As you may recall, there was a time when Gangster Squad's Will Beall was hired by Warner Bros. to work on a Justice League movie. It was actually back in 2011 when he penned the screenplay (before the release of both The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers) but when Zack Snyder was hired to take the helm of Man of Steel, things changed and the project was put on hold for a number of years.
It would then be Chris Terrio who was hired to write the movie after working on Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Beall's script was mostly forgotten about by fans. Well, until now that is!
A breakdown of the story has surfaced online and below you'll find an in-depth look at that. This version of the movie would have featured plenty of fan-service and some controversial decisions, including Batman and Wonder Woman having a son and Aquaman being left on the table (bear in mind that this would have been written before he was redeemed in The New 52 by writer Geoff Johns).
Ben Affleck was actually in talks to direct this version of Justice League before he signed on to play Batman in the DC Films Universe so it definitely had the potential to be something really special.
To view this list of details in its entirety, simply click on the VIEW LIST (ONE PAGE) button below!
Act 1
Darkseid would have been Justice League's main villain and after a quick introductory scene set on Apokolips, the action would have moved to LexCorp with a set piece featuring Batman, Superman, KGBeast, Killer Croc, and Lex Luthor. The latter was going to be shown attempting to buy Kryptonite from KGBeast and after Croc crashed the party - biting a shark in Luthor's shark tank - Desaad would have shown up and taken that Kryptonite back to his master, Darkseid.
This version of the League would have been close friends and all be aware of each other's secret identities, meeting for coffee at Metropolis Diner. At this point, The Flash wouldn't have been part of the team but that was going to change when the League travelled to Central City to recruit Barry Allen.
Run by Amanda Waller and King Faraday, the Department of Metahuman Affairs retrieved Killer Croc's body and that would have led to us meeting the likes of Tattooed Man, Copperhead, Cheetah, and Solomon Grundy. It's not clear whether this was an early version of the Suicide Squad but Justice League clearly would have featured a lot of nods to characters from the comic books.
Green Lantern John Stewart is travelling through space with Hawkman and we get to see the two of them take part in an awesome action sequence set within a cosmic nightclub (they're trying to stop Kanjar Ro from helping Dessad weaponise the Kryptonite he stole from Luthor). Back on Earth, Superman would have been kidnapped by Steppenwolf and his Parademons and taken to Apokolips.
Act 2
Batman visits Themyscira to bring Wonder Woman back to the team and we learn they have a romantic history. Back at the Batcave, The Flash, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman formulate a plan with the Dark Knight and we get to see a variety of Batsuits, as well as various keepsakes from his battles with Gotham City's rogues (Scarecrow's mask and The Penguin's umbrella, for example).
John Stewart heads back to Oa and finds the corpses of characters like Kilowog, Guy Gardner, and Tomar-Re among others. They've all been killed by Darkseid and it's now the villain decides to invade Earth with a brainwashed Superman at his side.
Just like in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the Caped Crusader dons armour to fight the Man of Steel but it's Wonder Woman who manages to release Superman from Desaad's mind-control and he then rejoins the League to square off with Darkseid.
Act 3
Travelling through a Boom Tube, Superman winds up eleven years in the future and discovers that around 80% of the Earth's population has been wiped out by Darkseid and an ageing Bruce Wayne leads the human resistance alongside Diana Prince (but she's the one in charge). Surprisingly, they now have a son called Clark Wayne and are joined in the resistance by Lex Luthor!
Batman has a new team called Batman's Bezerkers and he's joined by the likes of Deathstroke, Captain Boomerang, Huntress, and Cheetah. Their headquarters? Superman's Fortress of Solitude!
Lex figures out how to send The Flash back in time and travels back to before Darkseid's invasion, dying in the arms of his younger self. The League assembles and heads to Apokolips to battle Darkseid and his forces on Apokolips, rescuing Superman before he's brainwashed by Desaad. The entire Green Lantern Corps and Themyscira's Amazons also join the fight to bring the villain down.
The team emerges victorious and, back on Earth, Mercy Graves is shown planning a presidential campaign for Luthor who then receives a message from his future self: Clark Kent is Superman!
Why Didn't This Version Of Justice League Happen?
We don't know. Beall's work on Justice League earned him a two-picture deal with Warner Bros. but it could be that the studio either preferred what Snyder promised them with Man of Steel or that this version of the movie would have been too risky for them. After all, the budget for a story like this would have been massive and that could have worried a studio so wrapped up in the Harry Potter and The Hobbit franchises back in 2011. Honestly, though, it sounds downright awesome.
Would it have been better than the version which hit theaters last month? Arguably, yes, but we'll never know now! What do you guys think? Many thanks to The Wrap for collecting these details.