10 Moments From the ‘Justice League’ Trailers That Aren’t in the Movie
Justice League’s tagline is “All In.” Clearly, the same ethos did not apply to the stuff director Zack Snyder filmed before he stepped down to spend more time with his family.
According to producer Charles Roven, roughly 15 to 20 percent of Justice League was shot by Joss Whedon during post-production after Snyder left the project. Eventually, we may get a better sense of the Snyder stuff that was cut out, and the Whedon stuff that was added in. (It also wouldn’t surprise me if some day there’s a “Zack Snyder Cut” of the film, the same way Warner Bros. eventually released a “Richard Donner Cut” of Superman II, but that’s a conversation for a later date.)
In the meantime, we can get some sense of what was changed in the editing room by looking back at Justice League’s assorted trailers and teasers, some of which feature shots, lines, and even whole sequences that are completely absent from the finished film. Here are 10 notable examples from four different Justice League ads (and, yes, there are some SPOILERS below):
Official Trailer 1
1) 1:24 - This shot of Cyborg flying, with his face morphing into a cool helmet, doesn’t appear in the film.
2) 1:25 - Neither does this shot of Cyborg (At least I think it’s Cyborg? He’s pretty far away) soaring through some clouds with the moon in the background. This looks like a pretty cool movie. I would have liked to see it.
3) 1:43 - There are no football scenes in the film; Cyborg is already cyborg-y by the time the Justice League begins.
Comic-Con Sneak Peak
4) 1:27 - This shot of Aquaman makes it look like he’s approaching some kind of Atlantean king sitting on an underwater throne, something that never happens in the movie. (Maybe this was going to be Willem Dafoe’s character? Wasn’t Willem Dafoe supposed to be in Justice League? He’s not in it.)
5) 1:43 - Bruce Wayne does a lot of hand-wringing over Superman’s death in Justice League, but he never stares, arms folded, at a holographic projection of the guy.
6) 1:44 - One of the biggest omissions is this action beat featuring the Flash shattering a pane of glass at super-speed. Not only doesn’t this happen in Justice League, nothing even close to it appears onscreen. Whatever sequence this was originally a part of was removed completely.
7) 3:50 - And here’s an even larger cut. The sequence that ends the Comic-Con trailer, with Alfred speaking to some unseen hero (presumably Superman) and saying “He said you’d come. Now let’s hope you’re not too late,” is MIA from the final cut. If this was Superman (and we can’t think of anyone else it could be), he goes straight from Kansas and Lois Lane to Russia for the big finale. It was probably determined that the scene just slowed things down, and it was more impactful when Superman showed up out of nowhere in the final fight. Still, this gave the trailer a big goosebumps moment. Justice League itself could have used a few of those.
Special Comic-Con Footage
8) 0:42 - Most of this other Comic-Con footage compilation made it into the final film. But not this moment of a pre-Cyborg Victor Stone. (I have no clue where this would have gone in the film.)
Official “Heroes” Trailer
9) 0:28 - The entire opening of this trailer is a sneaky misdirection. It seems like a dream sequence; in the finished movie, this scene (or, at least, the only scene set on the Kent farm between Lois and Clark) really happens. It’s also much more about what it was like for Superman to die and come back to life. It’s not clear if this really was intended as a dream sequence, or whether it was just made to look that way in the trailer.
10) 2:01 - We don’t see this close-up of an inscription on Superman’s monument in Justice League. However, it is shown near the end of Batman v Superman.
Gallery - The Coolest DC Movie Easter Eggs: