It’s without a doubt, Warner Bros. made decisions to undercut Zack Snyder’s vision for Justice League. What you may not know is the big one – hiring Joss Whedon to finish the film after Snyder took his leave – was a move by Geoff Johns specifically to “screw” Snyder if a new scoop is to be believed.
Grace Randolph said in a recent video Johns was instrumental in bringing Whedon on and it was behind Snyder’s back, adding how disliked Johns is behind the scenes, despite still coming first in credits as a producer.
Related – Rumor: Wonder Woman Will Replace Superman in the DCEU Starting with Wonder Woman 1984
She stated:
“Inexplicably, Geoff Johns is still one of the producers on the movie. He is listed first. Even though he is widely disliked at Warner Bros. In fact I can tell you, Johns is pretty much the one who was responsible for Zack Snyder getting replaced by Joss Whedon. He did it behind his back. That’s all I’ll tell you today. It’s really bad.”
(The bolded text was added for emphasis by Cosmic Book News.) Replacing Zack Snyder happened when Geoff Johns was Co-President and Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment “for a hot minute.”
Related: Joss Whedon Reveals the Truth About Why He Left Batgirl
Randolph then added Johns’ unpopularity is why he was “banished” off Birds of Prey and sent to DC Universe to produce original programming. Apparently, he’s not very good at that either:
“So anyway, Geoff Johns is pretty much disliked by everybody. I hear Jim Lee is beloved, so he’s great… but Geoff Johns was banished from [Birds of Prey] and he was the head of the DCEU for a hot minute, and that is what allowed him to do that to Zack Snyder, but everybody hated him and so he got banished to the DC Universe streaming service, and maybe he will redeem himself with Stargirl, which I hear is massively delayed because I hear he doesn’t know how to be a showrunner, but it is coming, maybe it will turn out great… Even if Stargirl doesn’t work out, he still has Batgirl…”
Zack Snyder refuses to recognize Justice League as it is and still touts his unfettered cut and plans for the sequel, as he did on a recent Vero live-stream:
“You know what, I think they should someday make a sequel to this movie some day. That would be amazing. That would really be something else. Yeah. Want to know what happens to these guys. I mean… don’t they eventually… I don’t know… Form some…”
Many believe the director is finishing his Justice League – the Snyder Cut – and readying it for release. Rumors say it will get released on HBO Max but that seems fairly unlikely if Snyder’s relationship with Warner Bros. is so chilly he won’t acknowledge their finished product.
Related: Former DC Entertainment Pres. Diane Nelson: Geoff Johns is “No Buddy of Mine”
Geoff Johns’ status as a divisive figure came to light upon the release of Joker. Former DC Co-President Diane Nelson was criticized for defending the violence in the Oscar winner and not sticking up for Zack Snyder.
Charged with being buddies with Johns on Twitter, she flatly replied “He’s no buddy of mine” – strongly indicating the two aren’t close and may never have been.
“He’s no buddy of mine.”
— Diane Nelson (@dewnelson1) September 18, 2019
Nelson was considered more closely aligned with disgraced exec Kevin Tsujihara before stepping down. She was also Head of Content Operations at Quibi until last November.
As Grace Randolph noted, Geoff Johns’ latest project is Stargirl, coming to DC Universe and The CW in May.