Zack Snyder’s take on the DC Extended Universe resulted in a divisive series of movies. According to the filmmaker, the reaction to previous films resulted in Warner Bros. Discovery telling Snyder to make Justice League a lighter film.
Speaking with the Russo Brothers on their Pizza Film School podcast (via Comic Book Movie), Snyder reflected on his time with the DC Universe and revealed that, following mixed reviews of Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Warner Bros. Discovery asked him and director David Ayer to make Suicide Squad and Justice League “funnier.”
“The script for Justice League did evolve out of that,” Snyder said. “I’ll be honest, the script, what happened with Justice League, because we had a very … the original script was much darker and weirder, and then Batman v Superman came out, and the studio was like, ‘It’s not funny enough, people want funnier movies, they want funny stuff in it.’”
Snyder would go on to note that while he and screenwriter Chris Terrio did go back and try to make the film lighter, he acknowledges that the pair aren’t exactly known for their comedic writing.
Regardless, he said that Ezra Miller’s Flash ended up being funny and that his cut of Justice League was a sort of “in-between” of both versions of the film.
“We did go back and did a … lightened the movie overall,” Snyder explained. “And I would say my cut of Justice League is a sort of in-between. We had done the changes for the studio and I’ll be frank, Chris [Terrio] and I are not the funniest guys in the world, we’re not like awesome joke writers … I’m just 100% honest about that [Laughs]. We had Ezra and he’s pretty funny, that was kind of his role, to be the Flash, and be young, and be a little irreverent and in awe of Batman and Superman. And he did a great job, and that part was great.”
