While Zack Snyder's Justice League was supposed to give the veteran director free rein to tell the story the way he initially intended to tell it, it has been revealed that the final cut is still not fully representative of his original vision. Harry Lenix, the actor who portrays the Martian Manhunter (a.k.a J'onn J'onzz) in the four-hour epic, recently said that Snyder had different plans for the film's ending scene in particular.
In the Justice League epilogue, Ben Affleck's Batman gets a surprise visit from the Martian Manhunter after he wakes up from a terrifying "dream" in which he sees the Knightmare timeline. Martian Manhunter cautions that a great war is coming and that the apocalyptic future Batman keeps having visions of could become a reality if Darkseid is successful in locating the Anti-Life equation. He then essentially joins the Justice League, offering Batman his help against the incoming threat.
According to Lennix, Snyder originally had the Martian Manhunter accompanied by another DC superhero during the visitation: John Stewart's Green Lantern. While Lennix knew his character was going to be in it all along, he told the LightCast podcast that the Green Lantern was also supposed to be shown with him, but Warner Bros. "made Snyder take out that part." In an interview with Vanity Fair, Snyder expressed his disappointment with Warner Bros.' pushback against his Green Lantern idea. He said he was told they had their own plans for John Stewart and that they wanted to do their own reveal.
He also mentioned that he wanted Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern to make an appearance, but those plans fell through as well. Snyder ultimately let both ideas go, but he still fought for the Martian Manhunter as a compromise. For Snyder, it was crucial that Martian Manhunter was the one to relay the information to Batman. Lennix mentioned that Snyder felt it was a good way to "tie [the story] up" and put out the information that needed to be put out.
Perhaps John Stewart, Hal Jordan, and other Green Lanterns will show up in other DCEU projects. Currently, a television series based on the Green Lantern Corps is in development for HBO Max and there may also be a film about them in the works. However, Snyder does not appear to be attached to any of these projects.
Snyder did say that he intended for his Justice League to be part of a trilogy. So, if he somehow gets the chance to make the other two episodes, maybe he can follow through with his own Green Lantern ideas then.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is now streaming on HBO Max.
Source: LightCast/YouTube