Justice League (film)

• 1. Introduction

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  Justice League spent part of its 2017 reshoot schedule removing a mustache. Henry Cavill, who played Superman, had grown facial hair for Mission: Impossible - Fallout while Justice League still needed him back on set. Director Christopher McQuarrie asked the Justice League production for $3 million to digitally re-add Cavill's mustache to Fallout footage until it grew back naturally. Paramount executives refused that arrangement, so Justice League erased the mustache from its own footage with visual effects instead.

  That six-week complication was a small piece of a stranger, longer story. Why did this superhero team-up take a decade to reach a director who could actually finish it? What forced a change of directors partway through filming? And why did a group of actors and fans spend years afterward fighting over which version of the same movie was the real one?

• 2. The Ensemble And Its Ghosts

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  Ben Affleck plays Bruce Wayne, the owner of Wayne Enterprises who spends his nights protecting Gotham City as Batman. Affleck said the film let him reinvent the character as more heroic and more of a leader. "Batman is by nature, not necessarily anti-social, pretty private, pretty a loner," he said, describing how the story forces Wayne to work with others and hold the team together with Wonder Woman, a shift from the "blinded by rage" version seen in Batman v Superman.

  Gal Gadot plays Diana Prince, an antiquities dealer and immortal Amazonian warrior who is Wonder Woman. Ezra Miller plays Barry Allen, a Central City University student who taps into the Speed Force as the Flash. Jason Momoa, cast as Aquaman in June 2014 after a cameo in Batman v Superman, plays the half-human, half-Atlantean Arthur Curry. Ray Fisher, cast as Cyborg in April 2014 after his own Batman v Superman cameo, plays Victor Stone, using motion capture for his character's cybernetic body.

  Ciaran Hinds plays the villain Steppenwolf through motion capture, portraying an alien officer described as "old, tired" and searching for a way out of his servitude to Darkseid. Hinds received advice on the performance from Liam Neeson, who had recently done similar motion-capture work in A Monster Calls. After release, Hinds was reportedly unhappy that the final cut trimmed down Steppenwolf's backstory and characterization.

  During a scene set thousands of years earlier, fitness model Sergi Constance, stuntman Nick McKinless, and MMA fighter Aurore Lauzeral played the Olympian gods Zeus, Ares, and Artemis. Snyder told McKinless to look like he had "veins like worms and paper thin skin." McKinless's face was later replaced with David Thewlis's using visual effects, and Thewlis received the on-screen credit as Ares.

  The same battle sequence hides more names: a Green Lantern called Yalan Gur appears through motion-capture CGI, while Julian Lewis Jones plays King Atlan of Atlantis and Francis Magee plays King Arthur Pendragon of ancient England. Billy Crudup appears uncredited as Henry Allen, Barry's father, and Joe Manganiello and Jesse Eisenberg appear uncredited in the post-credits scene as Slade Wilson and Lex Luthor.

  Willem Dafoe and Kiersey Clemons filmed scenes as Nuidis Vulko and Iris West that never made the theatrical cut. A planned second post-credits scene teasing Green Lantern Corps, with Kilowog and Tomar-Re visiting Batman, was scrapped entirely. Other unused footage included Ryan Zheng setting up Ryan Choi as the Atom, a fight between Ares and Darkseid played by Ray Porter, Harry Lennix reprising Calvin Swanwick with a reveal that he is Martian Manhunter, and a scene with Darkseid's servant DeSaad, voiced by Peter Guinness. None of those severed threads reached the 2017 theatrical release.

• 3. A Decade Of False Starts

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  In February 2007, Warner Bros. Pictures hired husband-and-wife writers Michele and Kieran Mulroney to script a Justice League film, later titled Justice League: Mortal. The draft, submitted in June 2007, drew a positive enough response that the studio rushed to start filming before the looming 2007-08 Writers Guild of America strike.

  George Miller signed to direct in September 2007, working from a projected $220 million budget with producer Barrie Osbourne. Wanting actors who could "grow" into the roles over several films, Miller cast D. J. Cotrona as Superman and Armie Hammer as Batman; Megan Gale was cast as Wonder Woman after Jessica Biel reportedly turned the role down. Common and Adam Brody joined as cast members, with Jay Baruchel set to play the villain Maxwell Lord, and Santiago Cabrera was later revealed as the choice for Aquaman.

  Most of the shoot was based at Fox Studios Australia in Sydney, but Australia's government denied Warner Bros. a 40 percent tax rebate, arguing too few Australian actors had been hired. Miller called it "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Australian film industry" being "frittered away because of very lazy thinking," and production shifted to Vancouver Film Studios in Canada before the whole project collapsed.

  Warner Bros. instead built solo films: Green Lantern in 2011, then Man of Steel in 2013 from director Christopher Nolan and writer David S. Goyer. In April 2014, the studio announced Zack Snyder would direct a new Justice League script from Goyer, following Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

  On the 15th of October 2014, Warner Bros. announced the film would be split into two parts, with Part One set for the 17th of November 2017 and Part Two for the 14th of June 2019. Chris Terrio, brought in after his rewrite of Batman v Superman impressed the studio, finished the Part One script by July 2015, drawing on Jack Kirby's New Gods comics. In June 2016, Snyder clarified the two would be separate, stand-alone films rather than one story split in half. Principal photography was scheduled to begin within the year.

• 4. A Change In Command

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  Filming began on the 11th of April 2016 at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, with additional shooting in London, Scotland, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Djupavik in Iceland's Westfjords. Longtime Snyder cinematographer Larry Fong was replaced by Fabian Wagner because of scheduling conflicts, while Ben Affleck served as an executive producer.

  In May 2016, Geoff Johns and Jon Berg took charge of producing the DCEU after the negative reception of Batman v Superman, and Jeremy Irons said that month the new film's story would be more linear and simple. Johns confirmed the title on the 3rd of June 2016 and described the tone as "hopeful and optimistic" compared to earlier DCEU films.

  Rewrites ordered by Johns reportedly caused friction with writer Chris Terrio and studio executives while cameras were still rolling. Warner Bros. convened a footage summit with additional writers, including Joss Whedon, Wonder Woman screenwriter Allan Heinberg, Seth Grahame-Smith, and Andrea Berloff, prompting further script changes mid-shoot. Filming wrapped in October 2016.

  Composer Hans Zimmer, who had scored Man of Steel and Batman v Superman with Junkie XL, announced in March 2016 that he had retired from "the superhero business." Junkie XL began scoring Justice League alone but was replaced in June 2017 by Danny Elfman, who reused his own Batman theme from the 1989 film alongside a John Williams "Superman March" cue during the climax.

  Superman was deliberately kept out of every early trailer, clip, and poster, a choice tied to his on-screen death in Batman v Superman; Cavill called the decision "ridiculous" but still joined the film's press tour. A final trailer revealed Clark Kent, but was edited so it looked as though Lois Lane were only dreaming of him.

  In May 2017, Snyder stepped down as director to cope with the suicide of his daughter Autumn, and Joss Whedon took over to finish post-production. That July, Warner Bros. spent about $25 million on two months of reshoots, well above the typical $6-10 million for such work, pushing the total budget to $300 million.

  Producer Charles Roven said the film was originally shot 80 to 85 percent by Snyder's team. Snyder himself estimated only a quarter of his footage survived into the theatrical cut, though he has never watched it, and cinematographer Fabian Wagner put his own surviving footage at just 10 percent. Whedon's rewrites ran to roughly 80 pages, and CEO Kevin Tsujihara mandated a runtime under two hours; the finished film landed at exactly that length.

  In February 2018, unnamed sources told journalist Matt Goldberg that Snyder's original rough cut had been "unwatchable," fueling reports that he had been fired. DC Comics publisher Jim Lee later said at the Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo that, as far as he knew, Snyder had stepped down over a family matter rather than being pushed out.

• 5. Fallout Behind The Camera

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  In July 2020, Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg, publicly called Joss Whedon's on-set treatment of the cast and crew "gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable." His statement prompted renewed scrutiny of Whedon's earlier sets.

  Several actors from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel came forward afterward with comparable allegations, most notably Charisma Carpenter. Gal Gadot said in May 2021 that Whedon had threatened to harm her career after she refused to record lines she objected to.

  Whedon denied Gadot's account, saying it stemmed from a miscommunication and noting that English is not her native language. Chris Terrio, who co-wrote both DCEU films, called the released theatrical cut "an act of vandalism" and tried unsuccessfully to have his name removed from the credits.

  Despite everything that happened behind the camera, the finished film carried only Zack Snyder's directing credit when it premiered at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on the 13th of November 2017, four days ahead of its wide release.

• 6. A Box Office Bomb

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  Justice League grossed $661.3 million worldwide against an assumed break-even point of $750 million, and Deadline Hollywood reported the studio lost roughly $60 million on the film. Of that total, $229 million came from the United States and Canada and $432.3 million from other territories, with a combined worldwide opening of $278.8 million.

  Industry trackers initially forecast a domestic opening of $110-120 million from 4,051 theaters, including 400 IMAX screens. Thursday-night previews brought in $13 million, ahead of the $11 million Wonder Woman had drawn the previous June, and the film added $38.5 million on its first day, which lowered projections to about $95 million before it actually opened to $93.8 million, 45 percent below Batman v Superman's $166 million debut and the first DCEU opening under $100 million. Deadline pointed to lukewarm reaction to earlier DCEU films and to Rotten Tomatoes withholding its aggregate score until the day before release, which fed audience doubt.

  The film fell 56 percent in its second weekend to $41.1 million, finishing behind newcomer Coco, the second-best DCEU second-weekend hold after Wonder Woman's 43 percent drop despite the lower overall gross. It then made $16.7 million in week three, again finishing behind Coco, followed by $9.7 million in week four and $4.3 million in week five, respectively second and fifth place at the box office.

  Overseas, Justice League made $8.5 million on its first day across nine countries, including South Korea, France, and Brazil, before an international debut of $185 million across 65 countries. Day-one totals included $57.1 million from China, $9.8 million from the United Kingdom, $9.6 million from Mexico, and $8.8 million from South Korea. The film set a Philippines opening-day record of $1.12 million, or 57.3 million pesos, becoming the country's biggest opening of 2017 and, eventually, its 7th-most successful film ever; Brazil's $14.2 million debut was that country's biggest opening in history.

  China delivered the largest overseas total at $106 million, followed by Brazil at $41 million, Mexico at $24.8 million, and the United Kingdom at $24 million. Home media later added $30.4 million in DVD sales and $41.5 million in Blu-ray sales, an estimated $71.9 million total according to The Numbers.

  In 2018, Forbes compared the tonal jump from Snyder's darker Man of Steel and Batman v Superman to the lighter, Whedon-shaped Justice League to the shift from Tim Burton's 1989 and 1992 Batman films to Joel Schumacher's lighter sequels, noting the earlier shift had been better received. Trade press had already started calling Justice League a "box office bomb," a label that would shape how critics judged everything else about it.

• 7. Mixed To Negative

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  CinemaScore polled opening-night audiences and gave Justice League an average grade of B+ on its A+ to F scale. PostTrak recorded an 85 percent overall positive score, averaging four out of five stars, with 69 percent giving a "definite recommend."

  Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3.5 out of 4 stars, praising Gadot and calling it "a putting-the-band-together origins movie, executed with great fun and energy." Variety's Owen Gleiberman also reviewed it favorably, describing it as not "messy or bombastic" but light, clean, and simple.

  The Village Voice's Bilge Ebiri praised action that went "start and stop and then start again, then go in different directions," even while flagging a lull before what he called the "Big Climactic Face-Off." Rolling Stone's Peter Travers gave 2.5 out of 4 stars, writing that scenes of the League "bickering and bonding" gave the film "humor and genuine feeling" that kept it from crumbling.

  The Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy called the film visually ugly despite praising Gadot and Miller, writing that Affleck, in the bat suit for a second time, "looks like he'd rather be almost anywhere else but here." The Washington Post's Alyssa Rosenberg called it a symbol of how "entrenched" superhero movies had become without artistically elevating the genre, citing "the ugliest, most pointless special effects."

  James Berardinelli awarded 2 out of 4 stars, arguing DC Films had "came late to the party" compared to Marvel Studios, unfavorably measuring the film against 2012's The Avengers. Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins, who had coordinated continuity details like costume design directly with Snyder, disliked how Whedon's reshoots contradicted her own film's established characters.

  Even with the mixed reception, Justice League picked up a handful of nominations: Best Action Poster and Best Wildposts at the Golden Trailer Awards, a Best Comedic Performance nod for Ezra Miller at the San Diego Film Critics Society Awards, Favorite Movie Actor and Actress nominations for Affleck and Gadot at the 2018 Kids' Choice Awards, and three nominations at the 2018 Teen Choice Awards. None of it settled the question fans cared about most: whose version of Justice League was the real one.

• 8. The Snyder Cut

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  Fans drew a direct comparison to Superman II, where original director Richard Donner was replaced before completion in 1980, only for Donner to release his own cut of the film in 2006. Believing Snyder had shot enough footage for a complete version, supporters launched a campaign for a "Snyder Cut," hoping Warner Bros. would give him the same treatment Donner received.

  In March 2019, Snyder confirmed his original cut existed and said releasing it was up to Warner Bros. An insider claimed that November a theatrical release was a "pipe dream," but that December Snyder posted a photo on Vero showing boxes labeled "Z.S. J.L Director's cut," captioned "Is it real? Does it exist? Of course it does."

  Snyder confirmed in May 2020 that his cut would stream on HBO Max in 2021, after spending more than $70 million completing new visual effects, score, and editing. Affleck, Fisher, and a remote Miller returned for limited additional filming, while Jared Leto, Amy Adams, and J. K. Simmons reprised their roles as the Joker, Lois Lane, and James Gordon.

  Once Snyder's version arrived, fans began calling the original theatrical release the "Whedon Cut" or "Josstice League." Snyder said his cut still wouldn't be treated as DCEU canon, and Warner Bros. continued to regard the 2017 release as the official version.

  A sequel, once set for June 2019, was delayed to make room for The Batman in 2022, and by December 2017 Warner Bros. said Snyder had "no immediate plans" to direct future DC films, shifting him toward an executive producer role. Ray Fisher said in January 2021 he would only return as Cyborg if Snyder directed a Part Two, and Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff said that March there were no current plans for Snyder's involvement.

  Charles Roven said in August 2021 that a sequel remained possible, just years away, before James Gunn and Peter Safran took charge of the renamed DC Studios in 2022. Variety reported in October 2023 that none of Snyder's DCEU actors would return for the new DC Universe, and a Wall Street Journal article in July 2025 said Gunn and Safran still planned an eventual new Justice League film within it, leaving open exactly when that version might reach a screen.