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Why Joss Whedon Added The Random Russian Family In Justice League

Clearly, the DC fandom didn’t take too kindly to Whedon’s meddling, particularly a seemingly irrelevant subplot involving a Russian family. Now, because Zack Snyder has not seen the theatrical version of Justice League, the director wouldn’t dream of discussing one of Whedon’s additions. Nevertheless, one may wonder what the reasoning was for including the family in the film at all.

Okay, full disclosure. Joss Whedon, the man brought in by Warner Bros. to complete Justice League when Snyder was either relieved of his duties or departed voluntarily, isn’t necessarily addressing the 2017 superhero blockbuster, per se, here. Rather, the discourse below was lifted from a previous sit-down with Thrillist, in which the Academy Award nominee discussed his 2012 feature, The Avengers. However, it does provide provisional insight into a much-maligned Justice League sequence. So please, bear with me.

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Clearly, the DC fandom didn’t take too kindly to Whedon’s meddling, with particular criticism going towards a seemingly irrelevant subplot involving a Russian family. Therefore, Heroic Hollywood has delved deep into the filmmaker’s publication history and surmised that Whedon added the sequence in order to showcase the importance of having a more human, civilian element in superhero cinema.

Here’s what the director had to say in that aforementioned interview with Thrillist.

“The only stuff we shot that really wasn’t useful was stuff I shot. I shot probably three days in both films tracking civilians, because I was like, “These guys have superpowers, then they’re the Avengers. Nobody’s going to worry about them.” The audience is going to want to know these civilians better. And the answer was always like, “No they don’t. No they f****** don’t.”

Whedon then went on to explain that the bystander element will always be important to him, regardless of public opinion.

“But what it’s like for the people on the ground… that’s always gonna be important to me. Like there’s Hawkeye helping people off the bus. You have to have somebody who works at ground level who’s taking care of the smaller stuff.”

“We probably had half an hours worth of fight of the Avengers versus Chitauri. We had so much more than we could use. But pulling the kid out of the bus it was in and then it was out, then it was in, then it was out, and then my daughter was like, “We should have that.” I’m like, “Yeah, actually. OK, it’s in.”

Again, this discourse was years before he was brought on to complete Justice League. However, the similarities are there and could indicate why Whedon included sequences of both Superman (Henry Cavill) and The Flash (Ezra Miller) assisting those in danger.

Should the director’s comments hold true to this day – and why wouldn’t they? – the revelation could potentially clear up at least one misconception fans may have taken issue with regarding Whedon’s seemingly botched effort to make the DC supergroup’s silver screen debut more family-friendly.

Tell us, are you a fan of Joss Whedon’s Justice League? Or are you in favor of the Snyder cut? Let us know in the comments section below.