While it’s not yet the long-hoped for Zack Snyder cut of Justice League, a DC fan has assembled a new opening sequence for the film. The scene not only restores credit to several actors whose roles found themselves left on the cutting room floor, but also brings in audio from other projects to help set the somber tone for the post-Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice DCEU.
The opening scene of Justice League, as it was released to theaters, featured a mobile phone video shot by two young children eagerly interviewing Superman for their podcast. From Superman explaining his S-shaped symbol’s meaning to whether he had ever fought a hippo, the film cuts to Batman fighting a criminal on a rooftop. It takes a full five and a half minutes of screen time for the film to get around to showing the effects of a post-Superman world. Both of the initial two scenes were written to be comedic by Joss Whedon, who had taken over as director from Snyder late in production. It was only after a light-hearted opening that Whedon settled into a more somber tone.
Enter YouTuber and former DC Films Hub writer Jon Arryn Garza. Garza had previously written about how he had felt Snyder was pivoting away from the contemporary mid and post-credit scenes to the comic book tradition of the following film recapping the last events of the prior installment. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice opened with Bruce Wayne seeing the end events of Man of Steel from his point of view. So Garza imagined the suitable opening for Justice League being Lois Lane’s perspective on the end of Batman v. Superman. Check out the video below:
Borrowing elements from other sources, Garza has combined pieces together to set the grief and sadness not only of a world without Superman at a high level, but also the very personal sadness and loss being felt by Lois. He uses some of Amy Adams dialogue from 2016’s Arrival as a voiceover to express to her inner monologue. For the music, Garza intermixes two tracks “Dark” and “Coda” from Hans Zimmer’s Dark Phoenix soundtrack.
Among the touches added to this new introduction, the scene’s credits also restore the names of actors who originally had been in Justice League before Whedon’s retooling of the film. Included in the nods were Ray Porter, who played Darkseid, and Nick McKinless, who played Ares in the History Lesson. Both Darkseid and Ares were to have appeared in a flashback sequence battling it out with each other.
Seeing fans take the various clues that have been dropped by Snyder around what his original vision might have been, and begin to create what they think it might have been like, is exciting. It takes aspects of fan fiction to a new level, moving from the more typical text-based form of interpretation to something that can be viewed in the way it might have been actually presented. Fandom continues to lean on Warner Bros. to deliver on an officially blessed release of a Zach Snyder director’s cut of Justice League. For the studio to eventually relent isn’t without precedence, since, in 2006, they did allow for the release of Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut. Whether it will take 26 years for fans to get to see a real Snyder cut remains to be seen, but for now, the likes of Garza and his efforts will keep the imagination alive.
