Justice League: Mortal - What Really Happened?
Before Fury Road, George Miller had DC's biggest superhero team.
Long before Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon would 'Unite the Seven' in 2017's Justice League, Warner Bros. attempted to do the same almost a decade earlier with George Miller, the architect behind the Mad Max franchise.
Dubbed Justice League: Mortal, the film was originally meant to premiere between 2008-09 and would've been the first genuine superhero ensemble to release on the big screen (Mystery Men notwithstanding). A then 22-year-old Armie Hammer was set to play Batman, Common would've donned the role of Green Lantern and the team in question would have had far more in common with their animated series counterpart (save for the lack of Hawkgirl), than it did with the League's earlier incarnations.
Right at the centre of it all would've been Miller's signature charm, telling a story inspired by the then recent Tower of Babel (Mark Waid/Howard Porter), as well as 2008's Infinite Crisis (Geoff Johns et al.), with Maxwell Lord set to feature as the film's principle antagonist.
But where did it all go wrong? With scheduling conflicts, an uncommitted studio, and even an uncooperative Oceanic country to deal with, the reasons for Mortal's cancellation are myriad and intriguing, and perhaps even a little tragic too.