Before Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was released in 2016, the road map of the DC Films Universe, under the guidance of Zack Snyder, showed a Justice League: Part 1 and a Justice League: Part 2 in its future.
Given the events that took place in Batman v Superman‘s story,it’s safe to say that Snyder’s vision of the first Justice League film was the resurrection of Superman and the beginnings of Darkseid’s invasion of Earth, being led by Steppenwolf. The second Justice League film would then deal with Darkseid himself. We also know, via Jay Oliva earlier this year, that Snyder had a fifth film planned for his Superman/Justice League arc. In the middle of this five film arc, it seems that Snyder might also have had plans to kill Batman in one of the future projects.
Of course, a combination of the negative backlash to BvS, a rumored “Unwatchable” first cut of Justice League, and a family tragedy for Zack Snyder, all led to him leaving the project. Whether it was on his own terms or WB firing him, I’m not sure we’ll ever get the full truth, though, I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle. I don’t believe that WB wanted to keep following his vision anymore for DC Films, and I don’t think Snyder liked the studio interfering with what he wanted to do.
Either way, Joss Whedon wound up writing and directing a large portion of Justice League, via reshoots. Whispers and fan petitions of the fabled “Snyder Cut” have been swirling for nearly a year now, though sadly we might never know what exactly was left out from Snyder’s version of the film.
Snyder Was Playing The Long Game
However, according to Cyborg actor Ray Fisher, Snyder filmed enough footage for two films. Fisher also spoke about the vision Snyder had for his character’s evolution as the films went on.
We’re not finished just yet, so I don’t know how specific the ‘end result’ is. But, what I will say is Zack had very specific plans for Cyborg, and for his trajectory. And Zack probably shot enough footage in the first film to make like two movies out of. He definitely had a whole, I believe, a trilogy in mind, with respect to Justice League. And if his vision had sort of come to fruition, Cyborg would have probably been one of, if not the most powerful, meta human in the entire canon, in the film universe. And that’s just one of the crazy things about Zack, is that he can take someone who’s such a newcomer and evolve their powers to the point where, you know, Cyborg is like ’S tier’.
It was rumored that Cyborg’s character changed a lot via the Joss Whedon reshoots. Joe Morton, who played Cyborg’s father in the films, spoke of this earlier this year:
There was [more we shot]. They completely changed the story…unfortunately, I can’t tell you what [the original story] is because that might end up being in part of the Cyborg movie. yes, there was a big change once they decided that they were going to do the Cyborg film.
I recall one rumor going as far as Dr. Silas Stone dying in Justice League, but they wrote it out of the film for the announced Cyborg film. Fisher’s comments also echo what Jay Oliva said, with a fifth film being planned after Justice League 2.
Snyder’s Vision Is No More
I wouldn’t hold my breath for a Cyborg film starring Ray Fisher, nor a Flash movie for that matter with Ezra Miller. It really seems like WB wants to move away from the Snyder era and start fresh with their DC properties. This is a shame, because no matter what you think of Snyder’s interpretation of the DC Universe, he was responsible for hand picking each actor for each major role, and you have to admit, he absolutely crushed it with most of them.
What do you think of Ray Fisher’s comments? Would you liked to have seen Snyder’s vision play out? Or are you happier with the direction they’re heading in now. Personally, I’d definitely like to live in a world where Snyder was allowed to finish his vision. I think a lot of the questionable choices he made early were for a reason and were meant to set up later plot lines.