Justice League is not Joss Whedon’s movie nor is it a vehicle for Diana Prince, the fabled heroine otherwise known as Wonder Woman; instead, it’s a film that still very much belongs to Zack Snyder, despite his decision to vacate the director’s chair back in May in light of a personal tragedy.
Those are just some of the DC-related tidbits to emerge over the past week or so, and now that Justice League has officially been ushered onto the cover of Empire’s November issue, that deluge of information looks set to continue unabated. In fact, we’re now learning that it was always Zack Snyder’s intention to lighten the film’s tone, which effectively debunks those claims that Warner Bros. turned to Joss Whedon in their time of need. For what it’s worth, the former Avengers director will receive a screenwriting credit alongside Chris Terrio (Star Wars: Episode IX) for his contribution.
And in order to keep that momentum ticking over, Empire has lifted the curtain on its newsstand issue, which is decidedly different from November’s stunning subscriber cover, one drawn up by DC artist Jason Fabok. There’s also a shot of Batman and Diana Prince – Ben Affleck and Gal Gadot, respectively – brooding in what can only be the underground Batcave.
That first picture actually found its way onto the interwebs just yesterday, when the folks at CBM posted photocopied images from Empire’s latest issue. Included in this latest update, though, is a comment from Gal Gadot herself, who states that, “Justice League is not a dark or heavy movie. It doesn’t have the weight that Batman v Superman had.”
Ben Affleck, on the other hand, drew attention to the film’s momentous scale:
The movie’s bigger in scale than any movie I’ve been involved with in my career. It feels massive in terms of the visual elements. That’s something that Zack Snyder is really good at. That will be admired.
Justice League drops on November 17th and will reportedly include not one, but two post-credits scenes. Chances are one of those stingers will be in relation to Shazam!, considering David Sandberg’s superhero flick is poised to fire up production in the early stages of 2018.