Before Warner Bros. announced its ambitious Justice League-bound film slate stemming from Man of Steel, the DC's movie house had set events into motion for George Miller to helm his own superhero team-up. As has been widely reported, a cast was assembled, a script was written, and concept art was designed, but it all fell apart. So what happened?
During a recent interview with THR, Miller shed some light on the film’s fate. Here’s what happened, in a nutshell:
Image via Warner Bros.
Justice League was the main one. That was, oh, seven years ago, I think. And there was a really great script. And Warners said, “Let's do it. Let's do a Justice League.” I really was attracted to it. But there was a writers strike looming. We had to cast it very quickly, which we did with Warner's casting people. And we cast it really quickly and we mounted it very quickly. And it depended on a start date and it depended on some basic rebate legislation that had just got through a new Australian government. But it was just too big a decision for them to make in the time. And that fell through and the whole film fell through. We almost got there. And it wasn't to be. But that happens a lot, where films line up and the stars look like they're aligning and they didn’t.
This was back in 2007 after Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins. Miller's Justice League, however, would have existed separately from the Christian Bale-led film and would have featured Armie Hammer as the Dark Knight, DJ Cotrona as Superman, Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, Adam Brody as The Flash, Common as Green Lantern, Santiago Cabrera as Aquaman, Hugh Keays-Byrne as Martian Manhunter, and Jay Baruchel as the villain Maxwell Lord, among other characters. But even though this Justice League is dead, it lives on in concept art images showing Diana Prince and the King of Atlantis, as well as the impending documentary chronicling the superhero film we’ll never see.
Since then, the WB’s plans for the franchise have changed dramatically. In a post-Dark Knight trilogy era, the DC Holy Trinity will battle Lex Luthor and Doomsday (and each other) in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice before a string of solo movies will lead into Justice League: Part One and Part Two. Still, to think what would have been ...
