Although the inclusion of Martian Manhunter in Zack Snyder's Justice League delighted many fans, the cameo reportedly surprised DC Films, and derailed its plans for the superhero.
According to Rolling Stone, Martian Manhunter never appeared in the script for the Snyder Cut, an edit intended to reflect the directors vision for 2017's Justice League, prior to his departure from production. "Blindsided," beleaguered DC Films President Walter Hamada reportedly demanded Snyder remove the two scenes featuring the hero, portrayed by Harry Lennix.
However, in the purported standoff that followed, unnamed sources contend the filmmaker threatened to cut other footage if he wasn't permitted to keep Martian Manhunter in the film. Rolling Stone notes Snyder denied the conflict occurred, and that he wouldn't have been able to delete footage anyway.
That said, Snyder did get his way, and not only regarding the Martian Manhunter cameo. The director's request for another $13 million to cover additional production costs was denied by Ann Sarnoff, then chairman of Warner Bros. But that decision was overruled by Jason Kilar, installed in 2020 as WarnerMedia CEO following AT&T's acquisition of Time Warner. Snyder got his $13 million, pushing the investment in the Snyder Cut to $73 million. Add marketing for the HBO Max release, and the overall budget inched past $100 million. The 2017 theatrical release, with a reported $300 million production budget, is estimated to have lost $60 million for Warner Bros.
Snyder's Planned Green Lantern Cameo Also Created a Problem
Snyder revealed in 2021, following the HBO Max release of the Snyder Cut, that the Martian Manhunter was originally written for another DC superhero. He later confirmed he had intended to use Green Lantern John Stewart, played by Wayne T. Carr, in the epilogue scene with Ben Affleck's Bruce Wayne. However, as with Martian Manhunter, that cameo ran into opposition from the studio.
The director shot the Green Lantern scene in his yard, without studio approval. When executives saw the footage, they demanded it be removed, which led Snyder to threaten to quit the project. "And I felt bad," he said. "The truth is I didn't want the fans to not have a movie, just based on that one stand that I was going to take."
"And the Green Lantern was John Stewart," Snyder continued in 2021. "And that was part of it too. I was like, I don't want to take a person of color out of this movie. I'm not going to do it. And, but then, but I felt like having Harry Lennix's Martian Manhunter at the end was, that was okay."
Source: Rolling Stone