Zack Snyder’s Justice League has been getting its due appreciation and excitement even before the official announcement of the release date. No one is able to stay calm about the intensity of this particular project and is eagerly looking forward to it. Jared Leto will be coming back again as the Joker in Snyder’s Justice League. People that enjoyed Leto’s extremely maniacal delivery of the Clown Prince of Crime are looking forward to it, and are even ready to see what changes will Snyder and Leto make to the character. Recently, it has been revealed that Snyder originally had plans of establishing romance between Batman and Lois Lane.
Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Warner Bros. became increasingly hands-on with their subsequent DCEU projects in an effort to address criticisms on their previous films. Aside from David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, Snyder’s Justice League was significantly impacted by this. After a personal tragedy, the filmmaker had to step away from the movie, resulting in Whedon finishing the feature. But instead of simply picking up where his predecessor left off, there were a lot of changes made during the reshoots and post-production. That said, long before this, Snyder’s original plan was already compromised.
Speaking with Vanity Fair in light of the nearing release of the new Justice League on HBO Max, Snyder revealed that he initially planned to have Bruce Wayne fall in love with Lois on the heels of Superman’s demise in Batman V Superman. Knowing full well that resurrecting Clark Kent was the only way to save the world, Batman was conflicted; in the end, he decided to let go of his feelings to save humanity.
“The intention was that Bruce fell in love with Lois and then realized that the only way to save the world was to bring Superman back to life. So he had this insane conflict, because Lois, of course, was still in love with Superman. We had this beautiful speech where [Bruce] said to Alfred: ‘I never had a life outside the cave. I never imagined a world for me beyond this. But this woman makes me think that if I can get this group of gods together, then my job is done. I can quit. I can stop.’ And of course, that doesn’t work out for him.”
There are three versions of Snyder’s Justice League script. Snyder first worked with Chris Terrio to finish the original version before Batman v Superman even hit theaters, but that was workshopped in accordance with the response to his previous DCEU movie. The third incarnation of the story is the one that will play out on HBO Max; aside from additional work with previously-confirmed characters for it, this will also feature Jared Leto’s Joker. Snyder already had a history devised in his head.
“The scene explains why Bruce had the Joker card taped to his gun that you see in Batman v Superman,” the director says of his 2016 film, which also hinted that that Joker murdered the Caped Crusader’s sidekick by showing the absent Robin’s armor, spray-painted with “Ha Ha, Joke’s On You, Batman.”
Snyder gave us more insights about his thought, “I’d always wanted to explore the death of Robin,” Snyder said. “And if there ever was going to be a next movie, which, of course, there probably won’t be, I wanted to do a thing wherein flashbacks we learn how Robin died, how Joker killed him and burned down Wayne Manor, and that whole thing that happened between him and Bruce.”
Snyder is clearly willing to explore more of Batman and Joker’s relationship as it is one of the most intriguing parts of the DC Extended Universe. But the said character, Joker, is getting a complete makeover. Jared Leto’s Joker wore tight skin fit suits, was a little too maniac, and had a bunch of tattoos. More like, the tattoos had a bit of skin on it rather than being it the other way round. And to top it all of, fans of the said character Joker, got to hear Jared Leto’s awkward laugh. It really didn’t end well and he had to deal with the short end of the stick.
Outside of Snyder’s work, there’s Whedon’s work which was what Justice League’s theatrical cut was based on. Snyder didn’t say when this particular plot point was removed, but chances are that this was already gone before they filmed the project. Had this played out on the screen, it’s curious what the reaction from the public would have been. Snyder’s take on these DC characters has always been unorthodox, and this particular element is no different. If anything, the planned romance between Batman and Lois be too obscure even for some fans. Irrational to be precise. Nevertheless, it may be for the best that this element of Justice League was removed; its story is already complicated enough, and adding this might make it too much convoluted.
What do you think about the possibility of a romantic relationship between Batman and Lois Lane?
