5 Controversial Justice League Scenes Zack Snyder Fans Don't Like To Talk About

Former DC Extended Universe helmsman Zack Snyder has superhero fatigue and is focusing on other projects, while James Gunn and Peter Safran are busy rebooting the DC Universe. Despite this, the history of DCEU is right there in the films — and fans have two different versions of "Justice League" that contain plenty of hints about where the franchise could potentially have headed. 

Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on what one about Snyder's work. As anyone who followed the story of the "Justice League" Snyder cut knows, the filmmaker has an active fanbase. On the other hand, Looper has attested that his intended "Justice League" trilogy would have killed the DCEU for good, had he been able to make it. 

As such, both the original, Joss Whedon-influenced version of "Justice League" and "Zack Snyder's Justice League" are a bit of a mixed bag. While both movies have their share of great scenes, there are also many that fans might very well want to forget. Let's take a look at some of the most controversial "Justice League" moments. 

Batman doesn't complain, he perseveres. Batman doesn't whine, because he's not in a position to show weakness. Batman doesn't crack jokes — he has a whole nemesis to take care of all that jazz while he poses and broods. Despite all this, Ben Affleck's version of the character manages to break all of these basic tenets with a single line in "Justice League." 

When Superman (Henry Cavill) rises again and clashes with the members of the Justice League, he's understandably annoyed to see Batman — who, after all, spent much of "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" as the Man of Steel's main adversary. The pair's tense reunion features Supes throwing Batman's classic "Do you bleed?" line from "Batman v Superman" back at the Dark Knight. Unfortunately, this leads into a throwaway comedy moment where Batman moans and flops on the ground in a very un-Batman-like fashion while groaning, "Yeah, something's definitely bleeding."  

There are versions of Batman who love a bit of cheesiness — hi, Adam West — but the DCEU version decidedly isn't one. Affleck's musclebound, gun-toting Batman is custom-made to grimace at Superman (Henry Cavill) while wearing clunky power armor. He's a character whose intended DCEU nemesis is Jared Leto's Joker, for crying out loud. Using him for a joke moment that would feel more at home in an episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" simply doesn't work — which may or may not be why it isn't present in the Snyder Cut. Besides, "The Flash" used Batman as a comedic character much better, courtesy of an awkward moment with Wonder Woman's (Gal Gadot) lasso. 

One of the more exciting "Justice League" scenes is Bruce Wayne's first meeting with Barry "The Flash" Allen (Ezra Miller) in the latter's superhero hideout. After Barry's futile attempts to convince Bruce that he has no idea about any superpowered costumed crimefighters that might be roaming the area — despite photographic evidence and his Flash costume standing in the middle of the room — the billionaire drops the niceties and hurls a Batarang. This forces Barry to reveal his superspeed to dodge and catch the projectile, while also informing him that Bruce is actually Batman.

The moment is extremely cool and unnecessarily extra, and thus completely on brand for Batman. There's one issue, though. Bruce explicitly tells Barry that he has no idea what the young hero's powers are. As such, he's throwing a deadly blade at a skinny kid whose superpower could be building really great custom PCs, for all he knows ... or who could flip out and unleash his Superman-level powers in retaliation. For a guy who just spent a whole movie meticulously researching and preparing to take down a powerful superhero, Batman sure seems willing to waltz unprepared into the lair of an unknown superhuman and use him for target practice. 

For those who want to look at the scene in a more charitable light, there's a moment where Batman realizes that the Flash costume is made from a space-age material that protects space shuttles when they enter the Earth's atmosphere. This seems like it might inform him that Barry's powers must involve extreme speeds. Still, if that was the intention, it doesn't really come across from the utter shock on Bruce's face as he watches Barry catch the Batarang — let alone his stunned proclamation, "So, you're fast."  

Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor has a stinger scene in "Zack Snyder's Justice League" and 2017's "Justice League" alike. In the Snyder Cut, he sets Joe Mangianello's Deathstroke loose on Batman, which would be cool if it wasn't for the fact that at that point, it was becoming increasingly clear that Ben Affleck's "Batman" movie wasn't coming. As such, arguably the more interesting version of the scene is the 2017 one, in which Luthor proposes that he, Deathstroke, and others form a group to oppose the Justice League.

The alliance Luthor is teasing is, of course, the Legion of Doom — a villain squad that features some of the Justice Leaguers' most prolific enemies. Based on the team members who have appeared in the DCEU, the lineup of the group might potentially have included names like Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), the Joker (Jared Leto), Black Adam (Dwayne Johnson), Cheetah (Kristen Wiig), and any number of as-yet unrevealed DC heavy hitters, from Brainiac to Captain Cold.  

Of course, this never came to be. Luthor and Deathstroke went AWOL, the majority of the DCEU villains and antiheroes operated within the confines of their films, and the Suicide Squad hijacked the spotlight as the primary villain team-up. Still, a Zack Snyder fan might find it hard to think about this too much. After all, the lost possibility of the Justice League clashing against a flesh-and-blood team of their worst enemies instead of the CGI mess that is Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds) and his army might sting more than a little. 

Batman's dream vision of Knightmare, a dystopic future where Superman has broken bad, plays pretty well into the plot of "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice." It shows how little Batman trusts Superman, illustrates his concerns to the viewers, and has just enough mysticism about it to come across as a very real potential situation. 

When it returns in "Zack Snyder's Justice League," however, it's little more than a pointless victory lap. Did anyone really need more of Jared Leto's Joker after "Suicide Squad"? Sure, probably — every character has their fans. Even so, giving him a lengthy expository dialogue with Batman about alternate universes, world-saving team-up missions, and past issues could be seen as overkill. The scene then shows how little the two non-powered characters' personal issues mean when Superman arrives on the scene and the resistance group's powerhouses gear up for the kind of battle neither Batman nor Joker can physically contribute to.    

The worst thing about this weird return to the Knightmare world — as well as Cyborg's (Ray Fisher) visions earlier in the film — is that it's essentially just a glimpse of Snyder's long-term DCEU plans, which he already knew while making the Snyder Cut would likely never see the light of day. As such, the "Justice League" Knightmare is the single most far-fetched cliffhanger in a movie that already leaves pretty much every character's fate open-ended. 

On paper, the Martian Manhunter (Harry Lennix) almost casually informing Batman that he's joining the team in "Zack Snyder's Justice League" is not all that shocking. He's a member of the League in the comics, after all, so it makes perfect sense that he's given a nod. Well, at least it would, if it wasn't for the fact that Snyder wanted nothing to do with the character. 

Yes, in a movie already overflowing with characters and plot lines, the Martian Manhunter carries the distinction of being inserted in the film against its director's wishes. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Snyder revealed that his original plan was to use the Green Lantern character John Stewart, but the studio vetoed his plans. "They were like, 'We have plans for John Stewart and we want to do our own announcement.'" he said. "So I said all right, I'll give you that. So [Martian Manhunter] was the compromise."

The shape-shifting Manhunter's appearance was tied to Lennix's former presence in the DCEU, so it's unlikely that Stewart's entrance would have been dealt with in the same way. Knowing this, it's easy to start wondering the fates of not one but two characters. What plans did Snyder have for Stewart and the Green Lantern Corps before the studio stepped in? And what, if any, chance would the studio-forced Martian Manhunter have had to make an impact going forward?