Much is being made of Steppenwolf’s general ineptitude as a villain in Justice League. Due to all the heavy-lifting the film had to do with its six leads, the alien invader was left with little-to-no characterization beyond his aim to take over the world.
His motivations are quickly glossed over and he offered little more to the movie than a strong fighter. He mentions being exiled and how he’ll regain his place in his society, but it’s only once and is a mostly throwaway line. Without an easily-identified motivation, viewers didn’t really have a means of connecting with the character.
In the original cut, however, his backstory was fleshed out a bit more, giving him much clearer motivations for his actions. Why his role was reduced so much is a story for a different day, but it seems that audiences aren’t the only ones who feel frustrated by it, as the actor who brought Steppenwolf to life, Ciarán Hinds, also isn’t pleased with how Justice League turned out.
Speaking at ACE Comic-Con this weekend, Hinds apparently told a fan that he hopes Zack Snyder’s cut gets released at some point, as he wasn’t happy with what was put into theaters. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t say anything about what got removed once Joss Whedon came in, but judging by trailers for the film and previous reports, we’ve got a pretty good idea of some of the stuff that was ultimately axed from the final cut.
Whether we’ll ever get to see any of it is another question entirely, but at this point, it’s not looking likely. With Justice League being the disappointment that it is, it seems like the studio just wants to sweep it under the rug as quickly as possible and move on with getting the DCEU back on track. Not to mention that Snyder’s cut would take a lot of money to complete, and you can bet that at this point, WB won’t be throwing so much as another dime into the film.