Cyborg actor Ray Fisher has called out Joss Whedon for his abusive behavior during the Justice League reshoots - here's why. In the years since it opened theatrically in November 2017, the DCEU's big crossover has become (easily) one of the most infamous blockbusters in recent memory. It was already a project tinged with tragedy, with Man of Steel and Batman V Superman director Zack Snyder stepping down during post-production following the death of his daughter Autumn. Whedon subsequently replaced him at the helm for the film's reshoots, despite being credited as a co-writer only.

The theatrical cut of Justice League was met with mixed to negative reviews and disappointing box office returns, with many/most critics arguing it's a Frankenstein monster of a film that awkwardly blends Snyder's darker and more operatic approach with Whedon's trademark mix of quippy dialogue and character drama. It's since come out that a much larger chunk of the movie was reshot than initially reported, resulting in massive changes to the original narrative devised by Snyder and co-writer Chris Terrio. This, in turn, prompted fans to campaign for the release of Snyder's rough cut of the film - a campaign that was ultimately successful this year, with HBO Max announcing its plans to stream Zack Snyder's Justice League (to use its formal title) in 2021.

Related: Why Justice League 2017 AND Snyder Cut Can Both Be DCEU Canon

Things have since gone (mostly) quiet on the Justice League front, at least until this week. First, Fisher tweeted out a clip from the film's SDCC 2017 panel in which he praised Whedon for being "a good person to clean up and finish" Snyder's initial cut, saying he would like to "forcefully retract every bit of this statement." The actor has since posted about Whedon on Twitter again - and this time, he cut right to the chase.

Fisher Claims Whedon Was Abusive on Set

Joss Whedon Lighten Justice League

In his second tweet, Fisher claimed Whedon's "on-set treatment of the cast and crew of Justice League was gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable," and was enabled by then-DC Entertainment CCO Geoff Johns and producer Jon Berg. The actor has yet to specify the type of abusive behavior Whedon engaged in, so it could be anything from verbal and psychological to emotional, physical, or even sexual in nature. This isn't the first time Whedon's been accused of abusing the power of his position, either. In August 2017, his ex-wife Kai Cole published an essay accusing Whedon of hiding (and later confessing to her) extramarital affairs while running Buffy the Vampire Slayer and throughout their 21-year marriage, in addition to "inappropriate emotional" relationships with "co-workers, fans and friends." 

In a broader sense, Whedon has also been criticized for using his image as a self-proclaimed feminist to shield himself from critiques when it comes to his treatment of women, both on and off-screen. For example, his sequel Avengers: Age of Ultron was criticized for its clunky handling of infertility and pregnancy in a subplot involving Black Widow's history, and his work on shows like Firefly and Buffy has been similarly taken to take for their equally clumsy use of rape as a storytelling device. Most notoriously, on the Buffy spinoff Angel, Whedon butted heads with costar Charisma Carpenter when she became pregnant ahead of the start of season 4, resulting in changes to her character's storyline that ultimately led to her being written off the series entirely in season 5. Fisher even referred to these issues directly in a later tweet, saying "I believe Kai Cole and Charisma Carpenter."

Related: Justice League: All 6 Versions of Zack Snyder's Movie Explained

Whedon's Rewrites Hurt Cyborg the Most

Cyborg flying the Nightcrawler in Justice League

When it comes to Whedon's treatment of Fisher, the proof might be in the pudding. In an interview with The Black Cape Magazine in June, Fisher revealed he'd met with Snyder and Terrio to discuss Justice League's portrayal of Victor Stone aka. Cyborg and his family before the Justice League script had even been written. According to the actor:

We were able to talk about framing up this prominent Black comic book family and my perspective as a Black man if I’d been watching this thing. Any questions, thoughts, or concerns that I may have had about framing or where we may be going or how it may be perceived, Chris and Zack met those things with open arms and an open mind.

Prior to the Justice League reshoots, Snyder similarly described Cyborg as "the heart of the movie." You can see traces of the character's original arc in the film's theatrical cut; he loses his family, find a new one in the Justice League, and is the key to saving the world, being the only one who can stop Steppenwolf from forming the unity with the three Mother Boxes. At the end of the day, most of his backstory and the more dramatic elements of his plot thread (including, the death of his father) were stripped away from the film after Whedon's reshoots, resulting in a pretty flat portrayal of Cyborg. From a storytelling perspective, these changes come off as being disrespectful to not only Cyborg as a character, but also Fisher, Terrio, and Snyder's efforts to ensure Victor Stone wasn't a Black male stereotype.

Fisher talked about this in the same interview with TBCM, saying he didn't want Cyborg to be "relegated to being the catchphrase spitting ‘cool Black dude’. That’s not anything that I’m interested in watching. It’s definitely not anything I’m interested in portraying." Tellingly, in response to Fisher's comments about Whedon, Berg called them "categorically untrue" before claiming "I remember him being upset that we wanted him to say ‘Booyaa,’ which is a well known saying of Cyborg in the animated series." To many, this response has come across as curt and dismissive at best, and mostly seems to confirm Fisher's claim Whedon, Berg, and Johns were unprofessional in the way they overrode his concerns in favor of including that bit of fan-service (a moment that comes out of nowhere in the film anyway), on top of the other changes they made.

Related: Justice League: Every Villain in the Snyder Cut

Will Speaking Up Hurt Ray Fisher's Career?

As Black Lives Matter protests continue around the world, more and more BIPOC artists are speaking up the systemic racism they've encountered working in the film and TV industry - something that clearly empowered Fisher to speak up about his own experience with Justice League. There's no valid reason to doubt his sincerity either; by criticizing Whedon at this point, Fisher only really stands to hurt his career as an actor. Fortunately, as more and more BIPOC creatives call for long-overdue - and long called-for - changes in Hollywood to finally happen, Fisher should have more support than he would at another time. Case in point: Nia DaCosta (the director of the upcoming Candyman sequel) has praised Fisher for his honesty on Twitter, while filmmaker J.D. Dillard (Sleight) has joined the call for Cyborg to finally get his DCEU solo movie.

Of course, Fisher also has Snyder himself in his corner. The former has shown a lot of loyalty to the director in his repeated calls and unwavering support for the Snyder Cut to be released, and the latter has responded in turn, calling Fisher the true heart of his Justice League cut in a tweet last month. Snyder is similarly known for being loyal to those he's worked alongside before, having collaborated with many of the same behind the scenes artists and actors on his different projects. Suffice it to say, you can count him among those who've got Fisher's back as he speaks his truth.

NEXT: Every Snyder Cut Character That Wasn't In Justice League 2017

Key Release Dates