cyborg justice league

Sadly, Zack Snyder had to step away from post-production of ‘Justice League’ after shooting the majority of the film, due to a personal tragedy.  There had already been concern about Snyder would deliver another bleak, nonsensical mess like his prior DC film ‘Batman V Superman’ which would have been even harder to take after the triumph of Patty Jenkins’ ‘Wonder Woman’ which lifted the veil of darkness from the unfolding DC Expanded Universe. As luck would have it, Joss Whedon, who’d struck gold with the ‘Avengers’ movies for Marvel Studios had just signed on to direct a ‘Batgirl’ movie for Warner Brothers and he agreed to step in to handle reshoots and post-production for ‘Justice League’.

What can we expect?

More emphasis on the least famous member, Cyborg for one thing.

Joe Morton, who plays S.T.A.R. Labs scientist Doctor Silas Stone, the father of  Victor Stone, the young man who becomes Cyborg (portrayed by Ray Fisher), discussed the reshoots as well as his and Vic’s roles in the film.

“Well, the stuff that I had to do were just really small little bits and pieces, nothing necessarily having to do with tone. I know that with Ray [Fisher], the young man who plays Victor, there were some adjustments that they made in terms of the tone of that character. I think what I heard was that there was a need from the studio to lighten up the film in a way, that the film felt too dark. I don’t know what that meant in terms of how it actually got translated in terms of the reshoots but that’s what I heard. That’s what I thought some of the reshoots were about.”

You may recall similar reshoots being conducted for ‘Suicide Squad’ last year, even though those involved denied that lightening the tone was the true purpose.

Morton compared his role as Silas Stone to that of Doctor Miles Dyson, from ‘Terminator 2: Judgement Day’ and also compared both Silas and Victor to a more famous pop culture creation. Morton said:

“It feels because I’ve obviously gained a reputation for the guy who played the scientist who rebuilds something that’s not quite human. Frankenstein is what I always thought of Miles was, in a way, the modern day Frankenstein. And I suppose in a certain sense so is Silas Stone.

It is unintended consequences and then at first it’s not looked upon by Victor as something that’s correct. Unlike the other members of the Justice League, Victor has no alias, he has no way of hiding behind another personality or some sort of mask in order to protect themselves. He is very much like Frankenstein [Frankenstein’s Creature] again in that there’s no disguising who he is. So that what I think ends up happening is that section of the movie and certainly that character, Cyborg, is a metaphor for being The Other. Which is why I’m glad it’s being played by — that I’m playing dad and Victor is a black, young man. Because I think that is the metaphor in a certain way, that it is talking about what it means to be The Other. Even if you have something that you can contribute to society, very often society doesn’t view you that way. Because when you are The Other, the first response by the mainstream, if you will, is to ostracize. So I think that’s what Victor’s fears are. He has to figure out how to overcome before he then eventually becomes benevolent and understands that the powers that he has can be used for great good.”

Morgan’s Frankenstein references are remarkably spot-on and Vic’s appearance weighed heavily on him in earlier issues of ‘The New Teen Titans’.

‘Cyborg’ was due to get his own movie in 2020, with Morton returning as Silas.  Before that, Cyborg was to appear in ‘The Flash’ movie which was supposed to come out in 2018.  But with all the scrambling and shuffling with the DCEU– for instance, ‘The Flash’ can’t find a director and has apparently been changed to a ‘Flashpoint’ movie, which is now scheduled for 2020.  There has also been talk that the ‘Cyborg’ movie might become a ‘Teen Titans’ movie instead.

What do you think?  Will Whedon’s “lighter” reshoots jibe with Snyder’s already filmed footage?  Or could we end up with an uneven close-but-no-cigar like ‘Suicide Squad’?  What do you hope to see from Cyborg in this and future films?

Source: IGN