Zack Snyder Original Plans in Justice League:
Justice League became a failed state as soon as Zack Snyder was let go and Joss Whedon was brought in to finish the rest of the film on the terms that WB had mandated. Significant reshoots took place. $25 Million were spent on the reshoots. More than half the film Zack Snyder wanted to release was removed and what we got was nothing but JOSStice League! Except for maybe Wonder Woman, every other characters suffered in the film. Cyborg probably suffered the most. What was left of Batman was just super bad. Aquaman practically did nothing except for saying “My Man”. The Flash was just pushing people and Superman’s face still boils my brain. Anyway, we now know one more sequence that was cut from Justice League, as a courtesy of Zack Snyder.
Everyone knows that we would’ve seen more of Atlantis in the Snydercut. Willem Dafoe shot scenes as Vulko, and he would’ve also showed up along with Mera. In the final cut, Aquaman just spoke to Mera, but in the Snydercut, we would’ve seen an entire sequence between Vulko and Arthur. Zack Sndyer explained how Arthur got his Trident (or as Jason Momoa called it – ‘The Quindent’) in his original version.
During the live commentary of his Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice watch party, Snyder said:
“The concept here was that he had his, to me it was that he had probably trained with his mother’s trident a couple of times with Vulko, but he wasn’t keeping it himself. So Vulko kept the trident with him and, as needed, if they were training or [whatever], he would get it from him, but he’d always give it back. But he never took it up as like a real mantle.”
Well, this would’ve explained how after talking to Mera, Arthur suddenly shows up all dressed up with his ‘Quindent’ under Gotham Harbor. There were several other Atlantis sequences that were removed by Joss Whedon. First of all, these edits were made to bring a 214 Minutes long movie to under 120 Minutes. So Whedon literally had a tough job at deciding the minutes and seconds of footage that had to be in Justice League. Secondly, the Atlantis sequences were also removed so that they don’t become a problem with what James Wan was shooting for Aquaman.
For instance, the wardrobe of the Atlanteans that Snyder shows us was totally different from what James Wan showed. Just like that, the scenes could’ve also been different. Another example of this is the way the story of Aquaman in Justice League would’ve led into his solo film. Jason Momoa revealed that the ending Aquaman got in the Snydercut was different. He said:
“In Zack’s cut, we had it where I was with Vulko and Mera, and I say that I have to go home. And they say there’s this force coming that I need to help. I’m like, ‘I’m going home to see my dad.’ I get into the back of a pickup truck and pound a bottle of something and off he goes, the wanderer. So that was kind of the end of Justice League – where I was going. Cut to me coming home and run into a submarine.”
Cutting this scene off does make sense since Aquaman’s opening prologue was different and this scene wouldn’t have fit with how Aquaman went to Atlantis with Mera in his own film. But WB still doesn’t get a pass for editing the entire Justice League movie. They still don’t get a freebee for senselessly editing Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’s theatrical cut and turning people away. Let’s just hope that they will release the Snyder Cut of Justice League on HBO MAX either this year or in 2021.
