The recent release of Zack Snyder's Justice League is the culmination of three years of relentless campaigning from fans of the "Snyder Cut" of Justice League. One of the new additions to the story is the inclusion of Martian Manhunter at the end of the movie when he flies down to have a chat with Bruce Wayne. In an interview with Esquire, Snyder revealed that the original plan had been for the scene to feature a Green Lantern until the studio stepped in.

"The last scene with Martian Manhunter, originally, I had shot it in England. And the dialogue was very similar, but it was supposed to be one of the Lanterns... And then the studio had told me I wasn't allowed to shoot anything. That there would be no film made of any kind. During production, that was a thing they insisted on. And I shot stuff anyway, of course, in my yard. And one of the things I shot was the Green Lantern scene. And then they asked me, when they saw the movie and saw that I put it in there, they'd take it out."

The Green Lantern series is a valuable property from DC Comics that Warner has attempted to cash in on in the past, with the ill-fated solo Green Lantern movie starring Ryan Reynolds. Now, the studio is set to debut a new television series based on the Green Lantern Corps that is already in development, which might be why they were so against Snyder offering a different vision for a live-action Green Lantern. According to the filmmaker, the situation got so serious he almost quit the project over the issue.

"I said that I would quit if they tried to take [the scene with Green Lantern] out. And I felt bad. 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. 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."

John Stewart was an important part of the Justice League Unlimited cartoons, and his presence in the Zack Snyder directed movie would have been welcomed by fans. Hopefully, the character will show up in the upcoming Green Lantern series instead.

Zack Snyder's Justice League stars Ben Affleck as Batman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Henry Cavill as Superman, Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Jason Momoa as Aquaman, Ezra Miller as The Flash, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jeremy Irons as Alfred Pennyworth, Diane Lane as Martha Kent, Ray Porter as Darkseid, Ciarán Hinds as Steppenwolf, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon. The film arrives on HBO Max on March 18. This news comes from Esquire.