In the weeks following the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the filmmaker revealed that he’d clashed with Warner Bros. again during reshoots on The Snyder Cut, this time over his plan to include John Stewart’s Green Lantern meeting with Bruce Wayne – a role that was ultimately fulfilled by Harry Lennix’s Martian Manhunter after he found himself blocked by the studio.
Snyder actually shot the scene in question with actor Wayne T. Carr portraying John Stewart, and during an interview with YouTuber Tyrone Magnus, the director has revealed that the dispute was “very serious” and almost brought the entire Snyder Cut to a halt.
“When we had this fight, I was like, ‘Guys, I don’t understand. We have this whole thing of the Multiverse, who cares?'” said Snyder. “I just think the right end of this movie is John Stewart, that’s the correct ending to happen. By the way, I don’t want to take anything away from Harry and away from Martian Manhunter, because it’s cool. Seeing him early and then seeing him at the end, its cool, it kind of completes his story. But it was always my intent to have John Stewart [meet Batman].”
“Even if there’s no other movies, it would make sense for the movies to come that John Stewart would say, ‘The Green Lantern Corps is going to come to fight with you against Darkseid because we need to do that. You guys aren’t gonna make it without us. We’re powerful allies in this,'” explained Snyder. “To me, it was like a no-brainer. But it was a very serious fight that I was in.”
Snyder went on to reveal that the disagreement became so severe that the project was at risk, although he ultimately relented: “To me, it wasn’t worth doing it to Wayne, like blowing up the whole movie — because it was that close — over it. And then have everyone be like, or have Wayne feel like, ‘Oh shit, I canceled the whole movie because Snyder wouldn’t budge.’ And I just felt like, ‘Okay, fuck it. I’m gonna just [let it go].’ And Wayne was great in the thing.”
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While it’s highly unlikely we’ll ever get to see it, Snyder has recently spoken about how he saw John Stewart’s role in the SnyderVerse playing out through his planned Justice League sequels, and how he and the Green Lantern Corps would have joined the League in their battle against Darkseid.
In ZACK SNYDER’S JUSTICE LEAGUE, determined to ensure Superman’s (Henry Cavill) ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) aligns forces with Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) with plans to recruit a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions. The task proves more difficult than Bruce imagined, as each of the recruits must face the demons of their own pasts to transcend that which has held them back, allowing them to come together, finally forming an unprecedented league of heroes. Now united, Batman (Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher), and The Flash (Ezra Miller) may be too late to save the planet from Steppenwolf, DeSaad, and Darkseid, and their dreadful intentions.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League is directed by Zack Snyder and features Henry Cavill as Superman, Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Connie Nielsen as Queen Hippolyta, Robin Wright as General Antiope, J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon, Amber Heard as Mera, Joe Morton as Silas Stone, Willem Dafoe as Vulko, Ciaran Hinds as Steppenwolf, Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke, Harry Lennix as Martian Manhunter, Kiersey Clemons as Iris West, Zheng Kai as Ryan Choi, Peter Guinness as DeSaad, Ray Porter as Darkseid, and Jared Leto as The Joker.