Regardless of whether you want to believe it or not, the reality of the situation is that Justice League has been undergoing extensive reshoots throughout this summer. Coming courtesy of Joss Whedon, who’s been brought on to finish the job that original director Zack Snyder started, the additional filming has reportedly lightened the tone a bit and made for a more coherent narrative.
As usual with cases such as those you’re about to learn of today, it’s advised that you take it with a grain of salt, but let it be known that Batman-On-Film has had a pretty solid track record. Thus, I’m willing to give Bill Ramey the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the latest news pertaining to two of my favorite villains in all of comics and their involvement in the upcoming blockbuster.
Now, if you’re an avid reader of the source material, you’ve probably put two and two together, expecting Darkseid to make a cameo at the end of Justice League, or at least show up in the sequel. Truth be told, I’ve been keeping my own fingers crossed for just that, so you could imagine my shock upon recently learning that Whedon reshot the original ending to the film, thus removing the Lord of Apokolips and playing up the threat that is Steppenwolf.
Unfortunately, BOF has since corroborated that report in their recent mailbag, offering this when asked by a reader about replacing Steppenwolf with Darkseid since they’d just be CGI characters anyway:
“I think it’s more complicated that it might seem dude. If they had made the decision to do that during pre-production, then I don’t think it would’ve been a problem. But once Mr. Snyder shot the film, they were married to Steppenwolf as the main villain ($$$). The Darkseid cameo at the end was removed once Joss Whedon took over and the film’s ending is it’s ENDING.”
What’s also noteworthy there is that it’s reaffirmed JL will indeed be a standalone flick. From a filmmaking standpoint, I can fully understand shifting the focus to Steppenwolf and leaving it at that, but being such a huge fan of Darkseid, I can’t help but express disappointment if he’s absent from the final cut. That being said, I hope he pops up later in Man of Steel 2 or another movie appropriate for him.
When it comes to Lex Luthor, I never thought I’d say I’m elated to hear that he’ll be left out of a movie. But seeing as how I’m not one who enjoyed Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of the character, this next bit comes as a relief to me. Much like the uncertainty surrounding Deathstroke’s inclusion, Superman’s greatest foe has also been seemingly omitted.
Here’s what Ramey had to offer when another reader asked how big Eisenberg’s role will be:
 “He doesn’t have one. If he did prior to all the changes/reshoots, it was cut.”
Personal opinion aside, one would assume that Luthor was to make only a cameo in Snyder’s original vision, so you’d think leaving him out won’t greatly affect the bigger picture. Then again, we’ll have to wait until Justice League arrives in theaters on November 17 in order to find out for certain.
