Warner Brothers and DC Films have been mired in quite a few controversies in recent years, but almost none have garnered as much public attention as Ray Fisher's accusations against Joss Whedon and the studio stemming from the production of Justice League. Fisher has held nothing back when discussing the abuse and unprofessional environment he experienced after Whedon took over for Zack Snyder, and he has garnered plenty of support from his co-stars on the matter.
It's still unclear what exactly happened with Joss Whedon before he took over this movie, especially considering he had quite the successful run with Marvel before his transition to the DC Extended Universe. His work as the writer and director of 2012's The Avengers helped make a film still regarded as one of the best of the Infinity Saga, although he faced his fair share of criticism after his work on the sequel, 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Unfortunately, it turns out Whedon's experience on his last Marvel movie may have heavily influenced his work on the DCEU movie, according to Fisher's most recent quotes.
NEWS
In an interview with Enosh Fett on the Poindexter Lounge Podcast, via YouTube, Cyborg star Ray Fisher shared that Joss Whedon's "resentment" of how audiences responded to Avengers: Age of Ultron may have influenced his Justice League script. According to Fisher, the belief that some fans didn't "get" Whedon's work on the MCU sequel led to the superhero filmmaker's DC team-up movie becoming an "ego stroke":
"One of the things that I will say so far is, our experience in the creation of this... Joss brought a lot of his personal and professional, for lack of a better term, resentment, into the Justice League process. One of the things that he had said in our first conversation was that people didn't quote-unquote "get" 'Age of Ultron', and there were certain things being said in that conversation where I was like, oh, this is less about the work being presented and more, sort of like, of an ego stroke to say 'Well look, if you like it in this movie, you should've liked it in that one. Ha ha, joke's on you.'.. And that's just creatively, that has nothing to do with any of the really egregious stuff, that's just on a creative level. It shows, ya know."
Fisher continues, saying that Whedon's actions have put him at a major loss in the minds of many of those who worked with him:
"And that's part of the reason why I say that we inherited Joss Whedon. We inherited the problem of Joss Whedon. I'm sure he has a lot to deal with. Hopefully he deals with it in a healthy way and we'll make good on any sort of apologies that he may need to put out there."
The full interview can be seen below:
WHAT THIS MEANS
When Joss Whedon was announced as the Justice League replacement for Zack Snyder after Snyder's family tragedy, some believe that that it would make for a seamless transition considering how well Whedon had already done with two Avengers movies, which grossed just under $3 billion combined at the global box office. After The Avengers was almost universally recognized as a comic book movie masterpiece, Whedon had so many unique concepts to stuff into the sequel that made it made for a lesser successor and led him to decline directing any future sequels in the MCU.
Whedon's run on Avengers: Age of Ultron clearly left him feeling a little sour, though it's surprising that, according to Fisher, his frustrations boiled over as much as they did to directly impact the script for the first live action Justice League movie. Based on Fisher's ending comments, it seems that the Cyborg actor may be willing to reconcile with Whedon if the director can get a handle on his own personal issues and properly apologize for the trouble that he's caused.
Whedon doesn't have any upcoming projects on the way. Fisher will be seen next in the Snyder Cut of Justice League when it premieres on HBO Max in March 2021.
