The release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League in 2021 marked the unveiling of the director’s original plans for the film before his departure from it in 2017. However, it seems as though not all of Snyder’s original vision made it to the screen, including a scrapped romance between Amy Adams’ Lois Lane and Ben Affleck’s Bruce Wayne.
This isn’t the first time fans have heard of scrapped plans for Justice League. The Snyder Cut was infamously almost scrapped following a dispute involving Wayne T. Carr’s cameo as John Stewart in the film’s final moments. The concept of a romance between Superman’s closest friend and his ex-girlfriend is something that hasn’t sat right with many fans since Snyder first revealed his plans for it. Snyder, on the other hand, still defends his concept. In a recent interview with Joe and Anthony Russo, who directed Avengers: Endgame, Snyder compared the romance to the age-old trope of a man shipped off to war:
“I think in the original script, Lois and Batman got together briefly,” Snyder spoke on the Pizza Film School podcast. “There was this whole other thing, and everyone was like, ‘Oh, my God, you can’t do that.’ Because Superman was dead and Lois is a pretty amazing person. Her part in Justice League is really — especially since I had Amy [Adams], and Amy’s like, a genius, I really felt like we should lean on Amy because she’s just a great actress, a force of nature. And then I loved the idea of setting up this concept, like in the movie where the husband goes off to war and he’s dead and the wife moves on and then the husband appears, like, ‘I’m not dead, I’m fine,’ how do you deal with that? I was super into that concept, that, ‘Oh, no, Superman can be brought back to life.'”
This romantic subplot would have played a key role in the scrapped Justice League sequels. Back when this information was first revealed, a number of documents about Snyder’s plans leaked, revealing that the second Justice League film would have revolved around Henry Cavill’s Superman finding out Lois was pregnant with Bruce’s child before being killed by Darkseid. In the third film, Ezra Miller’s Flash would send Batman back in time to sacrifice himself for Lois and his child, allowing Superman to have the strength of will to resist Darkseid and save the world, with the film ending on their child taking up the mantle as the new Batman.
Even if fans could learn to accept the romance between the two, many would find the subsequent story beats a tough pill to swallow. At the very least, fans can admit that Snyder had a very clear vision for the characters that broke away from convention, which is why the Snyder Cut was held as a Holy Grail in the eyes of fans for many years. While it’s not likely we’ll be seeing Snyder’s plans come to fruition any time soon, fans can reminisce on the journey at the upcoming Snydercon.
The SnyderVerse era is over for now
The term “SnyderVerse” refers to the interconnected film universe that Zack Snyder created, which began with Man of Steel and continued with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. Those plans have been scrapped in favor of an interconnected DC Universe consisting of film, television, animation and video game projects, with James Gunn and Peter Safran at the helm.
Despite its mixed reception, the SnyderVerse has a dedicated fanbase that appreciates Zack Snyder’s DC Universe vision. Fans have praised the SnyderVerse films for their darker tone and mature storytelling. They have also criticized Warner Bros. and DC’s interference with Snyder’s DCU plans, which they believe resulted in the lackluster final product of Justice League.
In 2021, Zack Snyder released his four-hour long Justice League cut on the WarnerMedia streaming service HBO Max. His version of Justice League was well received by fans and critics alike, who praised its improvement over the original version of the movie, which was overseen by Joss Whedon. The release of the Snyder Cut has reignited interest in the SnyderVerse and sparked speculation about its future.
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