'Justice League' Zack Snyder Cut Doesn't Exist, Batman's Opening Scene Was Different, And More

Even though Justice League has been a critical and commercial disappointment for Warner Bros. thus far, there's still plenty to talk about. We've gathered a small collection of quotes, photos, and insights from people who worked on the movie in order to paint a fuller picture of what went down behind the scenes. Below, we discuss the idea of a Zack Snyder cut of the movie, Batman's original introduction scene, and more.

First up, let's address the idea of a Zack Snyder cut of the movie. Ever since Joss Whedon took over after Snyder stepped away due to a family tragedy, hardcore DC fans have been frothing at the mouth to see what Snyder's original vision might have been. But as a VFX artist who supposedly worked on the film said on Reddit (via HeroicHollywood):

1000% bullshit. As I've said, of course there is an assembly cut Zack had going before he left, but that was 9 months ago.

He himself said he hasn't touched or interfered or been a part of the process since March. There is no cut. People like this guy are the worst, perpetuating rumours of processes they don't understand.

I can't personally verify that this person actually worked on the movie, but even if you don't believe his statement, the idea of a Snyder cut doesn't make a lot of sense. First of all, Snyder hired Whedon to rewrite the screenplay before he had to step down as director, and Whedon directed the reshoots with an eye toward making them fit with the work Snyder had already done. (Whether or not he was successful in doing so is up for interpretation.) Secondly, a Snyder cut would require Warner Bros. to spend even more money on unfinished visual effects for the shots that didn't make it into the theatrical cut, and since the movie's budget (rumored to be north of $300 million) is  a big part of why it has underperformed financially, it doesn't make sense for the studio to spend millions more on VFX in the hopes of making a comparatively small amount back on home video sales of a Snyder cut from hardcore fans.

Indiewire points us toward an interview in Men's Fitness with Holt McCallany, the actor who plays the thug that Ben Affleck's Batman beats up in the early minutes of the film. McCallany revealed that his single scene was originally intended to be much more comedic, but the studio forced Joss Whedon to change it:

"I love Joss Whedon. My scene with Batman was originally conceived as a comedic scene. That's how Joss wrote it, and that's how we shot it. I thought it came out great, but the studio felt it would be a mistake to open the film with a completely comedic scene, so it was re-edited a little bit. I was disappointed, but when I got home to New York I found a bottle of my favorite champagne and a note from Joss that said 'To Battles Lost. Gratefully, Joss.' I can't tell you how much it meant to me that he took the time to write to me. Joss Whedon is a class act. I had the letter framed."

That's a cool story, and it also goes a long way toward explaining why that scene feels so odd in the theatrical version we saw.

Stuntman Thomas Billings (via ScreenRant) shared a behind-the-scenes photo that teases a deleted scene involving a fight between Parademons and Atlanteans that was filmed last year on the movie's Iceland set. Snyder was still directing at that point, so fans will have to be content with imagining what that battle might have looked like.

It didn't exactly take an eagle-eyed viewer to see a member of the Green Lantern Corps fighting in the ancient battle against Steppenwolf alongside the Amazons and the Atlanteans. But in an earlier version of the movie, that wasn't going to be our only look at a ring-clad hero. That same VFX artist on Reddit also claims that there was originally going to be a post-credits scene that involved multiple Green Lanterns. A scene was reportedly shot that featured Kilowog and Tomar-Re visiting Bruce Wayne at his lake house, but it ended up being scrapped during the production and replaced with the post-credits scene we have now, which teases a super-villain team-up.

Again, take this with a grain of salt, but it certainly sounds plausible – especially since WB intends to make a Green Lantern Corps movie in 2020. (Well, at least they did before Justice League underperformed. The studio's long-term future plans are currently unclear.)

Speaking of that post-credits scene, remember when Zack Snyder shared a photo of himself in September 2016 as he was working on some storyboards for the movie? Fans enhanced that image and found out he was working on a scene involving Deathstroke, and now that we've seen the movie, it's clear that was the final post-credits sequence. You can even make out Lex Luthor's bald head in the foreground of the storyboards.

.@ZackSnyder posts new behind-the-scenes pic. And with a li'l bit of photoshop and enhancements, appear to be Deathstroke on the storyboard. pic.twitter.com/XsG1kzYZ6d

— DC Extended Universe (@TheDCEU) September 29, 2016