Zack Snyder's Original Justice League Script Was Much Darker and Weirder, but Studio Wanted It Funnier

Zack Snyder's Justice League is often highlighted (rightly or wrongly) as being the epitome of the "dark and gritty" era of superhero movies – but it was supposed to be even darker if you can believe it. Snyder sat down with Avengers: Infinity and Endgame directors The Russo Bros. on their show Pizza Film School, where Snyder dropped some new details about the process of making Justice League – including the fact that he originally had a much "darker" and "weirder" film in mind. 

Snyder and The Russos were discussing the subject of how they go through the writing process for their films, with both parties agreeing they prefer a process of puzzle-style notecards on a wall, that often shift and move as they "find" the actual story and sequences of the film they end up making. 

"And so the script for Justice League did evolve out of that [process]," Snyder said, before dropping a new reveal: "Now I'll be honest that when the script – what happened with Justice League is that we had a very... The original script was darker and weirder. And then when Batman vs Superman came out, and the studio was like 'It's not funny enough! People want funnier movies! They want funny stuff!' We did go back and do a big kind of... lightened the movie overall. And I would say that my cut of Justice League is a sort of... is in between. 

"I always preserved some of the more intense stuff that I shot anyway, [that] I thought, in retrospect, they would want anyway – making sure of course had what was on the page, but we had this other script," Snyder continued. "I think in the original script Lois and Batman got together you know briefly – there was this whole other thing that everyone was like 'Oh my god, you can't do that.' [laughs]. Because Superman's dead, and I was like 'Lois is a pretty amazing person. Yeah, so..." 

Details like the Lois Lane and Batman romantic subplot are things that Snyder has definitely discussed before. In fact, it was these same behind-the-scenes anecdotes from Snyder that helped his Justice League get made. He would hold private screenings of Man of Steel or Batman v Superman, in years after Joss Whedon's Justice League was released, stoking further waves of fan interest through social media and photo gallery teasers of his vision. The unofficial movement worked: Warner Bros. invested considerable cost into letting Snyder complete The Snyder Cut of Justice League, and release it as a four-hour epic on HBO Max. 

Even though Snyder has moved on to building massive franchise universes for Netflix (Army of the Dead, Rebel Moon), his Justice League cut remains a milestone that never seems to fade from relevance. Mostly because DC SnyderVerse fans are still curious about topics like what a "darker and weirder" version would've been... 

You can stream Zack Snyder's Justice League on HBO Max.