JL movie cut 4 racial bias? Johns unnecessarily the fall guy?

I wonder if it's possible that the Justice League movie was edited in part (however minor) do to the fact that Cyborg is a black superhero?

Before the Black Panther made a billion plus, the overwelming thought was that black films do not play well in foreign avenues like China.

And today that may still be the case. The movie Shaft, which features all black leads, debuted poorly. But still might make up most of it's 30m budget because it has a high cinema score. But the shocking part about it is that when it hits international markets it will do so via Netflix on June 28. It's kind of surprising that Samuel L. Jackson's movie is going straight to streaming internationally in 2 weeks.

Zach Snyder just released another still of his JL cut and like many others before it features Cyborg. But this one seems to be directly inspired by a scene from Geoff Johns Darkseid War storyline when Cyborg hacked and went into the Green Lantern ring. Also in Cyborg # 7 by David Walker Cyborg's mother came back to life in a cybernetic 'ghost' form thanks to the motherbox. Zach's JL is heavily influenced by Geoff John's JL run so it's kind of strange for Geoff John to shoulder the blame for JL's failure. I believe that in part Geoff was force to cut out Cyborg's scenes so it would sell better in foreign markets like China.

I didn't realise the caption had the f bomb. I can't seem to edit it out.

Honestly if they cut Cyborgs role down it had probably more to do with him being far less popular then the rest of the team, then with him being Black. And one black guy in a team with 5 white guys is also not really a black lead movie.

About Johns being unfairly blamed for the failure, imo that's at least partly the case, since they were imo already to far into production of the movie before Johns came on board, for him to really make substantial changes, and a big part for Justice League underperforming was probably also BvS.

The two movies that afaik started production when Jones was in charge (Aquaman and Shazam) on the other hand were actually quite good (even if Shazam didn't make much money).

The answer to your question is always going to be "Maybe, maybe not" unless someone in charge of the project actually says so. The rest will be idle speculation potentially leading to very heated race-based debates that will go nowhere and the answer will still be "Maybe, maybe not."

[QUOTE=Aahz;4412020]Honestly if they cut Cyborgs role down it had probably more to do with him being far less popular then the rest of the team, then with him being Black. And one black guy in a team with 5 white guys is also not really a black lead movie.

[/QUOTE]

Justice league had three white guys(batman,flash,superman),one white woman(wonder woman) and two poc(cyborg and aquaman).

Johns and Diane Nelson were the falls guys to protect the leadership of WB especially Tsujihara who we have since learned is a total scumbag (and also has been shown the door in light of revelations about his behavior).

[QUOTE=Aahz;4412020]Honestly if they cut Cyborgs role down it had probably more to do with him being far less popular then the rest of the team, then with him being Black. And one black guy in a team with 5 white guys is also not really a black lead movie.

About Johns being unfairly blamed for the failure, imo that's at least partly the case, since they were imo already to far into production of the movie before Johns came on board, for him to really make substantial changes, and a big part for Justice League underperforming was probably also BvS.

The two movies that afaik started production when Jones was in charge (Aquaman and Shazam) on the other hand were actually quite good (even if Shazam didn't make much money).[/QUOTE]

And he also had a hand in WW. And that turned out well. Too bad he lost the job and Rebirth went down the toilet as a result.

Johns was definitely the fall guy for Justice League. His attempts to make it more humorous and lighter made it better received than BvS and the real fault of the movie was split between Snyder and Whedon, the lack of a delay leading to bad CGI and Ben Affleck just not caring anymore after the humiliation of BvS. The other DC movies with Johns involvement have all done a lot better.

Did racial bias play any role in how JL was edited or changed with the move from Snyder to Whedon as director, that might have an impact on Cyborg's role? Possible, but likely impossible to prove. Even if you were there. Everyday racism is death by a thousand small cuts rather than single big things.

As for the team, it might be better to describe both Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa as white-passing than anything else here. Neither of them would likely experience any racism due to their looks alone; both of them have a heritage from cultures that have experienced a lot of oppression and racism.

[QUOTE=mace11;4412031]Justice league had three white guys(batman,flash,superman),one white woman(wonder woman) and two poc(cyborg and aquaman).[/QUOTE]Ok I was more thinking about the comics version where Aquaman is also white. Btw. did they confirm his ethnicity already in Justice League ?

[QUOTE=Aahz;4412289]Ok I was more thinking about the comics version where Aquaman is also white. Btw. did they confirm his ethnicity already in Justice League ?[/QUOTE]

I haven't seen JL in a while so I can't say but I know in Aquaman they made it pretty clear he is biracial. His dad is a Brown Polynesian man.

Warner Bros bought the rights to Mark Wahlberg's 6 Billion Dollar Man in Dec. 2017 one month after Justice League debuted from Harvey Weinstein's company. But deals like these takes months to negotiate. Could it be possible that they were negotiating even months before the JL reshoots and before the Harvey Weinstein accusations surface. It's a bit odd that the 6 Billion Dollar Man was sold before Harvey Weinstein's company filed for bankruptcy a few months later in Feb. 2018.

This could definitely be a bit more evidence for racial bias. JL served as a spring board for a Cyborg solo film. But Warner Bros knew it wasn't going to happen many months before (speculation) because they were in the middle of negotiations for t6bdm. So the extra 50 million for reshoots were not just for added humor and to make the film a shorter stand alone instead of the first of a 2 parter. No. It could be possible that (speculation) this is a case of gentrification on film. The added cost for the JL reshoots may have also been use by Warner Bros to push Cyborg aside to make way for the six billion dollar man.[ATTACH=CONFIG]83510[/ATTACH]

If the DCEU fails blame Marky Mark?

I'm only surprised they attempted another shaft film with Samuel L Jackson after his previous attempt.

It was ordered from on high that JL be no longer than 2 hours...as much as I would have enjoyed seeing Cyborg's expanded role, it wasn't crucial to the plot and so it was cut. See also: Clark's return to the ship to get a new suit, his conversation with Alfred to find out where Batman went, and many more things that weren't crucial to the plot. Snyder has heavily suggested that JL was 3hrs 14mins, so when you factor in that an hour and 14 minutes were removed to hit the 2hr mark, a lot of plot lines were dropped and not just for the Black character.

There is no doubt that Geoff Johns was the fall guy.
However, it's a stretch to suggest the film was cut for racial bias.
As mentioned earlier, it was deemed that the film could be longer than 2 hours. It required a LOT of editing - to the point where the finished product was left feeling disjointed, despite best efforts.
I am one of the few who enjoyed Justice League, despite it's many faults. Yes, it definitely could've been better, but I have also seen PLENTY worse.

[QUOTE=married guy;4413138]There is no doubt that Geoff Johns was the fall guy.[/QUOTE]

Well, not THE fall guy, least we forget that Zack Snyder "stepped down" from the movie early in post-production.

I think there was plenty of blame to go around for Justice League's failure.