There are few things more tantalizing than an interesting sounding movie that never made it to theaters.
Superhero cinema is littered with this, from the notion of casting Bill Murray as Batman in the 1980s, to Nicholas Cage’s take on the Man of Steel in Superman Lives, to Darren Aronofsky’s potentially comprehensive reinvention of Batman, right the way to the fabled ‘Snyder cut’ of last year’s Justice League. Also in that crowd is, of course, Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller’s Justice League: Mortal, which would have aimed for a mid-2009 release.
The project got all the way through to being cast, complete with costuming tests and concept art, before being canned due to the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America strike and (as rumor has it) because Christopher Nolan was not exactly enthusiastic about sharing the Batman IP. Recent releases have given us a wealth of information on what the film would have looked like – some of which seems to indicate that its cancellation might have been for the best – and this week finally brought forth the cast shot seen in the gallery below, in which the heroes kinda look like bargain basement knock-offs of themselves
Now, Armie Hammer, who was set to play Batman in the film, has weighed in to tell us that what we see here is not representative of what they had planned, taking to Twitter to explain that “the Bat Suit isn’t right and also the Green Lantern was black.” He didn’t reveal anything further, but those who’ve been less than enthused with these costumes should be pleased to know that they weren’t the final versions.
It’s interesting to ponder what the current state of superhero movies would be if Warner Bros. had moved ahead with Justice League: Mortal. Presumably, the DCEU as we know it would not exist and, if it turned out to be a bit of a disaster, it might have given Marvel Studios some hesitation in going ahead with The Avengers. Seeing how great Mad Max: Fury Road was, I’d absolutely love to find out what George Miller would do with a superhero film, but to be honest, I’m a bit glad this particular take on the titular team didn’t end up happening.
Still, if Marvel ever wants to reboot Ghost Rider, there’s definitely one director that should be at the top of their list.