There is no denying that many of the popular DC franchises ooze with so much dark and gritty tone as compared to the works of its rival company, Marvel Studios. DCEU filmmaker Zack Snyder revealed that Warner Bros wanted him to turn Justice League into something like Avengers.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was released in 2016, and although it performed well commercially, it was met with a lot of negative reviews. Globally, it earned over $870 million but was not enough to carry it as a top-grosser for the year. Seeing this result, Warner Bros insisted to change the tone of the sequel.
Warner Bros Wanted Zack Snyder To Make Justice League More Like Avengers
In an episode of the Pizza Film School series on YouTube, Zack Snyder recalled how Warner Bros told him to bring more fun into the Justice League script:
“I’ll be honest that when the script… what happened with [Batman v Superman sequel] Justice League is we had a very… the original script was much darker and weirder, and then when Batman v Superman came out and the studio was like, ‘It’s not funny enough. People want funnier movies. They want funny stuff in it,’ we did go back, and lightened the movie, overall.”
Snyder’s DCEU franchise was met with a lot of criticism, and it got more challenging as critics and fans made comparisons to another enterprise with a whole different vibe. It was not an easy journey for Snyder working on Justice League, not to mention the pressure from Warner Bros that brewed creative differences.
The director revealed that he tried to keep some of the “more intense stuff” in Justice League to keep the original tone of it in hopes that Warner Bros would end up satisfied:
“And I would say that ‘Justice League,’ my cut of ‘Justice League,’ is a sort of in-between. I always preserved some of the more intense stuff that I shot anyway. I thought they would, in retrospect, they would maybe want, making sure I, of course, had what was on the page.”
He also highlighted Ezra Miller’s work as The Flash, bringing comic relief and a little fun to the story, as he embodies a character who is quite in awe of other bigger, more popular superheroes.
Upcoming DC Movies Are Expected To Have Lighter Tones This Time
After Snyder left Justice League during post-production due to a family tragedy, Joss Whedon took over the project, which irreparably bombed at the box office. In 2021, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, also known as the Snyder Cut, was released as a four-hour feature as a result of fans’ enduring campaign to witness the director’s true vision for the epic movie.
Soon after, Snyder moved on to non-superhero works such as Rebel Moon and Army of the Dead. Although he won’t be back in the DC Universe in the foreseeable future, Warner Bros will seemingly strive to continue this trend for upcoming projects.
Most likely, this will begin with James Gunn’s version of Superman: Legacy as the CEO of DC Studios promised a lighter tone in telling Clark Kent’s story. Fans will now have an idea of what to expect in the upcoming DC movies as Snyder revealed Warner Bros’ vision for the franchise.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is available to stream on HBO Max.
Source: Pizza Film School on YouTube
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