Justice League Originally Had Romance Between Batman & Lois Lane

By Sam Hargrave Posted:
Lois Lane Bruce Wayne Justice League

It's been a long and winding road to get to the release of Zack Snyder's Justice League cut . The original cut of the film was renowned for the interference of higher-ups within Warner Bros. studio that changed the course of Snyder's plan for the universe.

While a film's director largely has creative control of the film, Warner Bros. has been known to take a highly involved position in their properties in order to maintain their brand and ensure characters are handled in-line with their comic book versions.

Zack Snyder has often been criticized by fans for his handling of some of DC's biggest characters within his universe. And now, the director has offered details of yet another idea he had for his already lengthy Justice League movie that would have introduced a controversial romance.

A SURPRISE ROMANCE FOR JUSTICE LEAGUE

In a recent interview, Snyder spoke with Vanity Fair regarding details of his plans for a romance between Bruce Wayne and Lois Lane in Justice League , however, Warner Bros. quickly shut them down. Amy Adam's iconic love interest to the Man of Steel would have still been mourning Superman's death from the previous film, leading Bruce Wayne to want to "bring Superman back to life," according to Snyder:

“The intention was that Bruce fell in love with Lois and then realized that the only way to save the world was to bring Superman back to life.”

The Justice League director went on to explain a speech Ben Affleck's Bruce Wayne would've given to Alfred in the film of his desire for a “life outside the cave:”

“So he had this insane conflict, because Lois, of course, was still in love with Superman. We had this beautiful speech where [Bruce] said to Alfred: ‘I never had a life outside the cave. I never imagined a world for me beyond this. But this woman makes me think that if I can get this group of gods together, then my job is done. I can quit. I can stop.’ And of course that doesn’t work out for him.”

A SLAP IN THE FACE FOR SUPERMAN LORE

This reveal by Snyder is sure to be seen as odd by many and may lead a lot of fans to further criticize his handling of the DC lore.

It's not surprising why Warner Bros. would choose to nix an idea like this from Snyder as the romance between Clark Kent and Lois Lane has long been a key part of Superman lore. A film on the scale of Justice League would likely bring in a lot of new fans to the universe, just as The Avengers did for the MCU.

Therefore, Warner Bros. probably wouldn't want new fans to associate Adams' Lois Lane as a romantic interest of Affleck's Bruce Wayne as that isn't the usual role of the character in other media.

Zack Snyder's Justice League is already a packed movie; with a four-hour run time, there is plenty going on in the story . A love triangle between Bruce, Lois, and a newly resurrected Superman may have been a little too much. Regardless, it's always interesting to hear the details of plans that never made it to the big screen, even if that could be seen as for the better.

The highly anticipated Snyder Cut of Justice League is set to release March 18, exclusively on HBO Max — with international release details to follow .

- About The Author: Sam Hargrave
Sam Hargrave is the Associate Editor at The Direct. He joined the team as a gaming writer in 2020 before later expanding into writing for all areas of The Direct and taking on further responsibilities such as editorial tasks and image creation.