Let me be clear here: Justice League is not a bad film. It’s not a good film either, as it touches on both ends of the good/bad spectrum, slowly losing momentum and eventually resting in the middle. Justice League had the potential to be something special, but the end result was middling to say the least as the project faced Terry Gilliam Don Quixote levels of trouble on set.
Director Zach Snyder’s sway in the story department was waning (tragically), Warner Bros. kept on demanding ludicrous changes to the culmination of a grand saga that had begun in Man of Steel and had continued through in Batman V Superman, eventually ending with Snyder leaving the set thanks to a terrible family tragedy.
Warner Bros. was left with a hodgepodge mess that needed to be stuck back together like some sort of Frankenstein monster, leaving Avengers director Joss Whedon the unenviable task of doing so. Whedon’s work was passable but questionable to say the least as he gutted the Junkie XL soundtrack, battled with paramount over Henry Cavill’s moustache and had to film some reshoots of his own on the tightest of deadlines because money reasons.
I’d like to believe that a proper Snyder Cut of Justice League exists somewhere, but that’s a fantasy of the highest order. Fortunately, a fan cut does exist and while it doesn’t fix Justice League entirely, it does make it a hell of a lot better to watch. You can thank the reddit JLFanEdit for streamlining the film, cutting off as much fat as possible, resulting in a far cooler and stylish remix that goes as far as to even fix the colour grading of Justice League.
In case you’re curious, here’s the full list of edits:
- Rescored the opening logos with “Men are still good” from Batman v Superman (Deluxe edition)
- Made the WB black and white
- Cut the opening superman scene (moved the audio of the scene to the credits. I thought the exchange in the scene itself was fine, the problem was the way the scene looked This way it is and it isn’t still in the film)
- Cut the criminal jumping into frame and asking questions while batman is investigating the parademons in the opening batman scene
- Cut out “can you point me the way to atlantis” in the Aquaman/Batman first meet scene
- Cut the awkward green screen shot with Aquaman standing in the water
- Re-edited the moment Aquaman jumps into water
- Cut down the alien stole my husband scene
- Rescored the Lois/Martha scene with “Alien Ship Arrives” from Man of Steel (complete)
- Cut out the thirstiest reporter joke in the Martha/Lois scene
- Cut out the brunch joke in the Batman/Flash first meet scene
- Replaced the cyborg origin footage with the BvS cyborg footage
- Replaced the shot of Aquaman floating in the water with the comic-con trailer shot
- Cut down the Russian family scene 1
- Replaced the shot of batman standing on the gargoyle with the comic-con trailer shot
- Cut out “I didn’t bring a sword” and replaced it with “My turn” from Justice League trailer 1
- Cut out “Jesus he is tall”
- Cut out Flash falling on Wonder Woman’s chest
- Replaced the cyborg shot in the nightcrawler with the Comic con trailer shot and dialogue
- Added Gordon’s line “Playing well with others AGAIN”
- Added the shot facing Gordon and Batman in the “dressed like a bat scene” from comic con trailer
- Cut out the Russian family scene 2
- Added the man of steel piano notes when Superman sees his monument
- Cut out “Kal el no!” from Wonder woman in the Superman vs the league scene
- Cut out “Something is definitely bleeding”
- Cut out “Itchy”
- Added the “ring” scene from the Heroes trailer
- Rescored the Lois/Clark/Martha reunion scene with “Clark Kent suite” from Man of Steel (complete)
- Cut out he “you called mom” part (not that I didn’t like it, there was just too much music bleeding in from the original audio track, Clark would have known she was coming anyway since Lois supposedly called Martha earlier)
- Cut out the Russian family scene 3
- Added the bonus scenes
- Cut down the Russian family scene 4
- Cut out the “ooh snap” line from the flash
- Replaced the shot of the awkward smile batman gives when superman returns
- Cut down the “I don’t not…” exchange between batman and superman
- Cut out “This is definitely east” form the flash
- Cut out the shot where Batman is so incredibly concerned if -Clark!” is still alive
- Cut out “I can feel my toes” moment
- Rescored the final montage with “man of steel suite” from Man of Steel (complete)
- Cut out superman flying up in the sky
- Added the audio of the superman phone footage after Come Together by Gary Clark Jr
- Added Heroes by gangs of youth after the Superman phone footage audio clip
For the sake of not promoting piracy, I won’t post the link to the film. But reading the cuts above and seeing some of its edits in action? It’s a hell of a lot better than what we paid to see back in December. What I wouldn’t give for a fan edit that restores Superman’s missing ‘stache of steel though.
Last Updated: March 26, 2018
