2017’s Justice League left fans with a fair few questions, but most of them probably weren’t of the kind that Warner Bros. intended. For one thing, a lot of DC enthusiasts are more interested these days in the film we didn’t get as opposed to the film we did, with calls for the fabled ‘Snyder cut’ continuing to sound through the forums to this day.
What’s more, the question of what exactly happened behind the scenes of this troubled production remains a source of continuing intrigue, and thanks to market research analyst Neil Daly, it seems we’re just a little closer to understanding Justice League’s rocky journey to box office disappointment.
As well as working on the 2017 ensemble flick, Daly was involved in last year’s Aquaman and is now part of the market research team for Shazam!, giving the man some major insider credentials. And according to him, when test audiences for Justice League were given the opportunity to rank the members of the titular team, viewers placed Batman and Superman neck and neck for last place.
To break down the rest of the ranking, Wonder Woman sat at number one, followed by The Flash and Aquaman in joint-second, with Cyborg taking fourth. What’s more, when test audiences were asked who they’d most like to see in their own solo movie, they apparently went for The Flash, in which case, they’ve probably still got a long wait ahead of them.
But going back to Batman and Superman, it’s interesting how the test audience’s two least favorite Justice League protagonists have suffered major setbacks in the time since, with the DCEU futures of both Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill currently in question. In fact, while things seem to be moving forward for Matt Reeves’ The Batman, the film is expected to serve as a soft reboot for the character, taking things further back in the timeline with a younger actor in main role.
As for the test audience’s favorite hero, Wonder Woman 1984 is set for release on June 5th, 2020, with the same old Gal Gadot in the lead.
