It’s the dead movie that just won’t stay dead!  With George Miller’s ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ proving to be a big word-of-mouth hit and with ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’ hitting theaters next summer, officially kicking off Warner Brothers’ new Justice League franchise, interest in Miller’s planned ‘Justice League: Mortal’ movie from 2007 has heated up.  As previously reported, a documentary is in the earliest phase of development.  Miller himself is all for this, launching his own Twitter account devoted to drumming up excitement for the project, which would be helmed by director Ryan Unicomb.

Now, adding fuel to the fire, storyboard artist Steve Skroce has unveiled some very enlightening pieces of art depicting a major sequence in the movie.  It was common knowledge that the plot of the movie was going to borrow heavily from the ‘Infinite Crisis’ miniseries which featured one of the most shocking events in comics in years.  The secret super villain Maxwell Lord, after years of masquerading as an ally to the League, reveals his true colors and uses his telepathic powers to enthrall Superman, making him see Wonder Woman as his lethal enemy Doomsday, seeking to slay Lois Lane.  This send the Man of Steel into a murderous rage.  He nearly kills Wonder Woman, before she– robbed of any recourse– snaps Maxwell Lord’s neck on live television.  This frees Superman, but damns Wonder Woman in the public eye.

The following depicts this scene as it would have played out on screen,  but there reportedly would have been a big alteration.  More on that in a second.  First, feast your eyes on Skroce’s illustrations.  (Click to enlarge):

First a few points of interest.  Costume-wise, it does appear that Wonder Woman, played by Megan Gale, is wearing a fabric skirt, not the leather gladiator-style in ‘The New Frontier.’  Even more important, perhaps, is that Superman’s chest logo is the streamlined red-on-black version from ‘Kingdom Come’ and his costume eschews the classic red trunks that so many fans bemoan about newer designs (from ‘Man of Steel‘ and the New 52).  It looks like Miller was going to go that route years before others did.

But as for the big twist, reportedly in the movie, Wonder Woman would not have killed Maxwell Lord… Batman would have!  (Superman would have been played by DJ Cotrona, Batman by Armie Hammer.)

As stated, this was a controversial clash just among comic fans.  One of the hugest complaints people had with ‘Man of Steel’ was Superman crossing that line and snapping Zod’s neck.  And more recently, Batman appeared to be toting a gun in the ‘Batman V Superman’ trailer, once more sending purists into a tizzy, debating what constitutes a hero, especially these icons.

How would you swallow either Batman or Wonder Woman murdering an opponent, even with a comic book precedent?  (Keep in mind, the same holds true for Superman, although some choose to ignore these events in the comics.)  Or would this have been too dark and against their regular natures?

We can only speculate at this point, since the plug on Miller’s movie was pulled, largely due to the Hollywood writers’ strike.  Does this make you want to see what would have been even more, or is it best that this never saw the light of day?  (Or rather the dark of cineplexes?)

Source: Cinema Blend