Oh, “Justice League.” If there ever was a symbol for the trials WB and the DCEU have gone through, it’s this film. It wasn’t meant to be that way. “Justice League” was supposed to expand the DCEU in numerous directions, an anchor film that would help the franchise spinoff into fresh territory. However, with a catastrophic production that saw Zack Snyder exit the picture and Joss Whedon step in for reshoots, the writing was on the wall months before the film’s release. This wasn’t going to be a critical darling, and the future of the series had a lot questions.
After “Justice League” opened, an extensive behind-the-scenes account of what went down started circulating. Among the assertions was that Warner Bros. executive Greg Silverman was hands off when it came to Snyder, even after there were calls to remove him from “Justice League” following the poor reception to ‘Batman v Superman.’ Silverman was apparently “quite harsh on Zack” but kept him on board. As you’ll recall, Snyder formally exited the production last May to be with his family following the tragic death of his daughter in March. Whedon took over the post-production and reshoots on the film, but the general consensus upon release was that the final result felt jumbled and messy, a clash of two very different visions. But it seems there’s more to the story.
Rumors are now swirling that Snyder was fired from “Justice League” as far back as early 2017. Josh Dickey, a veteran entertainment reporter who is now stepping away to pursue other interests, claims that he had originally been told that Snyder was actually fired from the DCEU several months before his announced departure from “Justice League.”
Since I'm shifting into DGAF mode, here's a hot one for ya: Zack Snyder was fired from the DCEU just over 1 year ago. Couldn't write it ~quite~ that way at the time, but was able to tapdance around it [clumsy/oblique headline not mine] https://t.co/7cht70rCaG
— Josh L. Dickey (@JLDlite) February 10, 2018
In his piece that went to print for Mashable last July, Dickey ultimately tiptoed around what he knew, writing: “Multiple sources with knowledge of Warner Bros.’ plans say that as the DC Extended Universe moves forward, the Snyders will no longer have anything like the level of creative influence that got the franchise to this point.”
Snyder is currently not scheduled to direct any more DCEU movies in the foreseeable future, though he does retain a producer credit on the upcoming “Aquaman” and “Wonder Woman” sequel (his creative involvement, if any, remains unclear). Despite the level of Snyder’s involvement, the DCEU is still having problems with their own brand and identity, and overall quality control. At least with Snyder, that had a singular voice driving the series, as uneven as those results might’ve been.
While it’s certainly true that Snyder is not directing any future DCEU pictures at the moment, as is often the case with high profile movies that have high profile filmmakers leave, the truth of the situation is often hazy. (See Phil Lord and Chris Miller‘s departure from “Solo: A Star Wars Story“). Whether it was by choice or circumstance, it has always seemed that WB and DC were going to pursue a new creative direction. Snyder has yet to share his side of the story about what happened, but it’ll certainly be interesting to hear his perspective about the years spent inside the DCEU.