The DCEU Lex Luthor, Jesse Eisenberg, has been told Justice League 2 “probably isn’t happening.”
The news isn’t that surprising as Warner Bros. moves away from the big Zack Snyder shared DC cinematic universe.
MTV’s Josh Horowitz tweeted, “Today I think I broke the news to Jesse Eisenberg that despite it being listed on his IMDB, Justice League part 2 probably isn’t happening.”
Horowitz didn’t expand upon the details, but we can guess he spoke to Jesse Eisenberg in an interview or for his podcast where the topic of Justice League 2 came up, with possibly Eisenberg thinking that it may happen.
Interestingly enough, back in March saw Variety report that Ben Affleck will be back as Batman for Justice League 2, but it is thought the report is in error.
Justice League 2 is dead
Regarding WB moving away from a big shared cinematic universe, executives have let it be known they are concentrating on smaller character-developed films, most of which will be a lot cheaper (i.e. Birds of Prey, Joker). WB will also be developing movies around characters instead of connecting them to large Avengers-type movies (i.e. Aquaman, The Trench).
This past January saw the chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures Group, Toby Emmerich, offer: “We all feel like we’ve turned a corner now. We’re playing by the DC playbook, which is very different than the Marvel playbook. We are far less focused on a shared universe. We take it one movie at a time. Each movie is its own equation and own creative entity. If you had to say one thing about us, it’s that it always has to be about the directors.”
Aquaman and Shazam! producer Peter Safran also offered Justice League 2 isn’t coming any time soon when he recently said: “I think that when you’re making really strong standalone movies, there’s really no need to bring them together. You want to give these characters room to breathe and live, and tell their stories.”
Former WB head honcho Kevin Tsujihara also recently offered more of the same in February: “The universe isn’t as connected as we thought it was going to be five years ago. You’re seeing much more focus on individual experiences around individual characters. That’s not to say we won’t at some point come back to that notion of a more connected universe. But it feels like that’s the right strategy for us right now.”
Zack Snyder was developing Justice League 2 and 3
Regarding Justice League 2, Zack Snyder was actually developing a sequel to the Justice League movie and a part 3. Kevin Smith previously shared details:
“It was going to cosmic as they take the fight to Apocalypse, and New Genesis, presumably, but we know Apocalypse. The Green Lantern Corps was involved. Because do you remember that shot of Alfred going like, ‘Thank, God, you’re here. Let’s hope you’re not too late.’ And everyone was like, ‘Oh, that’s Superman.’ (because the S is the hope). A guy I met and talked to and worked on the set was like, ‘We had green lights that were flashing on Jeremy Irons to project a green glow.’ I said, ‘Why?’ Because it was Green Lantern. But then things changed in production.”
So they going to space and get defeated and Darkseid goes to Earth and levels it. So the vision that Batman had in Batman v Superman, where he saw the scorched Earth (Knightmare scene). that was going to be the entire third movie. The heroes last stand against Darkseid and the forces of Apocalypse. And then it went away. So it went from three movies to two to now just the one. There was so much of that movie we saw that was much better. They were like, ‘Look I was there for it.'”
In addition to plans for a Justice League 2 and 3, Zack Snyder’s DCEU included movies for Ben Affleck as Batman featuring Joe Manganiello as Deathstroke, and a Flash movie Snyder said was “better” than Flashpoint.
