‘Justice League’ Hopes Cyborg Will Resonate With Fans Living With Disabilities

Superheroes have always been figures for people to look up to and find themselves reflected in. For those living with physical disabilities, however, it’s not as common to see a hero that experiences similar challenges and triumphs they live with every day. That’s something Ray Fisher hopes to change with Cyborg in the upcoming Justice League.

In a recent interview with Geek Magazine (via Heroic Hollywood), Fisher explained that both Zack Snyder and screenwriter Chris Terrio wanted Cyborg to be a positive representation for those with physical disabilities and that fans have approached him to tell him how seeing Cyborg has given them a hero to relate to and that, in turn, has made the character more relevant to him as an actor.

“I’ve had lots of fans who come out and say ‘Listen, I can relate to Cyborg because I lost a limb,’ or ‘I have this cochlear implant,’” Fisher said. “It’s one of those things when you actually start seeing it, when you actually start hearing about it, that made Cyborg more relevant to me than I think he ever had been up to that point.”

For those who aren’t familiar with how Cyborg ends up part man and part machine, it’s a story that those who have experienced serious physical trauma can somewhat relate to. An incredibly intelligent star college athlete, Victor Stone is nearly killed in a serious car accident that, as Fisher explained to SFX Magazine, changes his entire world.

“So, you take a smart guy, make him even smarter. He essentially has his whole world taken away from him,” Fisher explains. “He has his body taken away in a tragic accident, and his father, with whom he has a very sordid relationship, takes it upon himself to graft these cybernetic materials — this Apokoliptian Mother Box — to him.”

These cybernetic grafts turn Victor into Cyborg and audiences will get to see more than just the end product of the transformation. In Justice League, Victor will have only recently been transformed so, as Fisher told SFX Magazine, fans will also get to see the character deal with the complex feelings that come with his transformation.

“The idea of Cyborg dealing with his duality just runs throughout the entire course of this film,” Fisher explained. “He’s a bit more serious because he’s only recently, in our version, become Cyborg. So, he’s still dealing with what that means.”

And how Cyborg deals with it and still reconnects to his humanity is something Fisher says is powerful.

“Being able to see that sort of massive setback, yet seeing the guy overcome it, reconnect with humanity, while reconnecting with himself, is powerful.”

Fans will get to be inspired by Cyborg’s journey and heroics when Justice League hits theaters November 17, 2017.