Every Reused Joss Whedon Joke In His Justice League

The notorious reshoots that Justice League underwent reused some jokes from Joss Whedon’s past filmography. Following Zack Snyder’s departure from the movie, Whedon was brought in to oversee reshoots, which at the time were described by Warner Bros. as the usual pick-ups most major blockbusters undergo. However, the movie’s theatrical debut would make clear that the reshoots had essentially reshaped Justice League into a different movie altogether.

Zack Snyder has provided a steady supply of images from his original cut on social media to demonstrate the contrast between the two versions, which have included such stark differences as Superman’s famed black suit. By now, the points in the theatrical cut where Snyder’s work ends and Whedon’s begins have become clearer than ever as a result of Snyder’s social media teases. Additionally, Whedon’s pre-Justice League work also points to a couple of scenes as definitely being products of the reshoots.

The first arrives during the League’s initial tunnel battle with Steppenwolf, with The Flash shoving Wonder Woman out of the path of falling debris and landing on her breasts. This clearly echoes the birth of Ultron in Whedon’s 2015 MCU film Avengers: Age of Ultron. In that scene, Bruce Banner similarly faceplants into Black Widow’s chest during the chaos of Ultron’s sudden emergence.

Later in Justice League, Lois and Clark’s scenes on the Kent Farm stand out as clearly being drawn from the reshoots, primarily due to Henry Cavill’s CGI upper lip resulting from the removal of his Mission: Impossible – Fallout mustache. This can be spotted throughout the vast majority of Superman’s scenes in the theatrical cut of Justice League, with his screen time being almost entirely pulled from the reshoots. However, another reused joke from Whedon’s work on Buffy The Vampire Slayer also makes its way in.

Specifically, when Lois and Clark arrive on the Kent Farm after his resurrection, Lois asks Clark what it felt it to return from death, to which he replies “Itchy”. This is pulled from the final episode of Buffy, season 7’s “Chosen”. In that episode, The First appears before Buffy as her exact duplicate carrying a severe wound, and mocks Buffy with the words, “Ow. Mommy, this mortal wound is all…itchy.” In addition to these, Barry Allen’s line about brunch also carries over the shawarma joke and end-credits scene from The Avengers, with both jokes serving as comic relief in the midst of threats from alien invasions.

To date, Whedon has not made any direct comment on Justice League since its release, save for a recent Twitter post on his part with the hashtag #ReleaseTheSnyderDaguerrotype. Prior to that, Whedon had also previously praised Henry Cavill’s performance as Superman. Following his subsequent departure from Batgirl, Whedon is currently making a return to television with the upcoming HBO series The Nevers.

More than two years removed from the theatrical version’s release, it’s clear that the Justice League Snyder Cut is here to stay. With Snyder having also redubbed his version “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” as opposed to the Snyder Cut, the push for its release has grown increasingly loud and more mainstream. In any case, while the many changes made to Justice League can be spotted by numerous different red flags, the reused jokes from Joss Whedon’s prior film and television work are just another indicator of how drastic the reshoots really were.