The early years of the DCEU were seemingly hampered by studio interference and behind the scenes reshuffling, with David Ayer’s Suicide Squad perhaps the most obvious example of something that bore the fingerprints of heavy-handed meddling. Although, Joss Whedon was also said to have been instructed to keep the running time of Justice League below two hours after he boarded the project.
President of DC Entertainment Diane Nelson and Warner Bros. President of Creative Development Greg Silverman were initially the driving forces behind the shared universe, but following the disappointment that greeted Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, the separate DC Films division was established. Geoff Johns and Jon Berg were initially tasked with spearheading the DCEU, but only lasted a little over eighteen months before being replaced by Walter Hamada, which is an awfully high turnover rate for such a high-profile franchise.
We’ve previously heard that Johns reportedly played a huge role in Ben Affleck’s decision to bow out of the role of Batman, and now online tipster Grace Randolph has claimed that not only is DC’s former Chief Creative Officer widely unpopular at Warner Bros., but he actively tried to force Zack Snyder out of the director’s chair on Justice League.
“Johns is pretty much the one who was responsible for Zack Snyder getting replaced by Joss Whedon. He did it behind his back… Geoff Johns is pretty much disliked by everybody. I hear Jim Lee is beloved, he’s so great, but Geoff Johns was banished from Birds of Prey, and he was head of the DCEU for a hot minute, and that’s what allowed him to do that to Zack Snyder, but everybody hated him and so he got banished to the DC Universe streaming service.”
Those are some pretty bold accusations to make, especially when Snyder abruptly left Justice League due to a family tragedy, and may never have had any intention of returning to complete the movie at all. However, we’ve heard several times over the years that Geoff Johns was a negative influence behind the scenes, and the continued support behind the Snyder Cut makes it pretty clear that as soon as the filmmaker was out of the picture, his original vision for the superhero team-up was heavily compromised.
