Justice League Set Photo Reveals Deleted Atlantis Action Scene
Justice League’s production issues have been well documented; director Zack Snyder chose to depart to film’s production after his daughter passed away, leaving reshoots and post-production duties to Avengers director Joss Whedon. The film was likely in trouble before that though, with reports of an early cut of the movie described as “unwatchable.” Whedon was actually brought in before Snyder’s departure to punch up the script, and the reshoots ended up being far more extensive than was originally believed, essentially reshaping the movie in some fundamental ways. Warner Bros. also infamously mandated a runtime of less than two hours, presumably in an effort to avoid the perceived bloat of Justice League’s predecessor, Snyder’s divisive Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice.
That level of overhaul meant quite a bit of footage Snyder shot hit the cutting room floor, and we’re starting to get some hints as to what some of that footage entailed. Stuntman Thomas Billings has posted a shot of himself and a group of fellow performers from an Atlantean battle that didn’t make the film’s final cut to Instagram. Check it out below.
It seems likely more and more footage like this will surface as an increasingly vocal movement of fans are demanding to see Snyder’s version of the film – though, considering the production timeline, that seems highly unlikely to ever happen.
Justice League was meant to be DC’s answer to The Avengers, but so far it’s severely underperforming at the box office and has been met with middling critical reviews – though they’ve been a slight step up from the reviews that greeted Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad. Warner Bros. was certainly hoping that Justice League would be something of a victory lap after Wonder Woman, the DCEU’s first unqualified triumph. But even Diana of Themyscira wasn’t enough to propel Justice League past its behind the scenes chaos. DC’s film universe isn’t going anywhere – Aquaman has already finished filming, Shazam is approaching the start of production, and a Wonder Woman sequel is all but a sure thing. But it seems as if Justice League is likely the end of the first version of the DCEU, which simply never took off with wider audiences the way the studio was hoping.
KEY RELEASE DATES
Aquaman release date: Dec 21, 2018
Shazam! release date: Apr 5, 2019
Wonder Woman 2 release date: Nov 1, 2019
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