Production of Justice League (film)

The 2017 film Justice League had a troubled production history. Its script and photography underwent major changes before and during production, and there was a change in directors. This resulted in the theatrical release of a version that was reported to be markedly different from how the film had been conceived of during pre-production and principal photography.

Most of the changes were driven by the negative reception to the previous installments of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad. Justice League had been helmed by director Zack Snyder through most of its production, but Snyder stepped down in May 2017 during post-production following the death of his daughter, and Joss Whedon took over at that point, completing the film as an uncredited co-director. Whedon oversaw script rewrites, reshoots and other changes that added a brighter tone and more humor to the film, and cut the runtime down to 120 minutes in accordance with a mandate from Warner Bros.  The theatrical release of Justice League was a commercial failure, and was met with a mixed reception from critics and audiences, leading Warner Bros. to re-evaluate the future of the DCEU.

When details surfaced about the film's troubled production and the state of the film before Snyder stepped down, some expressed interest in the idea of releasing an alternate cut that would be more faithful to Snyder's vision for the film. Fans of Snyder's works, members of the cast and crew, and other film industry figures have petitioned for the release of this "Snyder Cut". At the time, Warner stated that they had no plans to release an alternate cut of Justice League. On May 20, 2020, Zack Snyder personally confirmed that it would be released on HBO Max as Zack Snyder's Justice League during a watch party for Man of Steel. The current date is set for 2021.

Original Snyder/Terrio script (2014–2016)
Following the release of Man of Steel (2013), director Zack Snyder outlined the basis of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), which centered around a five-film arc including Man of Steel, Batman v Superman and a Justice League trilogy. As interpreted by Stephen M. Colbert of Screen Rant, the structure of the franchise would have been the "inverse" of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Instead of solo films culminating in cross-over Avengers films, DC's take would have primarily been cross-over films with occasional solo films on the side set at different points in time. Snyder's original vision for the series was to have Batman v Superman be one of the darkest in the franchise, and have the films become more hopeful in tone from there. Despite this, Snyder describes his original Justice League script written with Chris Terrio as "dark" and "scary". According to concept art, the scenes involving Apokolips and the New Gods were heavily influenced by sci-fi and the work of H. R. Giger.

Originally, Steppenwolf and his Parademons were going to be the villains in Suicide Squad controlling Enchantress with the Mother Boxes, and Darkseid was going to be the primary antagonist in Justice League. According to Snyder, at least part of the film was set to explore Bruce Wayne's "Knightmare"—the scene in Batman v Superman where Bruce Wayne has a vision of a post-apocalyptic future Gotham, followed by the Flash appearing to tell him that Lois Lane is "key" and worries that he is "too soon". In the early script for Justice League, the continuation of the "Knightmare" had Darkseid use a boom tube to teleport into the Batcave and kill Lois Lane. This would have made Superman susceptible to Darkseid's Anti-Life Equation, the fictional mathematical formula from the comic books for controlling the minds of sentient beings. With Superman under Darkseid's control, they take over Earth and create the post-apocalyptic future from Wayne's "Knightmare". Batman and Cyborg worked together to create a time machine to send Flash back in time to save Lois and prevent Superman from falling under Darkseid's control. The Flash has two possible destinations in time, one of which resulted in his "too soon" speech in Batman v Superman. This version of Justice League was never filmed and no footage of it exists.

The "Snyder Cut" (2016–2017)
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice received generally negative reviews from critics (holding a 28% approval rating and an average rating of 4.94 out of 10 on Rotten Tomatoes ), though audiences gave the film a slightly more positive reception (holding a "B" rating with CinemaScore ). Common critiques of the film centered around its dark tone, lack of humor and slow pace. This reaction caused Warner Bros. and Snyder to re-evaluate upcoming films in the DCEU, particularly Suicide Squad, which had already wrapped principal photography, and Justice League, which was a month away from filming. Snyder and Terrio had always planned on having the DCEU films become progressively more light and positive in tone, but the reaction to Batman v Superman caused them to rewrite Justice League as even more hopeful in tone than originally planned. In cinematographer Fabian Wagner's first meeting with Snyder, he said he wanted to "get away from the stylized, desaturated, super-high contrast looks of other films in the franchise."

Warner hired Jon Berg and Geoff Johns to oversee the DCEU, with their first task being to help with Justice League rewrites to make the film more hopeful and optimistic. Batman actor Ben Affleck was hired to help with script re-writes and also serve as executive producer on Justice League, mainly to ensure continuity between the film and The Batman, which he was expected to star in and direct at the time. Jeremy Irons, the actor who portrayed Alfred Pennyworth and was an outspoken critic of Batman v Superman, said the "Snyder Cut" script was simpler, smaller and more linear than its predecessor. Because of the Justice League re-writes, Steppenwolf was cut as the major villain from Suicide Squad and was last-minute replaced by Enchantress' brother Incubus. Principal photography was shot entirely using 35 mm film and wrapped in December 2016. Months later, multiple cuts of Snyder's Justice League were shown to Warner executives, in addition to friends and family of Snyder. A final run-time and picture lock were achieved, though the cuts had incomplete VFX shots and partial audio mixing. Composer Junkie XL completed his score for the film before stepping down. During an event, Snyder said that he had multiple cuts that were essentially "done", only needing "a few CG tweaks" to complete, but that it was ultimately up to Warner to release it. Forbes contributor and film screenwriter Mark Hughes reported that the cut was more than 90% complete, while The Telegraph cited a VFX expert as estimating that the studio would need another $30–40 million to finish the film. This mostly finished version of Justice League is what is often referred to as the "Snyder Cut". Citing several members of Justice League's crew "at various levels" as his source, Kevin Smith described the state of the cut, saying:

"'When people hear 'Snyder Cut' in their heads, they think about, like, a DVD they've seen of an extended cut or something that's finished. The 'Snyder Cut' that, again I haven't seen, but the one I've heard everyone speak of was never a finished film. It was a movie that people in production could watch and fill in the blanks. It was certainly not meant for mass consumption.'"

The "Snyder Cut" is 214 minutes (about three-and-a-half hours) while the assembly cut was nearly five hours long. The basic framework of Snyder's Justice League story was largely maintained for the theatrical release: Batman and Wonder Woman seek out the other metahumans, form a team, resurrect Superman, and defeat Steppenwolf in a final battle in Russia. However, dozens of additional scenes, backstories, mythos, worldbuilding elements, new characters, and teases for upcoming films were present in the "Snyder Cut" but not the theatrical release. The time-travel aspect of Snyder and Terrio's original draft was maintained for the "Snyder Cut", but on a smaller scale. In this version, Cyborg fails to stop "The Unity" and Flash travels back in time to give him a second chance. It spent more time introducing the three new main characters to the DCEU: Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg. The "Snyder Cut" also introduced several new supporting characters from the source comic books, including: Justice League antagonist Darkseid (played by Ray Porter), master torturer Desaad (played by Peter Guinness), Aquaman's mentor and trainer Nuidis Vulko (played by Willem Dafoe), scientist Ryan Choi who takes on the mantle of Atom in the comics (played by Ryan Zheng), Cyborg's mother Elinore Stone (played by Karen Bryson), Barry Allen's love interest Iris West (played by Kiersey Clemons), and the shapeshifting alien Martian Manhunter (played by Harry Lennix). Other side characters had additional screen time and more important roles in the "Snyder Cut", including: Superman antagonist Lex Luthor (played by Jesse Eisenberg), Cyborg's father Silas Stone (played by Joe Morton), Atlantean warrior Mera (played by Amber Heard), reporter and Superman love interest Lois Lane (played by Amy Adams), and Wonder Woman antagonist Ares (played by Nick McKinless).

Warner executives who saw his cut noted that Snyder made significant efforts to lighten the tone following the criticism of Batman v Superman. After the release of Aquaman, while the film was lighter than the anticipated tone from the "Snyder Cut" the character of Aquaman was said to be more consistent with Snyder's depiction than it was with Whedon's. Despite this, Warner was still unhappy with the results and insider reports said sources in Warner Bros. considered the cut "unwatchable". The first two trailers for Justice League used footage from the "Snyder Cut" before Whedon's contributions, and were subject to a mixed reception. Neil Daly, who oversaw the test screenings, said test audiences ranked Batman and Superman the lowest of the main cast. In July 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported that Warner had no plans of releasing an alternate cut of Justice League. In November 2019, both The Hollywood Reporter and Variety independently reported Warner had no plans to release the "Snyder Cut", with the latter quoting an inside source as saying, "That's a pipe dream. There's no way it's ever happening."

#ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement
Immediately after the theatrical release of Justice League, fans created an online petition to release the "Snyder Cut" that gained more than 180,000 signatures. The movement, which uses the hashtag #ReleaseTheSnyderCut on social media, began before fans had any knowledge that a cut of Snyder's Justice League film actually existed in any capacity. The movement was ignited by the divisive reaction toward the theatrical cut, knowing that Snyder left directorial duties and the final cut of the film in the hands of Joss Whedon and the assumption that Whedon created an inferior film. The circumstances have been compared to a similar situation with the film Superman II (1980). Both Justice League and Superman II feature a director that was replaced, for different reasons, before completion of a film, which led to a second director coming in and making substantial changes to the tone of each film. Although the reasoning behind each director's departure differs, Richard Donner was able to complete his Superman II cut in 2006. Some assumed that an alternate cut of Justice League was inevitable because historically several of Snyder's films have been re-released as extended cuts for home media (Watchmen, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) which are seen by some critics as superior to the original version.

Scrapped outline of Snyder's Justice League sequels
Scripts for Justice League 2 and Justice League 3 to follow Snyder's Justice League were never written and never had writers assigned to them, but Snyder had a plan for their stories and comic-book artist Jim Lee drew breakdown boards for them. Production was expected to begin shortly after the release of Justice League, but work on Justice League 2 was pushed back indefinitely in December 2017 in favor of a stand-alone Batman film. After the commercial flop of Justice League caused Warner to re-think their DCEU strategy and move away from Snyder's vision, Snyder and members of the cast and crew slowly began leaking details about his Justice League trilogy plan. Those details include:


 * After teasing Darkseid in the "Snyder Cut", he would have been the main villain of Justice League 2.
 * Batman was going to die.
 * Members of the Green Lantern Corps were expected to appear in Justice League 2 including Hal Jordan. Producer Charles Roven was rumored to be interested in having Mark Wahlberg play The Corps' most famous member, though he was never officially cast in the role.
 * Snyder said the scene in Batman v Superman with crosses over Superman's dead body were a cryptic reference to events in Justice League 2.
 * The "Knightmare" would have been important to the plot. Snyder's plans for the "Knightmare" future were loosely inspired by the plot of the 2013 video game Injustice: Gods Among Us.
 * Justice League 2 would have been inspired by Grant Morrison's 2008–2009 DC crossover storyline "Final Crisis".
 * While on the set of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker at Pinewood Studios—where Justice League was also created—Kevin Smith met with some of the crew who worked on Snyder's films and learned about what the future would have held. He revealed that Justice League 2 was supposed to end in defeat, comparing it to the films The Empire Strikes Back and Avengers: Infinity War.
 * Smith also said that Justice League 3 would have been set entirely in the post-apocalyptic "Knightmare" Earth seen in Bruce Wayne's dream sequence in Batman v Superman, with a rough synopsis of it being, "The heroes' last stand against Darkseid and the forces of Apokolips".

In January 2019, Zack Snyder released a t-shirt as a reward for donating to a crowdfunding campaign with all proceeds going toward the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. His design, which resembles the Kabbalah tree of life, is said to contain the plot of his five-film arc including a planned Justice League trilogy within a mosaic of cryptic symbols and phrases. The reverse side of the shirt has a quote from Joseph Campbell, American literature professor famed for his creation of the Hero's journey, which reads: "All the gods, all the heavens, all the hells, are within you."

Theatrical cut (2017)
After disapproving of the direction of the "Snyder Cut", Warner hired filmmaker Joss Whedon (The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron) to re-write the script and help with extensive re-shoots. (However, he may have been hired earlier than reported, to join a larger writer's room.) Warner CEO Kevin Tsujihara mandated that Justice League's length was not to exceed two hours. The film company also reportedly decided not to push back the release date (which would have allowed the filmmakers more time to properly complete Justice League), partly so that executives could keep their annual bonuses, and partly because they were concerned that AT&T might dissolve the studio after an upcoming merger, which might result in the incomplete film getting scrapped altogether.

Snyder may also have turned down an offer to delay the release date. He was expected to film the scenes that Whedon re-wrote, and they were working together to fix the film in accordance with the studio's requests when Snyder's daughter, Autumn Snyder, died by suicide in March 2017. He continued to work on Justice League for two months after the tragedy to distract himself, before finally stepping down in May 2017. His wife Deborah Snyder who was producing Justice League also stepped away from the project. There were some reports, however, that Snyder may have been quietly fired from the project in January or February 2017, months before his daughter's suicide and his official departure from the project. Once Snyder left, Whedon assumed full control over the completion of the theatrical cut of Justice League. Warner COO Toby Emmerich said at the time:

"'The directing is minimal and it has to adhere to the style and tone and the template that Zack set. We're not introducing any new characters. It's the same characters in some new scenes. He's handing the baton to Joss, but the course has really been set by Zack. I still believe that despite this tragedy, we'll still end up with a great movie.'"

In accordance with Warner's run-time limitations, the Justice League theatrical cut is exactly 120 minutes (two hours) long including credits. Whedon added nearly 80 new pages to the script. Wagner roughly estimates that the theatrical cut uses only about 10% of the principal photography he shot. Composer Junkie XL completed his film score before being replaced by Danny Elfman (Spider-Man, Batman) mid-way through post-production.

All of the re-shot scenes were filmed digitally, using an Arri Alexa 65. The scenes that Whedon wrote or re-shot for the theatrical release added a brighter tone and humor, and reduced the level of violence seen in Snyder's darker direction. To meet the mandated run-time, more than 90 minutes of footage from the "Snyder Cut" was removed, but the result still adhered to the basic outline of the story established by Snyder. While the "Snyder Cut" was poorly received by test audiences, the early screening of Whedon's cut scored as high as Wonder Woman did with test audiences, so Warner decided to move forward with it.

Upon release, the theatrical cut of Justice League was met with mixed reviews. Several critics described it as a "Frankenstein"   film, in that similar to Frankenstein's monster that is composed of different humans' body parts, Justice League was very obviously the work of two different directors with competing visions for the finished product. Warner decided to move away from Snyder's vision for a shared universe of interconnected films and focus on stand-alone films and solo franchises instead. The previously announced sequel to Justice League scheduled for a 2019 release was pushed back indefinitely. Similar to the fallout after Batman v Superman, Warner initiated a shakeup of executives between late-2017 and mid-2018, ahead of the release of the next DCEU film, Aquaman. Both Jon Berg and Geoff Johns, who were hired as co-chairmen and co-runners of the DCEU after Batman v Superman to get the franchise back on track, departed DC Films at the end of 2017. In early 2018, Berg and Johns were replaced by Walter Hamada (It, The Conjuring) and Chantal Nong. Warner's head of casting Lora Kennedy departed in May 2018. The Hollywood Reporter quoted an insider familiar with the station as saying Hamada, "walked into a shitshow, and he's trying to clean it up". Several DCEU actors are no longer attached to the franchise following Justice League, with several others currently in question.

Significant changes to the theatrical cut
The following is an overview of reported major differences between the "Snyder Cut" and the theatrical cut of Justice League. It is not an exhaustive list and dozens of other major and minor changes have been reported.

Characters removed or given a reduced presence
The theatrical cut entirely removed at least 10 comic book characters from Snyder's original script, among others. The "Snyder Cut" included a short scene where Flash saved Iris West from a car accident. Ryan Choi / Atom appeared as a S.T.A.R. Labs scientist working with Silas Stone. Cyborg's mother Elinore Stone appeared in some flashback scenes. Aquaman's mentor Nuidis Vulko appeared in an underwater scene and a cut post-credits scene. Justice League antagonist Darkseid appeared in at least two or three scenes. Master torturer and follower of Darkseid in the comic books Desaad played a minor role. Harry Lennix's character Calvin Swanwick from Man of Steel and Batman v Superman was planned to appear in a scene revealing he was secretly the shapeshifting alien Martian Manhunter all along. While the theatrical cut keeps the Mother Boxes as a plot device, the "Snyder Cut" included the detail that they contained Steppenwolf's actual mother, named Heggra—a re-imagining of Heggra, Steppenwolf's step sister from the comics. The supporting characters Silas Stone, Lex Luthor, Lois Lane, Mera, Ares, Zeus and Antiope had multiple scenes cut or reduced, but still appear in the theatrical release.

Marc McClure, the actor who played Jimmy Olsen in the Christopher Reeve Superman films, played Lois Lane's bodyguard throughout the entire "Snyder Cut" but only makes a cameo appearance in the theatrical cut. Director Zack Snyder had a non-speaking cameo in a cafe. Actor Sam Benjamin said he filmed 20–30 minutes worth of scenes for a military subplot that was cut from the theatrical release.

Additional lore and backstories for Flash, Aquaman and Cyborg
Several scenes introducing and exploring mythologies of the three new characters to the DCEU—Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg—were removed from the theatrical cut. In the "Snyder Cut", Flash briefly learned how to travel through time and his relationship with Bruce Wayne was established as being "between someone who is naive and excited and someone who is experienced and jaded." Cyborg was described as the "heart" of the film and the original script had included additional scenes of his origin story, learning to use his abilities, connecting with his cybernetic enhancements and being ripped in half by Steppenwolf. Aquaman had additional scenes exploring his backstory and Atlantean lore including the Dead King of Atlantis' throne and a scene involving Vulko and Mera that directly connected to Aquaman. Though he supports the release of the "Snyder Cut", Jason Momoa defended the removal of these scenes, stating: "There was no need for it because you're going to see it in Aquaman. It's not an Aquaman movie, it's a Justice League movie."

Changes to Superman
Most of Henry Cavill's Superman scenes were re-shot by Whedon. Cavill's reshoots were scheduled around Paramount's Mission: Impossible – Fallout, a film for which he was contractually obligated to keep his mustache. Warner decided to digitally remove his mustache, but under a tight deadline, it resulted in an awkward-looking finished product. Nearly all of Superman's scenes throughout the entire film feature the CGI lip, suggesting they have all been re-shot. Following the young Superman portrayed in Man of Steel and the conflicted Superman portrayed in Batman v Superman, the version of Superman that appeared in the "Snyder Cut" was described as completing his story arc and becoming the "true" Superman as depicted in the comics after being reborn. Superman's behavior at the end of the "Snyder Cut" was described by storyboard artist Jay Oliva as "unhinged".

Flashback to the first invasion of Earth
The flashback scene illustrating Steppenwolf's first invasion of Earth against the Olympian Old Gods, Amazons, Atlanteans, Green Lantern Corps and humans was altered for the theatrical release. The "Snyder Cut" was longer, included a younger version of Darkseid named Uxas instead of Steppenwolf, a battle between Ares and Darkseid, additional footage of the Green Lantern Yalan Gur, and included dialogue from most of these characters that was removed from the theatrical release. When Steppenwolf strikes his axe into the ground, it creates a glowing red symbol. In the "Snyder Cut" this was explained to be a representation of the Anti-Life Equation, but the theatrical cut never addresses what the symbol is.

Final battle in Russia
The final battle between the Justice League and Steppenwolf's army of Parademons was largely redone. Whedon added the reddish hue coloration, the root-like structures growing out of the ground, a redesign of Steppenwolf's base of operations inside the cooling tower, and the Russian family that Flash saves. Batman played a larger role in the action in the "Snyder Cut". In the theatrical cut, Steppenwolf became afraid of the Justice League causing his Parademons to attack because they are drawn to the smell of fear—a plot device Whedon introduced both in this scene and the opening scene with Batman and the burglar. In the "Snyder Cut", Wonder Woman decapitated Steppenwolf before he could escape through a boom tube and on the other side of the tube was Darkseid, teasing his appearance in a sequel.

Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)
On May 20, 2020, Warner Bros. announced that the original version of the film would be released exclusively on HBO Max in 2021. Snyder had revealed this news during a live watch party of Man of Steel. This version will cost $20–30+ million to complete the special effects, musical score, and editing, and will be released first as a four part miniseries, with each installment being an hour long, followed by a four hour film version. The cut will also include some involvement from the original cast. On August 22, 2020, the first trailer for the cut was released during the DC FanDome event. On September 23, 2020, it was revealed that Snyder was preparing a shoot to take place in October, with Affleck, Cavil, Gadot, and Fisher expected to reprise their roles for the shoot.