Back in 2017, when director Zack Snyder was working on his version of Justice League, it turns out he got some help from Chernobyl creator Craig Mazin. On an episode of the Scriptnotes Podcast (via The Playlist), Mazin recalled his experience offering feedback on the superhero flick before Joss Whedon ended up taking over for Snyder altogether.

“I saw the Zack Snyder Cut back when he was working on it. Because they were talking about maybe doing a week or reshoots or something like that,” explained Mazin. “And so he invited two or three – I think there were three or four of us, writers, to watch the movie in the state it was in and then just have a conversation about some things that they might be able to do to tweak some things up over the course of a week of writing.”

Mazin also shared that he thought Snyder’s cut was headed in the right direction. “And I, you know me, I’m not like a huge superhero movie guy, but I really liked it. I liked it. I thought it was really good. I thought there were a couple things, like ‘Okay, here’s some suggestions and things,’” Mazin said. “And then Zack left the project. And so that was it. Literally, I think he left like the next week. And I never saw the Joss Whedon version.”

Knowing all of this, we can now imagine an alternate world in which Zack Snyder’s version of Justice League was released to positive reviews the first time around. According to Mazin, the script was there. A week’s worth of reshoots might have remedied the problems Warner Bros. was having with the film. Rather, it would take years of fan campaigning and $70 million reshoots for us to finally be able to watch the Snyder Cut.

Zack Snyder's Justice League is streaming now on HBO Max. Do you think he asked Mazin because the end of the film was set in the remains of an old Russian nuclear power plant?

Justice League: Things That Were Better in Joss Whedon’s Cut

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