It’s one of the big questions that has loomed over Justice League ever since Joss Whedon climbed aboard: will the two-time Avengers director be accredited for his contribution to the Warner Bros. event movie?
Turns out the answer to the question is a resounding ‘yes’ – but there is one caveat. As was revealed in Warner’s press release today, Whedon has officially received a credit for his work on the Justice League screenplay, as opposed to a director’s credit, which leads us to believe that his tinkering was much more significant than simply “fine-tuning” the work already in place.
Now, the official Justice League docket reads that the story was composed by Joss Whedon and DC stalwart Chris Terrio, while previous reports have asserted that the November blockbuster is being angled as a “direct sequel” to Batman V Superman. That’s not all that surprising, either, particularly when you consider that the two DCEU movies that have released since – namely Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman – have spun off to focus on various different characters beyond Gotham and Metropolis.
Getting back to Whedon’s involvement, though, it’s currently unclear if the filmmaker will be eligible for a director’s credit having signed on so late in the game. Indeed, this situation surrounding Justice League is much different than, say, Han Solo, which was forced to recruit Ron Howard midway through production following the sudden dismissal of erstwhile directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller.
Nevertheless, here’s the official word from WB:
Director: Zack Snyder
Writers: Story by Chris Terrio & Zack Snyder, Screenplay by Chris Terrio and Joss Whedon
Based on characters from DC Entertainment, Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe ShusterProducers: Charles Roven, Deborah Snyder, Jon Berg, Geoff Johns
Executive Producers: Jim Rowe, Wesley Coller, Curtis Kanemoto, Chris Terrio, Ben Affleck
Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Raymond Fisher, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller
Action Adventure. Fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.
Justice League is due to arrive on November 17th. Elsewhere in the fledgling DCEU, director David Sandberg has officially set the wheels in motion on Shazam, while a recently-released Wonder Woman epilogue seemingly lays the groundwork for Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon’s mega-budget ensemble movie.