We’re now five years on from the theatrical release of Justice League, and the drama surrounding the movie still hasn’t dissipated.
One of the most fiercely contested aspects is Warner Bros.’ treatment of Cyborg actor Ray Fisher. Zack Snyder wanted to put an African American superhero in the spotlight, so wrote the plot around the star’s Victor Stone, shot extensive scenes showing his backstory, and provided a bunch of character development with sequel potential.
Then Joss Whedon rolled into town, agreeing with WB’s Geoff Johns and Walter Hamada that Cyborg’s role should be minimized, cut most of his scenes, and seem to have been most concerned with getting Fisher to say “booyah”. It’s a pretty scummy tale, and Fisher has been a fixture on social media calling out Whedon, Johns, and Hamada by saying “accountability > entertainment”.
The issue has reared its head again after Rolling Stone‘s hit piece on Justice League, which paints Zack Snyder as “Lex Luthor”, indicating he manipulated Fisher’s anger, and that he nefariously tricked the studio into funding his cut using a bot army.
One aspect that seems to have particularly annoyed Fisher was the article saying he “declined to comment” (which has now been amended to “Fisher’s reps did not respond”). Fisher has his own take on this, and fans are right behind him:
Warner Bros. and Rolling Stone clearly aren’t coming out of this looking good:
Others have problems with Rolling Stone‘s insinuations:
Is this just annoyance that Zack Snyder’s Justice League continues to sell well?
There’s also the rather pointed observation that taking the side of a major corporation against an individual accusing them of racism (and then saying he’s been manipulated into thinking that way by a white man) is not a good look.
Fortunately, Ray Fisher will soon be making a long-awaited comeback soon. Snyder has cast him in upcoming Netflix space opera Rebel Moon, his first feature-length movie since Justice League. That’s expected to land on the service sometime in 2023, and will be just the first half of a two-part intergalactic epic.
