The story of how George Miller almost made ‘Justice League’
It’s almost impossible to separate the modern DC superhero films from the visual style of director Zack Snyder. Snyder spearheaded the company’s first foray into the modern comic book boom with 2013’s Man of Steel and continued working with the studio through to 2017’s Justice League.
Fans became so accustomed to Snyder’s signature style that when Justice League was subjected to extensive reshoots and edits by Joss Whedon, petitions for Snyder’s director cut gained enough steam to see the project realised in 2021. But Snyder wasn’t the original choice to helm a Justice League movie. That honour goes to Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller.
In 2007, it was announced that Miller would direct Justice League: Mortal. Instead of using the then-current actors portraying Batman and Superman (Christian Bale and Brandon Routh, respectively), Miller assembled a new cast that included D.J. Cotrona as Superman, Armie Hammer as Batman, Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, Adam Brody as The Flash, Common as Green Lantern, and Santiago Cabrera as Aquaman.
“The best way I can describe it is: George Miller’s mind is so operatic and big and expansive, it’s a shame that the world didn’t get to see what he would do with superheroes,” Cotrona told Slash Film after the fact. “It was allegorical, like a story of Greek Gods almost. He was doing things with the Superman character and Batman character, and all the iconic favourites, that’s never been done before. Watch Fury Road and you can only imagine what he would do with those iconic characters.”
There were a number of factors that kept Justice League: Mortal from getting off the ground. The first was the 2007-2008 Writer’s Guild Strike, which caused production of the film to be delayed for months. When the strike ended, the Australian Film Commission denied Warner Bros. a 40 per cent tax rebate because they believed the film hadn’t hired enough Australian actors. The situation left Miller jaded and unhappy.
“A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the Australian film industry is being frittered away because of very lazy thinking,” Miller said in 2008. “They’re throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars of investment that the rest of the world is competing for and, much more significantly, highly skilled creative jobs.”
Without the rebate, Warner Bros stalled production on the film. Eventually, it was decided that Christopher Nolan would be allowed to control the future of his Dark Knight Batman franchise without any conflicts from a potential Justice League movie. When the options for the actors’ contracts lapsed, Miller’s Justice League was officially dead. After Nolan’s trilogy of movies, Warner Bros. decided to reboot their DC universe, starting with 2011’s Green Lantern.
