We've heard a lot of conflicting reports about how Joss Whedon came to be involved with Justice League, and in a heartbreaking account at Vanity Fair, Zack Snyder has explained how the death of his daughter, Autumn, led to him walking away from the movie.
In the same piece, it's revealed that Geoff Johns, who had been developing a Batgirl movie with Whedon, was the driving force for enlisting The Avengers director to pen those initial reshoots. Snyder was on board at first, admitting: "I thought maybe he could write some cool scenes. I thought that would be fun." However, as time passed, Warner Bros. started to give Whedon more power.
Suddenly, he wasn't just offering script pages and advice during the reshoots, but stepping behind the camera himself. Snyder had only one conversation with Whedon, and walked away from Justice League upon realising that this was not a fight he wanted in the wake of his daughter's tragic death.
Even when Snyder was shooting the movie the first time around, then Warner Bros. Chairman and CEO Kevin Tsujihara tasked Johns and producer Jon Berg with being on set every day to keep an eye on things. Berg tells the site that it was his job to "mediate between a creator whose vision is instinctually dark and a studio that perceived, rightly or wrong, that the fans wanted something lighter."
Again, Snyder wasn't overly bothered by them being there to "babysit."
"It didn’t bother me too much because they weren’t that threatening. I just felt the ideas they did have, where they were trying to inject humor and stuff like that, it wasn’t anything that was too outrageous."
Snyder believes around 3/4 of Justice League ended up being rewritten, an idea Warner Bros. clearly felt was a good idea. However, one anonymous studio executive admits that they were all left reeling by what Whedon delivered.
"When we got to see what Joss actually did, it was stupefying. "The robber on the rooftop—so goofy and awful. The Russian family—so useless and pointless. Everyone knew it. It was so awkward because nobody wanted to admit what a piece of shit it was."
Ouch.
Now, Zack Snyder's Justice League will finally be released on HBO Max, while Whedon is coming under the spotlight for inappropriate behaviour on both the set of this movie and other projects.
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Gina Carano was fired by Lucasfilm after a series of controversial social media posts, and will no longer play Cara Dune in The Mandalorian as a result.
For those of you hoping the character's story might continue, it seems Disney is looking to move on from her, as it was revealed this week that, "A Lucasfilm source says that the Cara Dune role on The Mandalorian is not expected to be recast."
Still, her disappearance will need to be addressed somehow, so we're banking on her being killed off.
Find out more on Carano's firing by clicking here.
9. The Next Transformers Movie May Be Beast Alliance
Another live-action movie is currently in the works at Paramount Pictures, with Creed 2 helmer Steven Caple Jr. in the director's chair. Shooting is expected to begin later this year, and we learned this week that the project currently has the working title of Transformers: Beast Alliance.
It's said to take place in the same timeline as Bumblebee, with a 1990s setting. It's noted that Beast Alliance will "have the flavor of a heist film that will span from Brooklyn to South America."
Head over to our original post for details on this movie's possible leads.
This July, DC Comics will revisit the world of Richard Donner's Superman: The Movie and Tim Burton's Batman. Writer Rob Venditti is teaming with artist Wilfredo Torres for Superman '78, while screenwriter Sam Hamm and artist Joe Quinones are delving into Batman '89.
DC Comics has confirmed that Batman '89 and Superman '78 will six digital chapters of each new series on July 27, followed by new chapters of each comic book for the six weeks that immediately follow.
Check out the cover art for each of the upcoming titles by clicking here.
Our first proper look at Cruella was released this week, and it looks like Emma Stone is having a blast as the classic 101 Dalmatians villain. Fans have since started comparing her to classic DC Comics villain The Joker, and it honestly looks like it might be a PG-13 version of 2019's Joker!
It's also worth noting that a release date has now been set for May 28th...with no clarification on whether Cruella will debut in theaters, on Disney+, or both. We'll see on that front.
Watch the first trailer for Cruella right here.
The only confirmed Star Wars films currently heading our way are Wonder Woman 1984 helmer Patty Jenkins' Rogue Squadron, and an untitled adventure from Taika Waititi, which he's expected to begin working on once he's finished shooting Thor: Love and Thunder for Marvel.
However, it was revealed this week that Star Wars: The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson remains hard at work on his trilogy, and while it sounds like it's a way off, not everyone was happy to hear this!
Find more details on Lucasfilm's for this new Star Wars trilogy in our recent post.
Both Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen have teased a huge WandaVision cameo, with the latter comparing it to Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian. It's fair to say most of us assumed it was Evan Peters as Pietro, but in a new interview, Bettany has confirmed that's not who they were talking about.
He also indicated that it isn't Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange, and suggested it's not an actor he's appeared on screen with before, but is someone he's "longed to work with all my life."
Find the full interview with Bettany here.
We know J.J. Abrams is working on a Justice League Dark reboot for HBO Max, but it seems that big plans are also in place for John Constantine. British novelist Guy Bolton is writing the pilot, and is expected to serve as head writer for a much darker take on the character than we've previously seen.
Interestingly, a diverse lead is being sought to take on the role, so it remains to be seen whether this Constantine will be British (Keanu Reeves' take, for example, had an American accent).
It's exciting news which you can read more about by clicking here.
Well, it's fair to say this looks way better than any of us anticipated!
As the posters indicated, remaining faithful to the games was a clear priority for the team behind this one, and it definitely has the feel of a big budget action blockbuster. For fans of the video games, there's plenty here to love, with heaps of brutal violence, and some fun tongue-in-cheek nods to the franchise's rich history. Sub-Zero, in particular, looks to be a highlight as the movie's villain.
Click here to watch that action-packed, red-band teaser.
More than 400 actresses secretly auditioned for the role of Supergirl in The Flash movie, but it's Boston-born Colombian actress Sasha Calle (The Young and the Restless) who landed the gig.
This marks the first time a Latina actress has played the Girl of Steel, and points to Andy Muschietti's take on the Scarlet Speedster being an even bigger deal than we initially realised.
Watch the amazing video of Muschietti breaking the news to Calle right here.
Last Sunday, HBO Max shared the first trailer for Zack Snyder's Justice League and, make no mistake about it, this movie is going to be a very, very different beast. The visuals here are simply out of this world, while the action is clearly going to be on a whole other level to 2017's mostly forgotten theatrical cut.
Of course, the biggest talking point is Jared Leto's surprise appearance at the end of the sneak peek as The Joker. His meeting with Batman promises to be unmissable, and this was a great tease.
You can watch this trailer for Zack Snyder's Justice League right here.