Zack Snyder would “set [his] film on fire” before using any of Joss Whedon’s Justice League footage

A few weeks back, Justice League star Ray Fisher (Cyborg) accused replacement director Joss Whedon of abusive behavior on set. It sounds like there’s much more coming.

Right at this moment, creators from TV, movies, comics and more are talking to fans at Comic-Con@Home, the digital replacement for the yearly San Diego Comic-Con. But that’s not the only pop culture-focused virtual event happening this weekend. There’s also Justice Con, a fan-organized event focused on Zack Snyder’s Justice League movie, and the Snyder Cut version of it coming to HBO Max next year.

The history here is well-known but knotty. Zack Snyder directed Justice League, a DC superhero team-up film that was supposed to be Warner Bros.’ answer to Marvel’s The Avengers. But partway through production, he had to leave due to a family emergency, and Warner Bros. hired Avengers director Joss Whedon to come in and complete production. Speaking on a Justice Con panel, Snyder confirmed that it was his decision to leave the film, but that he did not pick Whedon to replace him.

Anyway, Justice League came out in 2017, underperformed at the box office and was regarded as “meh” at best by a lot of fans. But now that the Snyder Cut is coming out, hype is high again, with people eager to see how the film is different, and to learn what happened behind the scenes.

That brings us to Ray Fisher, who played Cyborg in the movie. A few weeks ago, Fisher accused Whedon of inappropriate behavior on set, calling it “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable,” and also calling out producers Geoff Johns and Jon Berg for letting it happen:

Now, on a different Justice Con panel, Fisher doubled down on his comments. “Obviously I put out some pretty strong words and comments about Joss Whedon, and every single one of those words, every single one of those comments, is true,” he said.

Fisher didn’t give much in the way of specifics, but did say that a “process … is being undergone to get to the heart of what I’m talking about.”

"The man is probably scared, and he should be, because we are going to get to the heart of everything — everything — that went down."

He also challenged Whedon directly. “If anything I’ve said about that man is untrue, I invite him to sue me for libel, slander, anything,” Fisher said. We should note that Whedon was scheduled to have his own panel at Comic-Con@Home on Friday, but it was quietly pulled from the schedule.

And Fisher didn’t spare the producers of the movie either, accusing them of refusing to do anything about Whedon’s behavior. “There is a certain amount of abuse, a certain amount of behavior that one is willing to tolerate, and once it gets beyond that point, you’ve got to go ahead and deal with it,” Fisher said. “So when you take those grievances to people who are in charge and they do nothing about it, or they try to placate you and not deal with the issues, eventually you’re going to have to say something.”

Fisher called out John Berg by name: “His denial of enabling the situation was asinine, it was tone-deaf, and it was completely disrespectful to the situation at hand. That man is scared, and he should also be.”

Whedon and Johns have so far remained silent about Fisher’s comments, but Berg did release his own statement a couple weeks back, telling Variety that it was “categorically untrue that we enabled any unprofessional behavior.”

Zack Snyder hasn’t addressed this situation specifically, but did say at Justice Con that the Snyder Cut wouldn’t use any footage from Joss Whedon’s version of the film. “I would set my film on fire before I use a frame that I did not photograph.”

We also haven’t heard much from Fisher’s Justice League castmates Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Henry Cavill (Superman), Jason Momoa (Aquaman), Ezra Miller (the Flash) or Ben Affleck (Batman).  “I’ve got the least amount to lose when it comes to that,” Fisher said. “I don’t have to provide for a family. I’ve got a very simple lifestyle to maintain. So when you think about these characters and what they stand for, truth and justice and all that, you have to ask yourself, is this just a part I’m playing or is this something I really believe?”

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h/t SyFy Wire