Let's take a break from the news of destruction and controversy and look at yet another bit of entertainment history. In our current era of four superhero movies a year (if not more), the concept of a team-up movie is commonplace. However, years before The Avengers, there was talks on a Superman vs. Batman film, and when that fell through, Warner Brothers and DC Comics looked to doing a Justice League movie. The film had a troubled production, but was only a matter of months before filming when they pulled the plug and the film disappeared into the void of unproduced screenplays. With a cast of rising stars and a famed director/writer, how did this project even get canceled? Well, it's a lot more complicated than it seems.

In the early 2000s, DC Comics and film were not really good friends. Years prior, Batman and Robin came out and showed how not to do a superhero movie. The Superman Lives project fell apart by the turn of the millennium. After several failed attempts at rebooting Batman and Superman in film, Warner Brothers hired Avika Goldsman to write a first draft script for amovie that would put the two heroes in conflict with each other in 2001, after a successful pitch from Andrew Kevin Walker. The script, which can be found online, is set years into the careers of the title heroes - Bruce Wayne has long retired from being Batman after the deaths of several sidekicks/partners (including Dick Grayson and Alfred) as well as the Joker. The film starts with him getting married, with Clark Kent as his best man – Clark himself has just finished a divorce from Lois Lane. During the Wayne honeymoon, the Joker returns to kill Bruce's wife, setting him back into the cape and cowl. Superman attempts to calm him and help, but Batman blames the Man of Steel for the death, leading to the big fight – the twist is that Lex Luthor was behind it all, and upon discovering this, Batman and Superman must work together to stop him. The script was put through, Wolfgang Petersen was hired as director and casting began. Among the actors auditioned were Christian Bale for the role of Batman (which he later played in the Dark Knight trilogy) and Josh Hartnett as Superman. However, the studio was also working on a solo Superman film titled Superman: Flyby, and upon receiving a new script from then-relatively unknown writer J.J. Abrams, Batman vs Superman was canceled and focus was switched to solo films. It should be noted that among the actors who auditioned for the starring role in Flyby was Henry Cavill, who would later be considered for Superman Returns and finally getting the part in 2011 for the then-upcoming Man of Steel and the following DCEU films.

After the successes of Batman Begins and Superman Returns, Warner Brothers went back to looking into making a crossover – but due to contracts and issues over pay, the intention was to recast Batman and Superman. In 2007, they hired Kevin and Michele Mulroney to write the script, titled Justice League: Mortal and in September of that year, hired George Miller, the director and writer of the Mad Max series, to direct the film. The script for Justice League: Mortal is also available online – It begins with the first half of a funeral sequence, then cuts back in time to the days beforehand. The story is told from the point of view of Barry Allen, also known as the Flash. He is portrayed as a newcomer to the superhero world, wherein the Justice League has already formed, consisting of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter. Suddenly, the team is being attacked by OMAC machines, using hacked files from Batman's database to exploit weaknesses in the heroes. The team goes against the mastermind, Maxwell Lord – and in an homage to the 1986 Crisis on Infinite Earths, the Flash sacrifices himself to destroy Lord and save the world, revealing that the funeral is for Barry. In the final moments, Wally West takes up the mantle of the Flash alongside the Justice League.

Everything was approved, and casting began. Miller wanted to use a cast of unknowns or television actors, contrary to the studio plans – but they were more than willing to allow it due to the name of the director. Among the cast was D.J. Cotrona, Armie Hammer (who starred opposite Henry Cavill in The Man from UNCLE) Santiago Caberera, Adam Brody, and the rapper Common were cast as Superman, Batman, Aquaman, Flash, and Green Lantern respectively. Hugh Keayes-Bryne, a longtime collaborator with Miller, was cast as Martian Manhunter, and Megan Gale took the part of Wonder Woman – both actors would later work with Miller on Mad Max: Fury Road. Costume designs and concept art were commissioned, and Armie Hammer reportedly tried on several Batman costumes. The only photographs to come out of these tests and design phases was of Megan Gale's Wonder Woman and a makeup design for Martian Manhunter. Concept art of Aquaman's costume and several location/shot designs were leaked online. Slowly, the rest of the cast was filled out, including Jay Baruchel in the villain role of Maxwell Lord, Teresa Palmer as Batman's old flame Talia al Ghul, and Zoe Kazan as Iris West, girlfriend of the Flash and aunt to Wally West. A release date was set for Winter 2009 – which would have placed it a year after Iron Man and The Dark Knight, and eight years before the upcoming Justice League.

However, after casting, the production began to have several problems. The plan was not to release solo films beforehand, but to spin them off of the team-up movie. WETA was hired to build props, makeup, and do special effects, having just recently finished working on the famed Lord of the Rings trilogy. As stated earlier, costumes were tried on, and a table read was held. As George Miller hates flying, Warner Brothers was willing to film the movie in Australia (likely due to the good stories from production crews on the Star Wars prequels). Then, the Writer's Guild Strike of 2008-2009 came through and production came to a screeching halt. While the script was finished, they would be unable to do much rewriting/reworking during filming due to legalities over writing credits and requirements for the studio. Meanwhile, the studio was negotiating with the Australian government over the filming – the country had increased the tax rates for productions, and WB was not willing to pay more than what the location was worth. By some accounts, it was a matter of days, by others it was a few months, but the costs ran too high and Warner Brothers pushed the date back, but that was simply a courtesy. The film was considered postponed by late 2007, and canceled in 2008, joining the ranks of unproduced DC Comics movies. Rumors say that the studio stopped production due to not wanting several different series with different actors in the same roles - had this movie been released, there would be three actors playing Superman in three separate, unconnected live-action projects – Brandon Routh in Superman Returns and the also-canceled sequel also due out in 2009, and Tom Welling in Smallville.

Since then, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become one of the most successful film franchises in history. DC finished the Dark Knight trilogy, and launched their own movie universe, dubbed the DC Extended Universe, beginning with Man of Steel in 2013. A documentary about the production of Justice League: Mortal is in development, not like The Death of Superman Lives. Unlike Marvel, the DC television shows such as The Flash and Gotham are not part of the film canon, but thanks to the multiverse storyline on The Flash, DC has opened the door for presenting a massive multiverse of different interpretations and stories – possibly even a Crisis movie/TV crossover. DC has faced some critical and financial failures, with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, both of which lost money due to advertising costs and rough reviews. Right now, they are gearing up to release Wonder Woman, the first post-Iron Man female-led superhero movie – and if the early reactions are true, DC has found their standing. Maybe it was studio control that killed Justice League: Mortal and made their previous DCEU releases studio-edited, not director-made. Maybe it just was doing too much too early. This November, we are finally getting a Justice League film, to be directed by Zack Snyder, with post-production handled by Joss Whedon (who also directed the first two Avengers movies), and George Miller has expressed interest in doing a new superhero film. With the news and world we live in, escapism is not a bad thing. And when that escapism is heroes saving the world, it gives us something to aspire for – to band together for the good of humanity.