Martian Manhunter Confirmed For The Justice League Snyder Cut
Even the most ardent fans will likely admit that the DC Extended Universe stumbled a bit out of the gate. After hitting its peak with 2017's Wonder Woman, things went downhill very quickly with Justice League, a massive flop with at the box office and in the eyes of critics everywhere. Even fans didn't like the film, blaming many of its issues on the mid-term loss of director Zack Snyder, who left the project in the midst of production due to a family tragedy. As the tale goes, after Justice League left Snyder's hands it was massively rewritten and reimagined by Warner Bros. and its new director, Joss Whedon, resulting in the almost universally disliked version that debuted in theaters.
Fans were not satisfied to leave it there. After a long campaign to discover just how much better Snyder would have done, the once-mythic Snyder Cut is now in post-production, and set to release on HBO Max in March. This isn't your granny's director's cut, either. Zack Snyder's Justice League will feature new reshoots making use of the original cast and additional characters that were never in the original film, including Jared Leto's Joker with a new look, the villain Darkseid, and the now-confirmed Martian Manhunter.
That last one will be played by someone familiar to anyone who's seen Man of Steel or Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, as the alien has been hiding on Earth all along.
General Swanwick will reveal himself as Martian Manhunter
Zack Snyder kicked off the DCEU with his films Man of Steel and Batman v Superman, in which Superman (Henry Cavill) works with the United States military to defeat the likes of General Zod and Doomsday. He finds an ally in General Calvin Swanwick, played by Harry Lennix, who later becomes the Secretary of Defense. Little does Superman know, however, Swanwick is just as alien as he is.
Lennix confirmed that his character is the shape-shifting Martian Manhunter, a telepathic alien from the DC comics named J'onn J'onzz. In an interview with Collider, Lennix said he didn't know Swanwick's true identity until Justice League started filming, which was well after his first two DCEU appearances. Originally, the green-skinned Martian Manhunter was meant to appear in Justice League, so Snyder has been eagerly teasing the inclusion of J'onzz in the four-part Snyder Cut for some time now.
As a fan favorite, Martian Manhunter will certainly be an exciting addition to Zack Snyder's Justice League, but only time will tell if these changes will be enough to redeem the Justice League. At the very least, fans think the trailer looks promising.