DC Reportedly Had Plans For Martian Manhunter Before Justice League Snyder Cut
Martian Manhunter briefly appeared in Zack Snyder's Justice League, but according to a new report, not only was the character — played by Harry Lennix — never actually in the film's script, but DC had plans for the character and didn't want the character used in the film at all. A lengthy new report (via Rolling Stone) gets into various issues regarding the road to Zack Snyder's Justice League, including a Warner Bros. report that a number of the accounts involved in the viral online campaign were bots or fake accounts, and among them is that DC Films president Walter Hamada didn't want Martian Manhunter used in the film, but Snyder allegedly threatened to delete other footage if he didn't get to use the character — a claim Snyder denies.
The report also notes that while Ann Sarnoff also didn't want Martian Manhunter used in the Snyder Cut, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar overruled her, not only allowing the character to appear for two scenes in the film, but also gave Snyder the $13 million he had asked for to cover production costs on his version of the film. The report goes on to note that the additional funds brought the cost of the film to $73 million, with one source pointing out that it was money being spent "for a director's cut of a film that already lost hundreds of millions" at a time when people were losing their jobs at the studio.
The revelation about Martian Manhunter is just one of several in the report. The report also alleges that Snyder was asked through an intermediary to ask fans to stand down and stop review bombing Adam Wingard's Godzilla vs. Kong. Per the report, Snyder refused to do so, though the report notes that Snyder claims he was never asked and added "Furthermore, I do not control my fans. They have their own will and their own opinions; you really give me too much credit." Warner Bros. reportedly was able to work with IMDb to get the false reviews weeded out.
Perhaps most interesting about the report, however, is the information about the false accounts and bots within the Snyder Cut social media movement. A WarnerMedia report revealed that at least 13 percent of the accounts that were part of the campaign were actually fake, a number that is much higher than the three to five percent usually seen by cyber experts in any trending topic. The report also found that the fake accounts were involved in aspects of the campaign that spread negative and harmful content about WarnerMedia.
"After researching online conversations about the Snyder Cut of the Justice League's release, specifically the hashtags 'ReleaseTheSnyderCut' and 'RestoreTheSnyderVerse' on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, [the analysts] detected an increase in negative activity created by both real and fake authors," the report concluded. "One identified community was made up of real and fake authors that spread negative content about WarnerMedia for not restoring the 'SnyderVerse.' Additionally, three main leaders were identified within the authors scanned on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram — one leader on each platform. These leaders received the highest amount of engagement and have many followers, which gives them the ability to influence public opinion."