By now we all know that Zack Snyder has stepped down as director of Justice League following the loss of his daughter, Autumn back in March. In his desire to take time to grieve with his family, he has handed the reins of the film over to Joss Whedon, director of the first two Avengers movies and the upcoming Batgirl adaptation. Needless to say, this could have implications for both Justice League and the future of the DCEU. As such, we’ve put together the fragments of news Warner Bros. has provided since the announcement yesterday.
Snyder was a major contributor to the formation of DC’s shared universe. He directed Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, worked on the story for the upcoming Wonder Woman film, and is a producer or executive producer on all DCEU films through 2020. He not only set the tone and worked on the design of the universe but as director of Justice League was going to set the tone for the films to come. While he is stepping down now and handing the reigns over to Whedon, Snyder is leaving behind a mostly finished film, giving Whedon the task of shepherding it across the finish line through minor reshoots and post-production.
Snyder’s departure comes at a major turning point for the still-burgeoning DCEU. While still slated to direct Justice League 2, it’s unclear if he will return for the feature or how hands-on a role he’ll have if he steps down. There is some speculation that Snyder’s decision to hand the film to Whedon was his way of giving a nod that the well-experienced Avengers director would be taking over for the next film. Other fans, meanwhile, have instead been championing director Patty Jenkins for Justice League 2 since early reviews of Wonder Woman have been generally positive.
Prior to Snyder’s decision to step down, Whedon was already tasked with writing up new scenes for the re-shoots that are scheduled to begin shortly. Snyder was already set to take a break from the DCEU, opting to direct a personal project (war movie The Last Photograph) as a “palate cleanser” between Justice League and Justice League 2, which Warner Bros. had opted to delay in order to focus on releasing The Batman first.
Now, the former Avengers helmer will be directing the scenes that he wrote as well. As noted before, the re-shoots are minor in nature — mostly pickups — and are common for large blockbuster films like Justice League. Toby Emmerich, president of Warner Bros. Pictures underlined this in a recent statement to Empire Online.
"The directing is minimal and it has to adhere to the style and tone and the template that Zack set…We’re not introducing any new characters. It’s the same characters in some new scenes. He’s handing a baton to Joss, but the course has really been set by Zack. I still believe that despite this tragedy, we’ll still end up with a great movie."
From Emmerich’s statement, it is clear that Whedon is set to fulfill Snyder’s vision and guide it in its final steps — not alter the film drastically. Given Whedon’s history, he’s a strong candidate to do so. Whedon got his start in Hollywood as a ghostwriter and continued to contribute to scripts even while Buffy the Vampire Slayer was still on the air. Often, he was brought in to punch up dialogue or give another pass at an action scene. Most famously, Whedon contributed to the original X-Men film in 2000 with a script rewrite, but only two of the lines he wrote actually made it into the film. However, he has had more successful rewrites in his career.
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While certain films like Waterworld and The Quick and the Dead were already too far into production for him to save, his work on Titan AE, Speed, and Toy Story were lauded. Whedon is known for developing Rex the dinosaur in Toy Story and, according to Amy Pascal, he was also responsible for singlehandedly saving the film by making Woody and Buzz more likable. In Speed, Whedon was celebrated by its original writer Graham Yost for his changes to dialogue and additional character beats. It also goes without saying that Whedon has more experience than anyone in dealing with studio guidelines in his time working not only as a writer/director of the two Avengers films but also in working on the early stages of Agents of SHIELD and writing the Astonishing X-Men comic series in 2004.
Zack Snyder’s influence in the DCEU is undeniable; However, even before his departure, it was clear that was a changing of the guard developing behind the scenes. Snyder is a polarizing figure among fans and has taken a great deal of flak over the years regarding the DCEU’s creative decisions. Warner Bros. has repeatedly reiterated support for Snyder and his vision, and even offered to push Justice League's release date back for him - a massive gesture for such a huge project - but as the DCEU continued to grow, the studio also began to expand the influence of other creative minds like Patty Jenkins, Ben Affleck, and Geoff Johns.
Johns' involvement is one of the biggest changes as he's not only taking on an executive role, but a creative one as well. He co-wrote the upcoming Wonder Woman film and had developed the stories for Aquaman, Green Lantern Corps, The Batman and the upcoming Teen Titans television series. So, while Snyder's tone and style were central to this shared universe getting off the ground, and will likely continue to influence the films to come, he isn't as integral a part as he was at the start.
Fortunately, Warner Bros. efforts to bring strong talent to the DCEU means Snyder can feel comfortable stepping away to spend some much needed time healing with his family - leaving the remaining work on Justice League in Whedon's more than capable hands. When it comes to his future involvement, THR reported that Warner Bros. has extended his first-look deal, meaning there's sure to be work for him when he returns. Whether that's work in the DCEU or elsewhere remains to be seen, but based on the support the studio has shown him so far, it looks like it's up to him whether or not he wants to jump into another DC film.
Whenever that happens and whatever project it ends up being, we wish the Snyder family peace and our deepest condolences in the intervening days.
