Zack Snyder's Justice League Was Almost Canceled Over One Scene You Never Saw
The epic odyssey that saw "Zack Snyder's Justice League" come to fruition can't be overstated. Still, a groundswell of never-ending pressure from audiences on social media and Snyder's own assurances that his cut did exist inevitably helped fans to do the impossible, and Warner Bros. was motivated to spend a staggering $70 million to get the second version of the movie out the door.
That doesn't mean the process of putting together "Zack Snyder's Justice League" was smooth sailing by any means. In a YouTube interview with Tyrone Magnus, Snyder explained that the entire thing was almost derailed by the ending scene in which Batman (Ben Affleck) meets up with Martian Manhunter (Harry Lennix).
That's because Snyder originally wanted John Stewart's Green Lantern (Wayne T. Carr) to visit Bruce Wayne at the end of the movie. Magnus seemed to take the words right out of the filmmaker's mouth when he questioned why Warner Bros. wouldn't let Snyder use the character for a brief scene in "Justice League."
"WB says that they didn't want the Green Lantern in there because they had other projects slated for him or whatever, but it's like they had Martian Manhunter in there, and if this is the end of your trilogy, like, they say, why not?" Magnus wondered as an exasperated Snyder agreed.
Fans could have seen a very different Green Lantern here
"You're saying my dialogue to them when we had this fight," Zack Snyder recalled to Tyrone Magnus. "I was like, 'Guys, I don't understand ... We have this whole thing of the multiverse.' I just think the right end of this movie is John Stewart; that's the correct ending."
While many fans will be more familiar with the Hal Jordan version of the character from the 2011 Ryan Reynolds movie, John Stewart is one of his successors and a famed Green Lantern in his own right. He could have been a valuable ally against Darkseid (Ray Porter), but sadly, it wasn't to be in "Zack Snyder's Justice League."
All the same, Snyder was clear that he still likes how the story ends in the official version. "By the way, I don't want to take anything away from Harry [Lennix] and away from Martian Manhunter because it's cool in a lot of ways," the filmmaker explained. "Seeing him early and then seeing him at the end, it's cool, like, you know, [it] kind of completes his story."
Wayne T. Carr would have played the character in the movie
As for who would have played Green Lantern in "Zack Snyder's Justice League," the director had Wayne T. Carr in mind for the role. They even shot a version of the scene in question, and the performer, who is best known for his Broadway work, was extremely excited to see how it came out.
"I was talking to him the other day, and he was just excited about it," Snyder said in a JusticeCon interview. "He loved the movie and was super excited for the reception the film has gotten, and he's just completely gracious." Though the director felt so strongly about the cut scene that he actually threatened to quit the movie, it sounds like all parties were at least satisfied with how the film's ending eventually came together.
Still, it's hard for any DC fan to argue with what Snyder was going for in his version of "Justice League." "It would make sense for the movies to come that John Stewart would say, 'You know the Green Lantern Corps needs to [be a part of this]," the filmmaker explained. "We're going to come fight with you against Darkseid.'" Though we may never really know how the remainder of the SnyderVerse would have shaken out, fans will arguably be happy to at least understand the full picture behind the director's vision.