How We Get To See Jimmy Olsen Again In Zack Snyder's Justice League
As any Superman fan worth their weight in salt can tell you, Jimmy Olsen is an integral member of the comic book character's history. But that didn't stop Zack Snyder from killing off the DC Extended Universe's version of the character during the opening moments of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Portrayed by Michael Cassidy, who previously appeared on Smallville as the new editor of The Daily Planet in the show's seventh season, the character is a CIA operative posing as a photographer during Lois Lane's (Amy Adams) trip to Africa. He was outed as being CIA and shot in the head in front of a shocked Lois.
At the time, Snyder told Entertainment Weekly that the choice to kill Olsen was made because they didn't have room for the character, but they still wanted to have fun with him. And it seems that Snyder continued to have a bit of fun with the character in Zack Snyder's Justice League.
Marc McClure, who played Jimmy Olsen in the Christopher Reeve films, is in the Snyder Cut
Although Cassidy doesn't return as Jimmy Olsen in Zack Snyder's Justice League, someone who previously portrayed the character does make an appearance. After Superman's (Henry Cavill) revival doesn't go as planned, Cyborg (Ray Fisher) saves a cop from a flying car. The cop in question is portrayed by actor Marc McClure. Now, if that name doesn't mean anything to you, you might want to brush up on your Superman history, because McClure portrayed Olsen in all of Christopher Reeve's Superman films, as well as in Supergirl, the spinoff led by Helen Slater.
The scene wasn't in the theatrical release of the film, but McClure did appear in it as well. He portrayed a police officer at Iron Heights, the famous DC penitentiary, when Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) visited his father. According to McClure, Geoff Johns, who produced Justice League and was an executive for DC until 2018, asked him to return during reshoots after his initial cameo was cut to ensure that he still appeared in the film. Snyder didn't use that scene in his cut and instead restored the original cameo.