WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN: DC Movies

Superman: The Movie (1978)

>Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Francis Ford Coppola, Sam Peckinpah, William Friedkin, John Guillermin, Peter Yates, Ronald Neame, Robert Aldrich, Norman Jewison, Mark Robson and Richard Lester were approached to direct the movie before Guy Hamilton was hired. He dropped out shortly afterwards and was replaced by Richard Donner.

>Producers Ilya Salkind, Alexander Salkind and Pierre Spengler planned for SUPERMAN and SUPERMAN II to be filmed back-to-back. Mario Puzo wrote a borderline unfilmmable 550 pages script with an overtly campy tone, which Donner disliked. Tom Mankiewicz rewrote the entire script at Donner's behest, but was denied credit by the Writers Guild of America. Donner then credited him as a creative consultant so his contribution would be recognized.

>Puzo's draft featured Clark Kent and Lois Lane as television reporters; two addition evil Kryptonian, mad scientist Jax-Ur and psychotic prankster Jak-El; an additional bumbling sidekick to Lex Luthor named "Albert", who'd be Otis' brother; and a cameo appearance by Kojak, played by Telly Savalas, meeting Lex Luthor at a subway station and offering him a lollipop.

>Donner partially shot SUPERMAN II before convincing Spengler and the Salkinds to focus on completing SUPERMAN, since a cliffhanger ending wouldn't accomplish anything without a succesful first movie.

>In early drafts, Superman would divert Lex Luthor's nuclear missile to space, where it would accidentally free General Zod, Ursa and Non from the Phantom Zone and lead them to Earth. When Donner persuaded the producers to let him complete SUPERMAN as a standalone movie, he used the concept of Superman turning back time and changing the past, originally slated for SUPERMAN II, to give the movie a proper ending.

>Donner notoriously clashed with Spengler and the Salkinds throughout production, to the point they refused to speak to eachother. The Salkinds appointed Lester as a second unit director anticipating that he could take over production should Donner drop out. Lester had previously sued the Salkinds over unpaid dues in a previous collaboration and allegedly only agreed to the job due to the salary they offered.

>The producers were determined that Superman be played by an A-lister. Warren Beatty, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Burt Reynolds, James Caan, Charles Bronson and Muhammad Ali were approached for the role, but declined.

>Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Jenner, Neil Diamond, Perry King, Lyle Waggoner, Robert Wagner, John Beck, David Soul, Jan-Michael Vincent, James Brolin, Sam Elliott, Christopher Walken, Nick Nolte, Jon Voight, Jeff Bridges, Kris Kristofferson and David Prowse auditioned for the role before Patrick Wayne was cast. However, he dropped out when his father, John Wayne, was diagnosed with cancer. Donner ultimately persuaded the producers to cast a young unknown, and ultimately selected Christopher Reeve, who had previously been denied an audition for allegedly being "too scrawny".

>Anne Archer, Stockard Channing, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Leslie Ann Warren, Susan Blakely, Deborah Raffin, April Byron, Christina Raines, Barbra Streisand, Natalie Wood, Carrie Fisher and Liza Minelli were approached for Lois Lane before Margot Kidder was cast.

>Paul Newman, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, Gene Wilder and George Kennedy were approached for Lex Luthor before Gene Hackman was cast.

>Paul Newman and Charlton Heston were approached for Jor-El before Marlon Brando was cast.

>Muhammad Ali

wut

Superman II: The Adventure Continues (1980)

>Spengler and the Salkinds decided to complete SUPERMAN II after SUPERMAN became a box office hit, but fired Donner due to their previous disagreements and replaced by Lester. Gene Hackman objected to the producers' treatment of Donner and refused to return for the sequel, forcing them to write the script around the footage he had already shot under Donner's direction. Lester was also required to reshoot numerous scenes that had already been completed by Donner in order to be properly credited as the sole director.

>Marlon Brando was slated to return as Jor-El, but felt cheated out of the movie's box office earnings and filed a lawsuit against the Salkinds, which led to Jor-El being replaced by Superman's mother, Lara Lor-Van, played by Susannah York.

>David Newman and Leslie Newman, who had previously contributed to the script of SUPERMAN, redrafted SUPERMAN II, adding the prologue with the hostage crisis at Eiffel Tower, the epilogue with the memory-wiping kiss and reworking numerous scenes based on Donner's version.

>Caroline Munro was approached for Ursa before Sarah Douglas was cast.

>David Prowse auditioned for Non before Jack O'Halloran was cast.

>An alternative ending where Zod, Ursa and Non are arrested by the Arctic Police after being depowered by Superman was shot, but never used in neither Lester's cut nor Donner's cut.

Superman III (1983)

>Guy Hamilton was approached to direct the movie before Richard Lester was persuaded to return.

>Ilya Salkind wrote a treatment in which Superman falls in love with Supergirl, another survivor of planet Krypton, as they join forces to battle Brainiac, a mad scientist from planet Colu and Supergirl's adoptive father, who has fallen in love with her; and Mr. Mxyzptlk, a mischievous imp from the Fifth Dimension, but the studio didn't like the concept and called David Newman and Leslie Newman to write a new script.

>In early drafts, Lex Luthor was the main villain and would create a supercomputer known as "Brainiac" as part of a masterplan to take over the world, only for Brainiac to become sentient and resolve to destroy it instead. When Hackman once again refused to return due to his grievances with the Salkinds, Luthor was replaced by a facsimile, Ross Webster, played by Robert Vaughn.

>Margot Kidder also openly supported Donner in his feud with the Salkinds, and as a result Lois Lane was reduced to a minor appearance and Lana Lang was introduced as Superman's main love interest, played by Annette O'Toole.

>Richard Pryor's character, hacker Gus Gorman, was added to the script due to Pryor's five picture contract with Warner Bros Pictures, and led to the movie being retooled as comedy-oriented and the Brainiac subplot being downplayed to the point where the character was never even named in the movie.

Supergirl (1984)

>The Salkinds greenlit the movie after SUPERMAN III flopped in order to revitalize the franchise.

>Richard Lester and Robert Wise were approached to direct the movie before Jeannot Szwarc was hired.

>Several actresses auditioned for Supergirl, including Melanie Griffiths, Demi Moore and Brooke Shields. Alexander Salkind favored Shields, but both Ilya Salkind and Szwarc wanted an unknown actress in the same vein as Christopher Reeve and cast Helen Slater.

>Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda and Goldie Hawn were approached to play the sorceress Selene before Faye Dunaway was cast.

>John Travolta was approached to play Supergirl's love interest Ethan before Hart Bochner was cast.

>Demi Moore also auditioned for Supergirl's friend Lucy Lane before Maureen Teefy was cast.

>Dudley Moore was approached to play Supergirl's mentor Zaltar before Peter O'Toole was cast.

>Superman was featured in the original script, in which he is kidnapped by Selene and Supergirl must rescue him. Christopher Reeve was slated to appear in the movie and even recommended Szwarc as the director, but dropped out in the last moment, requiring last-minutes rewrites to remove the character from the story.

Superman IV: The Quest For Peace (1987)

>After SUPERMAN III and SUPERGIRL flopped at the box office, the Salkinds sold the rights to Cannon Pictures.

>Wes Craven and Albert Pyun were approached to direct the movie before Sidney J. Furie was hired.

>Christopher Reeve had initially declined to return, but agreed in exchange for financing for his next movie and the opportunity to co-write the script. He notoriously clashed with Furie throughout production.

>Margot Kidder and Gene Hackman were persuaded to return due to Salkinds no longer being involved, though both of them as well as Reeve later recognized that the movie was awful and damaging to their careers.

>Reeve was originally approached to play the Nuclear Man as well, but the idea was scrapped for being too expensive.

>Cannon Pictures slashed the movie's budget from $36 million to $17 million, preventing several scenes from being completed and reducing the movie's running time from 135 minutes to 90 minutes. A subplot about the first Nuclear Man, played by Clive Mantle, who is defeated by Superman after wreaking havoc in a nightclub, was also deleted after poor reception at test screenings.

>Cannon Pictures considered using the unfinished footage as the basis for a fifth movie, but their plans were scrapped due to Christopher Reeve's horseback accident. The plot would've featured Superman becoming trapped in the Bottled City of Kandor.

Batman (1989)

>Ivan Reitman, Joe Dante, David Cronenberg and Alex Cox were approached to direct before Tim Burton was hired. Reitman wanted to make it a comedy starring Bill Murray as Batman, Michael J. Fox as Robin as Eddie Murphy as the Joker.

>Tom Mankiewicz wrote the first draft of the script, which featured Batman and Robin fighting against the Joker, who murdered Batman's parents on behalf of mobster Rupert Thorn. Mankiewicz's draft also featured Silver St. Cloud as Batman's love interest and the Penguin as a secondary villain. Burton disliked his ideas and called Sam Hamm to revise the script.

>Early drafts featured a love triangle between Bruce Wayne, Vicki Vale and Alexander Knox that was scrapped when further revisions made Knox into a comedic character. At one point, both Vale and Knox were supposed to be killed by the Joker.

>In early drafts, the Flying Graysons would've been killed during the Joker's parade, and young Dick Grayson helps Batman defeat the Joker, setting up his transformation into Robin.

>Warner Bros Pictures approached Mel Gibson and Pierce Brosnan for Batman, but they both declined due to scheduling conflicts. Kevin Costner, Harrison Ford, Dennis Quaid, Tom Selleck, Jeff Bridges, Charlie Sheen, Alec Baldwin, Kurt Russell, Willem Dafoe and Ray Liotta were also considered before Michael Keaton was cast.

>Brad Douriff, Tim Curry, David Bowie, Jon Lithgow and James Woods were considered for the Joker before Jack Nicholson was offered the role. He initally declined, but later reconsidered upon learning an offer had been made to Robin Williams.

>Sean Young was originally cast as Vicki Vale, but injured herself in a horseback riding accident prior to filming and was replaced by Kim Basinger.

>Steve Martin was approached for Alexander Knox before the role was rewritten and reduced, and Robert Wuhl was cast.

>Kiefer Sutherland was approached for Dick Grayson before the character was removed from the script.

Batman Returns (1992)

>The first draft of the script, written by Sam Hamm, was a direct sequel to BATMAN and featured the return of Vicki Vale, but Burton disliked the concept and called Daniel Walters to pen a new draft that worked as a standalone movie.

>In early drafts, street-smart auto-mechanic Dick Grayson would help Batman repair the Batmobile after it is sabotaged by the Penguin, setting up his transformation into Robin, but the idea was scrapped because Waters disliked the character and Burton didn't want sequel hooks.

>In early drafts, Harvey Dent would sponsor the Penguin's mayoral campaign, and also be responsible for the attempted murder of Catwoman, who would later disfigure half of his face, setting up his transformation into Two-Face, but the idea was scrapped because Burton didn't want sequel hooks, and Dent was replaced by Max Shreck, who would initially be the Penguin's brother.

>Dustin Hoffman, Christopher Lloyd, Bob Hoskins and John Candy were considered for the Penguin before Danny De Vito was cast.

>Annette Benning was originally cast as Catwoman, but dropped out due to her pregnancy. Madonna, Cher, Bridget Fonda, Raquel Welch, Lorraine Bracco, Ellen Barkin, Jennifer Beals, Brooke Shields, Susan Sarandon, Jodie Foster, Geena Davis, Jennifer Jason Leight, Demi Moore and Nicole Kidman were considered for the role before Michelle Pfeiffer was cast. Pfeiffer had previously impressed Burton when she auditioned for Vicki Vale in BATMAN.

>Marlon Wayans was originally cast as Dick Grayson before the character was scrapped.

>Sean Young believed she was entitled to the role of Catwoman and began stalking Burton, even breaking into the Warner Bros loft in a homemade Catwoman costume and forcing Burton to hide in his office until security escorted her out.

Batman Forever (1995)

>WB was disappointed by BATMAN RETURNS' box office and decided to make the franchise more family-friendly. Burton disagreed with their new creative direction and declined to return. Sam Raimi was approached to replace him before Joel Schumacher was hired.

>Michael Keaton declined to return after Burton's departure. Mel Gibson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Alec Baldwin, William Baldwin, Kurt Russell, Johnny Depp, Ralph Fiennes and Ethan Hawke were approached to replace him before Val Kilmer was cast.

>Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Wahlberg, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Ewan McGregor, Toby Stephens and Scott Speedman auditioned for Robin before Chris O'Donnell was cast.

>Rene Russo was originally cast as Chase Meridian, but was replaced because producers felt she was too old for Kilmer. Linda Hamilton, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Sandra Bullock and Robin Wright were considered before Nicole Kidman was cast.

>Robin Williams was approached for the Riddler, but declined, still bitter over being used as "bait" to lure Jack Nicholson into the role of the Joker, and Jim Carrey was cast.

>Schumacher decided not to invite Marlon Wayans and Billy Dee Williams, who were originally slated to play Robin and Two-Face, and had to receive a hefty compensation for the contract breach.

>Schumacher wanted to add Poison Ivy to the script, and originally envisioned Kidman to play her, but the studio argued against three villains in one movie, and Kidman was ultimately cast as Chase Meridian.

>Schumacher wanted to adapt Frank Miller's "Batman: Year One", but WB declined in favor of a sequel with an established Batman. Schumacher added several flashback sequences exploring Batman's past, but most of them were cut.

BATMAN & ROBIN (1997)

>Val Kilmer dropped out of the movie due to his disagreements with Schumacher, and William Baldwin and David Duchovny were considered for Batman before George Clooney was cast.

>Olivia d'Abo was considered for Batgirl before Alicia Silverstone was cast.

>Patrick Stewart, Anthony Hopkins and Ed Harris were considered for Mister Freeze before Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast.

>Julia Roberts, Demi Moore and Sharon Stone were considered for Poison Ivy before Uma Thurman was cast.

>In early drafts, Bruce Wayne's girlfriend, Julie Madison, played by Elle McPherson, had a larger role, culminating with Poison Ivy fatally stabbing her. The idea was scrapped for being too dark for a kid-oriented movie, and most of Madison's scenes were cut in further rewrites.

>In early drafts, Poison Ivy seduces Robin in her supervillain persona while also trying to entice Bruce Wayne as Pamela Isley, and Bruce's discovery that they're one and the same is what convinces Robin that they're being manipulated by Ivy. The concept was scrapped in further rewrites.

Catwoman (2004)

>Daniel Waters wrote the first draft of the script in 1993 as a spin-off from BATMAN RETURNS in which Selina Kyle relocates to an idyllic small town in Arizona and learns that the city's leaders are members of a cult and are planning to destroy the city in a mass sacrifice. Tim Burton was in talks to direct, with Michelle Pfeiffer set to return as Selina, but Waters' script was deemed too dark by WB, and the project was scrapped after BATMAN FOREVER became a box office hit.

>In 2001, the project was revived and the script was revised multiple times to make it a standalone movie, with Ashley Judd set to play Selina Kyle.

>In 2003, Further revisions reinvented the entire concept and replaced Selina Kyle with an original character, Patience Philips, to avoid conflicts with the BATMAN franchise, which was in development hell.

>Nicole Kidman was approached to play Patience before Halle Berry was cast.

>Josh Lucas was approached for Patience's love interest, Detective Tom Lone, before Benjamin Bratt was cast.

>Julie Newmar and Frances McDormand were approached for Patience's mentor, Ophelia Powers, before Frances Conroy was cast.

Batman Begins (2005)

>Ashton Kutcher was WB's top choice to play Batman before Christopher Nolan was hired to direct the movie.

>In early drafts, Harvey Dent was Bruce Wayne's childhood friend who becomes an Assistant District Attorney who collaborates with Batman. When Rachel Dawes was added to the script, Dent was removed and Rachel was given his role.

>Henry Cavill, Cillian Murphy, Jake Gyllenhall, Hugh Dancy, Billy Crudup, Eion Bailey, David Boreanaz, Joshua Jackson and Heath Ledger auditioned for Batman. Jackson was reportedly Christopher Nolan's favored choice for the role, but WB rejected him as Katie Holmes had already been cast as Rachel and Jackson's casting would drawn unwanted attention to the fact they were both in DAWSON'S CREEK, which WB feared would undermine the movie's credibility. Ultimately, Christian Bale was cast.

>Amy Adams auditioned for Rachel before Katie Holmes was cast by WB's demand. Claire Danes and Reese Witherspoon were also considered for the role.

>Christopher Eccleston and Ewan McGregor were considered for the Scarecrow before Cillian Murphy was cast, having impressed Nolan with his audition for Batman.

>Gary Oldman was approached for Ra's Al Ghul, but preferred to play James Gordon. Guy Pearce was in talks for the role, but once Bale was cast, Nolan felt Pearce was too close to Bale's age to convincingly play a seasoned mentor, and Liam Neeson was then cast.

>Chris Cooper was approached for James Gordon, but declined, leading to Gary Oldman being cast.

>Anthony Hopkins was considered for Alfred Pennyworth before Michael Caine was cast.

>Laurence Fishburne was considered for Lucius Fox before Morgan Freeman was cast.

Superman Returns (2006)

>Henry Cavill, Matt Bomer, Ian Somerhalder, Jared Padelecki, Victor Webster, Jason Behr and Daniel Cudmore auditioned for Superman before Brandon Routh was cast.

>Claire Danes, Keri Russell, Mischa Barton and Elisha Cutberth auditioned for Lois Lane before Kate Bosworth was cast.

>Shawn Ashmore, Topher Grace and Eric Christian Olsen were approached for Jimmy Olsen before Sam Huntington was cast.

>Hugh Laurie was cast as Perry White, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts and was replaced by Frank Langella.

>Hugh Jackman was in talks to play Jonathan Kent in an extended flashback sequence, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.

>Early drafts featured Lex Luthor freeing General Zod from the Phantom Zone to enact revenge on Superman. Jude Law was offered the role, but declined, after which Singer decided to write the character out of the movie.

The Dark Knight (2008)

>Harvey Dent's disfigurement would originally happen in the third act, and his transformation into Two-Face would occur in a potential sequel, but the concept was scrapped in favor of completing Dent's storyline in the movie.

>Early drafts featured a subplot about Batman investigating Harvey Dent's background and learning that Dent's family was brutally murdered, but it was scrapped for being superfluous to the plot.

>Rachel McAdams was offered the role of Rachel Dawes after Katie Holmes dropped out, but declined. Isla Fisher and Emily Blunt also auditioned before Maggie Gyllenhall was cast.

>Hugh Jackman was offered the role of Harvey Dent, but declined to scheduling conflicts. Jude Law, Josh Lucas, Liev Schreiber and Mark Ruffalo were also approached before Aaron Eckhart was cast.

>Paul Bettany, Guy Pearce, Adrien Brody, Sean Penn, Hugo Weaving, Johnny Depp, Vincent Cassel, Crispin Glover and Lachy Hulme auditioned for the role of the Joker before Heath Ledger was cast, with Bettany being the fronturnner.

Green Lantern (2011)

>Greg Berlanti was slated to direct the movie, but dropped out and was replaced by Martin Campbell.

>Early drafts featured Legion as the main villain, a monster born from experiments conducted by the Guardians of the Universe with the Yellow Light of Fear. He was replaced by Parallax to set up sequels.

>Early drafts featured Alan Scott as a government operative and former Green Lantern who assists Hal Jordan. He was replaced by Amanda Waller to set up a DC Cinematic Universe.

>Ryan Gosling, Chris Pine, Jared Leto, Justin Timberlake, Jake Gyllenhall, Michael Fassbender and Bradley Cooper were approached for Hal Jordan before Ryan Reynolds was cast.

>Rose Byrne, Eva Green, Keri Russell, Jennifer Garner and Diane Kruger were approached for Carol Ferris before Blake Lively was cast.

>Hugo Weaving and Jackie Earle Haley were approached for Thaal Sinestro before Mark Strong was cast.

>Reynolds notoriously clashed with Campbell, who favored Bradley Cooper for the role and was unhappy when WB cast Reynolds instead, and often criticized Reynolds' performance and demanded extensive retakes.

>The movie went severely overbudget, requiring emergency rewrites to scale down the scope and several CGI-heavy scenes to be deleted as it would be impossible to complete them, notably an extensive training sequence on planet Oa and Sinestro, Tomar-Re and Kilowog arriving to help Jordan battle Parallax in the third act.

>The stinger with Sinestro stealing the yellow power ring was a last-minute addition to drum up interest in a potential sequel, which had already been greenlit, and was subsequently scrapped.

>The movie was expected to succesfully launch a DC Cinematic Universe, with Green Lantern functioning as WB's Iron Man, but plans were scrapped after the movie was a massive box office flop.

The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

>Heath Ledger was expected to return as Joker before his death.

>WB wanted the Riddler as the main villain, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, but director Christopher Nolan believed he was too similar to the Joker.

>Nolan and his brother Jonathan Nolan wrote the first draft of the script, which was 400 pages long and had to be severely condensed in order to fit into one movie. Most cuts were done to the second act, with Bruce Wayne trapped in the Pit and Gotham City under siege from Bane.

>In early drafts, several minor characters had larger roles that were reduced in further revisions, including Barsad, Bane's right-hand man; Jen, Selina Kyle's friend and accomplice; Ross, John Blake's partner; and Jones, the leader of the Special Forces team deployed to Gotham.

>In early drafts, Captain Peter Foley is killed by Talia after being run over by a Tumbler. The scene was filmed, but deemed too violent for the studio, and reworked so Foley is fatally shot during the final battle.

>Rachel Weisz was considered for Talia Al Ghul before Marion Cottilard was cast.

>Ryan Gosling was considered for John Blake before Joseph Gordon-Levitt was cast.

>Zoe Kravitz was considered for Jen before Juno Temple was cast.

>Adam Rodriguez was considered for Jones before Daniel Sunjata was cast.

Man of Steel (2013)

>WB greenlit the movie to retain the rights to the character during an extensive legal battle with the heirs of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. Several writers pitched their ideas before Christopher Nolan brokered a meeting between David S. Goyer and WB executives.

>Ben Affleck, Darren Aronofsky, Matt Reeves, Duncan Jones and Jonathan Liebesman were approached to direct the movie before Zack Snyder was hired, reportedly in part because he was willing to work with Goyer's middling script without demanding lenghty revisions.

>Early drafts featured Zod being exiled to the Phantom Zone alongside his men, but Snyder and Goyer preferred to have Superman kill him. Nolan objected to the idea, but Snyder persuaded him.

>Early cuts began with Clark Kent arriving at the Daily Planet, with the plot unfolding over three interlocked flashback sequences, but this was changed after being poorly received by test screenings.

>Joe Manganiello, Matthew Goode, Colin O'Donoghue and Armie Hammer auditioned for Superman before Henry Cavill was cast.

>Anne Hathaway was offered the role of Lois Lane, but declined. Olivia Wilde, Emmy Rossum, Charlotte Riley, Dianna Agron, Margot Robbie, Alexis Knapp, Kaya Scodelario, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kristen Bell, Lake Bell and Mila Kunis auditioned before Amy Adams was cast.

>Daniel Day-Lewis was offered the role of Jor-El, but declined. Clive Owen and Sean Penn were also approached before Russell Crowe was cast.

>Viggo Mortensen was approached for Zod before Michael Shannon was cast.

>Diane Kruger, Rosamund Pike, Kate Mara and Gal Gadot auditioned for Faora before Antje Traue was cast.

>Bruce Greenwood, Dennis Quaid, Michael Biehn and Kurt Russell were approached for Jonathan Kent before Kevin Costner was cast.

>Julianne Moore, Jodie Foster, Sela Ward and Elisabeth Shue were approached for Martha Kent before Diane Lane was cast.

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

>The movie was greenlit by WB as a standalone sequel to MAN OF STEEL featuring Lex Luthor and Metallo.

>Josh Brolin and Ben Affleck were offered the role of Batman, but both declined. Joe Manganiello, Matthew Goode, Scott Adkins, Max Martini and Richard Armitage auditioned before Affleck reconsidered and brought his contributor Chris Terrio to revise Goyer's script, which he found disappointing.

>Olga Kurylenko, Elodie Yung and Emily Ratajkowski auditioned for Wonder Woman before Gal Gadot was cast.

>Joaquin Phoenix was offered the role of Lex Luthor, but declined. Matt Damon, Bradley Cooper, Denzel Washington and Bryan Cranston were also approached before Snyder changed his plans for the character.

>Jesse Eisenberg was originally approached to play Jimmy Olsen. Snyder had planned to cast a well-known actor and then kill Olsen early in the movie to subvert audience experications, but Eisenberg declined. Snyder felt Eisenberg's disdainful attitude was so powerful he changed the entire script to accomodate for a new interpretation of Luthor that would play to Eisenberg's strengths.

>Nolan objected to Superman's death early into the DCEU, but Snyder persuaded him.

>Early drafts featured Zod being exiled to the Phantom Zone alongside his men, but Snyder and Goyer preferred to have Superman kill him. Nolan objected to the idea, but Snyder persuaded him.

>Nolan objected to Superman's death early into the DCEU, but Snyder persuaded him.

Nolan tried to save us.

Suicide Squad (2016)

>Early drafts featured Rick Flag as the main character, but this was changed when Will Smith was cast as Deadshot.

>Tom Hardy was originally cast as Flag, but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts. Jake Gyllenhall, Luke Evans, Joel Edgerton and Jon Bernthal were approached to replace him before Joel Kinnaman was cast.

>Oprah Winfrey and Octavia Spencer were approached for Amanda Waller before Viola Davis was cast.

>Emma Roberts was approached for Harley Quinn before Margot Robbie was cast.

>Shia LaBeouf was approached for Lieutenant GQ Edwards before Scott Eastwood was cast and the character's role was severely reduced in rewrites.

>Several scenes were deleted, most notably the Joker's, and the movie was re-edited multiple times by different companies after middling reception at test screenings and the disappointing critical and commercial performance of BATMAN V SUPERMAN.

My favorite part about all this is that Nolan objected to Snyder's ideas until Snyder persuaded him.

Wonder how he did that now.

What I always take away from these What Could Have Beens (or rather, what I already knew) is that from the very beginning several of these super hero movies succeed in spite of WB, not because of them.

>>WB greenlit the movie to retain the rights to the character during an extensive legal battle with the heirs of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
A start to the DCEU as fitting as it is inauspicious.

>Please, Chris
>No
>Please
>No
>Please
>No
>Please
>No
>PLEASE
>OK.