When Zack Snyder was forced to leave Justice League when the movie was in the midst of production, his replacement Joss Whedon felt like something of a strange choice. The DCEU had been battling against claims they were simply trying to replicate the Marvel Cinematic Universe formula since day one, and hiring the guy that had written and directed two Avengers movies wasn’t exactly doing that reputation any favors.
Then there were the obvious stylistic differences between Whedon and Snyder, with the latter having established the visual and narrative aesthetic for the superhero series in Man of Steel and Batman V Superman, while the former was known for his signature quip-heavy dialogue, leading many to wonder how filmmakers with such different styles could manage to extract a great Justice League movie out of such a situation, especially when they weren’t even working together. The short answer is, they couldn’t.
The extensive re-writes and reshoots drastically altered the tone of Justice League, and the theatrical cut is clearly the result of two different and clashing visions being bolted together in post-production, with Whedon taking some serious flak from the same DCEU fans who have almost deified Snyder as the genius behind the original cut of the movie that might not even see the light of day.
Having received critical acclaim and almost $3 billion at the box office for his Avengers movies, Whedon can’t have been too happy that Justice League got a much more tepid reaction, and ended up losing Warner Bros. money despite earning over $650 million globally. But now we’ve heard that he wants another bite at the cherry in an effort to redeem himself.
According to our sources – the same ones who told us that both Justice League Dark and Green Lantern shows were coming to HBO Max – Whedon has thrown his hat into the ring to direct another Justice League movie for the studio. While Warner Bros. are reportedly planning on giving the planned reboot to either J.J. Abrams or James Gunn, they’re still considering his request and may instead allow him to do an Elseworlds-style JL pic, something set outside the DCEU continuity with a different team line-up and different actors in the roles.
Apparently, Whedon doesn’t want his reputation tarnished by Justice League and is keen to make amends, and allowing him to take another stab at the property, but outside of the DCEU and free from its continuity, may be an interesting idea. After all, he’s proven himself adept at handling big budget comic book movies thanks to his work in the MCU and we’re sure that with a production that’s not as troubled behind the scenes as the original Justice League was, he’d be able to do a much better job.
