‘Justice League’ Cut This Joke To Not Exceed Their Curse Word Limit

One of the most regular complaints thrown against the installments of the DC Extended Universe is that it is too tonally dark and could use a stronger sense of playfulness. As evidenced from the trailers, Justice League aimed to inject more fun into the picture, thanks in large part to Ezra Miller‘s The Flash and Jason Momoa‘s Aquaman. According to Miller, one joke and its use of a four-letter word was sacrificed in the editing bay to ensure the film maintained a PG-13 rating.

“There’s a line that I miss from the film, that I wish was in there,” Miller described to GameSpot. “[Aquaman] throws that thing against the wall in the Batcave, and [Batman’s] original line was–I think now he just says, ‘Hey. Don’t do that.’ But the original line was, ‘Hey. Don’t do that. A lot of my sh*t explodes.’”

He hypothesized, “Because, I think, that we only got a certain number of curse words.”

One of the issues some critics have taken with the finished Justice League product is the unbalanced nature of the film’s tone, with some elements being incredibly dark and serious while others are lighthearted and silly, as opposed to a constant blend of both. Some have attributed this imbalance to the film having two different directors work on it whose styles have been quite different.

Zack Snyder helmed most of the film but departed the project when he suffered a family tragedy. To bring the film to completion, Joss Whedon stepped in and also gave the script a few rewrites.

One of the film’s producers, Charles Roven, shared with The Washington Times that the final product is mostly a credit to Snyder.

“The goal is to make sure when you’re watching the movie, it all feels cohesive,” Roven clarified. “That imprint that Joss had, some aspect of it is going to come out in the direction, but the actors are already pretty much down the road on their arcs. Let’s just say 80, 85 percent of the movie is what was originally shot. There’s only so much you can do with other 15, 20 percent of the movie.”

You can judge the final product for yourselves, as Justice League is in theaters now.

[H/T GameSpot]