Zack Snyder shares his version of Green Lantern, cut from Justice League

With Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the director got the chance to show fans a version of Justice League that preserved his original vision. But while that take on the movie is much more robust than the one originally released in theaters n 2017, there were still a few elements missing. For instance, we didn’t see Snyder’s take on Green Lantern, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have one, as this behind-the-scenes-photo shows:

It looks like Snyder shots some footage of actor Wayne T. Carr as John Stewart, one of the many incarnations of the iconic DC superhero. Carr and Snyder shared some photos of the shoot online:

As you can see, Carr is surrounded by a film crew socially distancing and masked up. He is wearing the CGI suit that would have eventually transformed into the full Green Lantern outfit. He has a pretty stoic look on his face in that second shot. That’s probably about how he feels knowing his scene likely won’t make it into the film.

Why did Zack Snyder have to remove Green Lantern from his cut of Justice League?

Basically, any decision involving the DC Extended Universe that confuse you can be traced back to Warner Bros. While speaking with Vanity Fair back in March, Zack Snyder addressed why Green Lantern was missing from his cut. According to him, the cut was made at the request of the studio, because they had their own plans for the superhero.

"They were like, ‘We have plans for John Stewart and we want to do our own announcement.’ So I said all right, I’ll give you that. So [Martian Manhunter] was the compromise."

Martian Manhunter did indeed show up, in the guise of General Calvin Swanwick (Harry Lennix) . I guess it was a reasonable compromise but considering there seem to be no plans to continue Snyder’s DC Universe, it feels like a wasted opportunity.

In any case, the Green Lantern pictures incited a social media frenzy. Are they trying to tell us something? Are they trying to tell Warner Bros. something? It is interesting that they released the photos right after it was announced that Finn Wittrock would be playing a Green Lantern Guy Gardner in an upcoming TV show. Why go with the cocky jock of the character when they had lanterns like Hal Jordan or John Stewart around?

When the HBO Max Green Lantern series was announced back in October 2020, neither Hal Jordan nor John Stewart were part of the official logline:

"From HBO Max, DC, Berlanti Productions and Warner Bros. Television comes a bold adaptation of the iconic comic book franchise, a saga spanning decades and galaxies. GREEN LANTERN will depict the adventures of a multitude of Lanterns, including Guy Gardner, Jessica Cruz, Simon Baz, and Alan Scott — Earth’s first Green Lantern, who, true to the comics, is a gay man — and many more. The series will also include fan favorites such as Sinestro and Kilowog, and will also introduce new heroes to the ranks of the Green Lantern Corps."

There’s no word on whether the new Green Lantern show might come out…or if there are any plans to #RestoreTheSnyderVerse.

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h/t The A.V. Club