Batman almost fell in love with Lois Lane in Zack Snyder's Justice League. It's no secret that the filmmaker's original plans for the film were changed when Joss Whedon came in and finished the project. But even before the reshoots, there were already alterations made to it.
On the heels of the divisive response to Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Warner Bros. became increasingly hands-on with their subsequent DCEU projects in an effort to address criticisms on their previous films. Aside from David Ayer's Suicide Squad, Snyder's Justice League was significantly impacted by this. After a personal tragedy, the filmmaker had to step away from the movie, resulting in Whedon finishing the feature. But instead of simply picking up where his predecessor left off, there were a lot of changes made during the reshoots and post-production. That said, long before this, Snyder's original plan was already compromised.
Speaking with Vanity Fair in light of the nearing release of the new Justice League on HBO Max, Snyder revealed that he initially planned to have Bruce Wayne fall in love with Lois on the heels of Superman's demise in Batman V Superman. Knowing full well that resurrecting Clark Kent was the only way to save the world, Batman was conflicted; in the end, he decided to let go of his feelings to save humanity.
"The intention was that Bruce fell in love with Lois and then realized that the only way to save the world was to bring Superman back to life. So he had this insane conflict, because Lois, of course, was still in love with Superman. We had this beautiful speech where [Bruce] said to Alfred: ‘I never had a life outside the cave. I never imagined a world for me beyond this. But this woman makes me think that if I can get this group of gods together, then my job is done. I can quit. I can stop.’ And of course that doesn’t work out for him.”
For context, there are three versions of Snyder's Justice League script. Snyder first worked with Chris Terrio to finish the original version before Batman v Superman even hit theaters, but that was workshopped in accordance with the response to his previous DCEU movie. The third incarnation of the story is the one that will play out on HBO Max; aside from additional work with previously-confirmed characters for it, this will also feature Jared Leto's Joker. Outside of Snyder's work, there's Whedon's work which was what Justice League's theatrical cut was based on. Snyder didn't say when this particular plot point was removed, but chances are that this was already gone before they filmed the project.
Had this played out on the screen, it's curious what the reaction from the public would have been. Snyder's take on these DC characters has always been unorthodox, and this particular element is no different. If anything, the planned romance between Batman and Lois be too obscure even for some fans. Nevertheless, it may be for the best that this element of Justice League was removed; its story is already complicated enough and adding this might make it too much convoluted.
Source: Vanity Fair
