Justice League Mortal: Casting, Script… Everything You Need to Know About George Miller’s Canceled DC Movie

4- When should it be published?

In 2007, Batman Begins found its audience, but Superman Returns, less so. So Christopher Nolan started working on The Dark Knight and also started Superman 2, but with less enthusiasm. It is in this context that the project “About the Justice League” is. announced in writing February 22, 2007. In September, George Miller (Mad Max) was announced as the director.

At the time, the film didn’t have an exact release date, but we were talking summer 2009.

3- What was the scenario?

The writing was entrusted to the duo Kiernan and Michelle Mulroney, who would sign Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows a few years later. They released their version in June 2007 based on the comics OMAC project, Tower of Babel and identity crisis.

The film opens with Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter attending the funeral of a superhero (we can only guess who died). Then the film is a long flashback that answers the question, “How did we get here?”

Maxwell Lord, a wealthy businessman with the ability to manipulate minds, joins forces with Talia al Ghul, who wants to avenge the death of her father, Ra’s al Ghul, at the hands of Batman. Together, they hack Batman’s secret satellite and recover information about the weaknesses of every known superhero. He decides to take over the world, thinking that no metahuman can stand in his way.

Visual ideas include a battle between the Justice League and Man of Steel, manipulated by the nanotechnology used by Maxwell Lord, or the United Justice League fighting an army of OMACs (Manipulated and Genetically Modified Humans).

During the final battle, Barry Allen sacrifices himself to defeat Maxwell Lord and “OMAC Ultra” (“The Deadliest of the OMACs”) using his hyperspeed at peak.

At the end of the film, it is revealed that the Flash at the funeral at the beginning of the film is actually Wally West, the new Flash, and that Batman is indeed at the funeral, saluting Barry Allen’s victim.

2- Who played Justice League? And which actor for the villain?

An interesting bias is that the film should not be directed by ultra-famous headliners, but by new or up-and-coming actors.

Armie Hammer (Call Me By Your Name) was to play Batman, Common (Oscar winner for the song Selma) was Green Lantern, Santiago Cabrera (Heroes, Big Little Lies) Aquaman, Megan Gale (who will do Mad Max Fury Road). with George Miller) Wonder Woman, Hugh Keays-Byrne (Immortan Joe from Mad Max Fury Road) Martian Manhunter, Adam Brody (Newport Beach) Flash and DJ Cotrona (One Night in Hell, series) Superman.

The latter two actors were also recruited years later to join the Shazam family in two films directed by Zachary Levy.

The big bad was to be played by Jay Baruchel (so beautiful! and the voice of Harold in Dragons), a rather surprising choice as the actor was pretty much limited to comedy. Anton Yelchin played the role of Wally West, and Teresa Palmer played the role of Talia al Ghul.

1- Why didn’t this happen?

The preparation started in 2008, which was delayed due to the screenwriters’ strike. Hollywood writers are on strike and all filming is on forced hiatus. in parallel, Miller wants to film in Australia With the ability and experience of his Happy Feet team, but in March the local government also made the task more difficult she refuses to apply its laws on filming. So Warner insisted on filming in Canada.

That all changes in July when The Dark Knight hits screens. The movie was a hit at the box office, bringing in $1 billion at the box office, a record! In the face of this absolutely insane success, Warner begins to fear this Justice League, which is run by relative unknowns and whose heroes Batman and Superman do not live up to their “solo” versions: Brandon Routh and Christian Bale.

The public seems to appreciate Bale’s role as the Dark Knight. Will they go see the Justice League movie starring Armie Hammer, the titular stranger? Faced with these doubts, Warner eventually decided to end the project, concentrating on solo films like The Dark Knight Rises, Watchmen, Jonah Hex, Green Lantern, and… another Justice League (we’ll get back to that in a future article). And around 2011, the studio began envisioning a Superman reboot after the failure of Returns, which would later spawn Man of Steel and the Snyderverse.

Ironically, it wasn’t until after the project was canceled that we learned what its title was, Justice League: Mortal.