Here's What It Would Take For Ray Fisher To Return To The DCEU As Cyborg
Ray Fisher debuted as DC Comics superhero Cyborg in "Justice League," released in 2017. The production of that original "Justice League" theatrical cut was famously turbulent, largely due to the fact that original director Zack Snyder was forced to drop out of his leadership role on the film following an unexpected family tragedy.
"Zack Snyder's Justice League," of course, was Snyder's chance at a do-over, allowing him to not only complete a "Justice League" film pursuant to his directorial vision, but to do so outside the constraint of a standard theatrical runtime. In total, "Zack Snyder's Justice League" clocks in at just over 4 hours (via IMDb). As a result, the now-legendary director's cut includes a fair amount of content entirely absent from the 2017 "Justice League" film. Its core cast of characters, notably, all benefit from added backstory. This includes a sequence explaining how young football player Victor Stone became the super-powered Cyborg.
This new insight into Cyborg's character was positively received by viewers at large. In a review for RogerEbert.com, for example, Matt Zoller Seitz wrote "the most remarkable restoration, character-wise, is the Cyborg storyline." Even in a largely negative review for The AV Club, A.A. Dowd praised Cyborg's new backstory as one of the few instances of "addition by addition." In short, Fisher shines in "Zack Snyder's Justice League."
The actor revealed in early 2021 that he experienced overt racism on the set of "Justice League" from Warner Bros. executives in addition to poor treatment by replacement director Joss Whedon. That said, Fisher is open to the prospect of returning to the role of Cyborg, albeit with certain caveats in light of his publicly discussed mistreatment.
Fisher just wants an apology
Ray Fisher discussed a prospective return to the role of Cyborg during a Q&A at Megacon, when Joel Young, who runs the NoLoadTime podcast, asked him outright what would have to happen for Fisher to portray Cyborg once again.
"I think ultimately how people spend their money determines what happens and what does not happen in this business," Fisher told the podcaster, suggesting that the producers of a hypothetical new Cyborg film would first require assurance that his reprisal of the character would be profitable.
Then, however, Fisher went on to discuss his personal grievances with Warner Bros. "For me, there's a lot of stuff behind the scenes," he said. "Obviously, I've not been shy about talking about all of the things that have occurred over the last year, the back and forth that I've had personally and publicly with Warner Bros. Pictures, Walter Hamada, and the rest of the crew over there." Hamada is the President of DC Films, and someone Fisher publicly accused of lying and undermining an investigation into Joss Whedon's conduct on the set of "Justice League." Fisher's refusal to work with Hamada led to Cyborg being written out of the upcoming standalone "Flash" film.
"There's a lot of really gnarly stuff that has gone down, especially publicly. What Walter Hamada and Warner Bros. Pictures attempted to do, professionally and personally, during one of the most crucial years for Black people in the history of really humanity, is just unacceptable," he continued. With that said, Fisher is open to a return to the role of Cyborg, provided Warner Bros. adequately apologizes first.
He then made it clear that after — and only after — receiving an apology can a discussion of his return to Cyborg begin.