Despite talk surrounding Zack Snyder’s fabled cut of Justice League showing no signs of ceasing, the auteur continues sharing content stemming from his time shooting the big team-up flick. Based on the amount of changes that Joss Whedon and the studio made from the original vision, one can only assume that we’ve been witness to a modern day parallel of the situation involving Richard Donner and Richard Lester on Superman II. That said, we can only hope it doesn’t take a quarter century or so for us to see what could’ve been.
Now, I don’t mean to get too sidetracked here, but if you’re unfamiliar with the above reference, know that when Superman II was in production, director Donner was relieved of his position following the first film’s production, during which he shot a wealth of footage for the sequel. However, when Lester was enlisted, he largely crafted his own tale that became the movie people saw in theaters in 1981. Then, in 2006, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut was released at long last, and was a markedly different experience.
When it comes to Justice League, there does indeed seem to be enough footage filmed under Snyder to warrant an alternate cut, though some of his bigger action pieces were retained in the final product because they simply would’ve been too expensive to reshoot. Still, it’s very possible the editors made some adjustments here and there.
One such example is that of the flashback scene showing Steppenwolf’s first trip to Earth, which saw Amazons, Atlanteans, all the tribes of man, gods and a Green Lantern unite to thwart the Apokoliptian invasion. Afterward, the Mother Boxes were divvied up and hidden by residents of our planet.
As of now, it remains unclear how much of “the King of Man” we would’ve seen in Zack Snyder’s iteration, but he’s shared a special look at the monarch via Vero (above). Though this moniker sounds very much like something you’d hear in a beer commercial, the disclosed pic is just the latest exhibit hinting at a more grandiose tale that’s unfortunately being kept under lock and key at the moment.
Needless to say, we’ll keep you posted when it comes to any other goodies Snyder may supply from his days overseeing Justice League – and hopefully, one day, the announcement of his version hitting Blu-ray.