Zack Snyder says he was “taken aback” by Batman v Superman criticism
And the Justice League tone and plot have changed accordingly
It’s a long while until we see the Justice League movie hit cinemas, but in an unusual move Warner Bros. have already started inviting journalists to the set in what some have interpreted as an attempt to push back at the bad press surrounding recent big-screen effort Batman v Superman.
“When Batman v Superman came out, I was like, ‘Wow, okay, oof,’" Snyder told Vulture. “It did catch me off guard.”
“I have had to, in my mind, make an adjustment. I do think that the tone of Justice League has changed because of what the fans have said.”
Snyder’s wife and producer Deborah added: “The main thing we learned, I think: People don’t like to see their heroes deconstructed.”
As an upshot of this whole thing the pair revealed all sorts of new details about the upcoming team-up movie, far beyond the basic “Batman (Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), The Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher) and resurrected Superman (Henry Cavill) put aside their differences etc etc” that we know already.
More like this
Yep, we’re talking cold hard logo details, people.
Oh, and the basic plot for the entire movie.
First off, the villain. Despite all the hinting in Batman v Superman, the team-up movie won’t see the heroes facing off against legendary comic baddie Darkseid just yet. Instead, rather like how the Marvel films gradually warmed up for Thanos, the movie will have a “villainous alien” called Steppenwolf (currently not cast) as the primary Big Bad that Batman et al have to face (making him the Big Bad Steppenwolf, we suppose).
In another Marvel parallel, the film will also see our heroes racing against time to collect all-powerful cosmic devices like the Infinity gems, though in this case the MacGuffins are called Mother Boxes (a piece of cosmic equipment from DC’s comic universe that can be glimpsed in certain scenes of Batman v Superman helping create Ray Hero’s cybernetic hero Cyborg).
According to Vulture, a historical prologue will see Amazonians (Wonder Woman’s people), Atlanteans (like Aquaman and co) and humans (you know, us) each given a Mother Box to look after, with the super-team of the present day attempting to hunt down these boxes before they take on their foes.
Now, if you think that sounds a bit like the beginning of Lord of the Rings then you’re right – but if you were hoping for any according fantasy crossovers then you’ll have to make do with the addition of Game of Thrones actor Kristofer Hivju, who plays Tormund in the HBO series and will apparently be portraying the older Atlantean King in the flashback.
Oh, and one final detail – despite Justice League originally being announced as a two-parter, that seems to have been knocked on the head.
“We were only ever planning and we are only doing Justice League,” Deborah Snyder said to journalists. “Just Justice League. One movie.”
So there you have it – a one-off movie that’ll brighten things up a bit while basically functioning as a mash-up between Lord of the Rings and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. What could possibly go wrong THIS time?
Justice League will be released in November 2017
