Metallo was supposed to be in BvS

[The Laughing Fish]

This is old news, but I didn't know anything about it till now and I haven't seen anybody on this forum talking about it either.

Nearly two years ago, a concept artist called Rob McKinnon shared this image of the iconic Superman villain Metallo - who was apparently supposed to appear in BvS.




https://www.flickeringmyth.com/2018/03/batman-v-superman-dawn-justice-concept-art-shows-unused-metallo-design/
https://twitter.com/DCFUnited/status/971043510160896002

Up until now, I always thought that any reference to Metallo was intended to be an Easter egg reference and nothing more. The Easter egg I'm talking about refers to Emmet Vale - the mad scientist who created him - making a cameo. He appeared in the scene where he discovered Kryptonite during an investigation of the World Engine wreckage in the Atlantic Ocean. Ralph Lister is credited for playing the character on IMDB.




If I try my hardest to read too much into the film is as it is, I could try and say Batman serving as an antagonist during his tussle with Superman, particularly for his use with the Kryptonite weapons, embodies the hatred that Metallo has for Kal-El. But that's beside the point of what I'm really discussing here.

So if Metallo was originally going to be in BvS, how did he fit in? If this anonymous source is to be believed, removing the character had a HUGE impact on the entire film:

It was going to be a different film than the one we got. Batman was always there, but originally... Corbos, a victim who suffered from the Black Zero Event was going to be the upfront villain, who is later turned into Metallo by Lex (official concept arts of Metallo available online). It had significantly different second and third acts. No Doomsday. All the finance/funding required for the DCEU ($1B) is made successful through the addition of RatPac. It enters into production in late 2014 and something happens.

Influx of leaks coming out from Geoff John's office. Entire script is leaked to Marvel and that's how Civil War was born. (Ever notice the striking similarities between the two films and even be slightly suspicious how "coincidental" it was all? Billionaire vs Boyscout - Strategically won but morally lost, Govt. and Media witch hunting, Villain pulling the strings from behind, Prominence of Mothers, African supporting characters, Bomb blasts pushing heroes etc. Russos even admit in an interview during the release that CW was greenlit only after BVS, little did fans know what happened.)

After learning that the script is out, Batman v Superman gets delayed by a year. Zack Snyder tightens the crew. WB loses a lot of momentum and months are wasted on rewrites. Meanwhile, Marvel scraps its initial idea for CA3 and cribs the DC script to create Civil War. WB and Zack decide to raise the stakes. And that is how Doomsday was born. Corbos is turned into a supporting character - Wallace Keefe. All these changes and rewrites are happening along with the production simultaneously (also reported by a notorious "blogger"). More leaks start coming out from Geoff Johns' office, including the news about Doomsday (remember who leaked this news first? Which "notorious" blogger?). Marvel then announces that CW would release on the same date as BVS (an even lower move after getting their hands on the script). WB changes the release date again for the third time. Gradually, WB/DC gets divided into two factions fighting over control over DCEU. In the meantime, DOJ finishes production. Bloggers do what they were told to do. BVS:DOJ is officially rated R with 3 hour duration. Zack is promised with the Ultimate Cut release and is ordered to cut 30 mins of the film and secure PG 13 rating.

BVS releases to disastrous reviews. Time Warner pressures WB to fire Zack Snyder. Kevin Tsujihara refuses and instead promotes Geoff Johns and Jon Berg to oversee the DCEU. (Later, on the original release date of Batman v Superman, Civil War releases to critical acclaim.)

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/DCEUleaks/comments/8ohj5c/bts_of_dceu_what_actually_happened_during_bvs_ss/

This sounds insane, but then again, so were the JL reshoots and the circumstances surrounding it. It's definitely true that the similarities between BvS and Civil War are too similar to be a coincidence, as well as the Russo brothers did go on record to confirm Civil War got made because of BvS. Copycatting (or borderline plagiarism, rather) in Hollywood does have a history. For example, when Tom Hanks was initially unavailable to star in Big, studios around the industry became aware of the story about a kid suddenly transforming into an adult. All these similar movies got made before Big was produced and released in 1988.

If anybody is confused about the sentence "bloggers do what they were told to do", a Twitter user going by the name vinaldo7 claims Geoff Johns has connections to the pop culture blogging community and used his influence to get them to write scathing reviews of BvS, in order to gain control of the DCEU. For what it's worth, this user is a member of the The Film Exiles podcast, who were the first to break the news that Ray Porter was cast to play Darkseid in Zack Snyder's Justice League.

https://twitter.com/vinaldo7/status/1023598329417084928

Looking back, it appears that Reddit post has paraphrased what was said in that Twitter thread.

All of this is going down a rabbit hole, I admit. I'm not sure what to think of the possible idea of Metallo getting scrapped and replaced by Wallace Keefe and Doomsday Zod's body getting reanimated into Doomsday via an Kryptonian ritual feels too organic for it considered to be a rewrite. But what do I know? I have no clue what happened behind the scenes.

But if what Geoff Johns did to BvS is true then his involvement in the DCEU is even more insidious than I thought. Any thoughts?

[The Laughing Fish]

Wow, if the following screenshots aren't a damning endorsement of how poorly regarded Johns is, then I don't know what to say.





Source: https://twitter.com/clayenos/status/967134001906380800

As a reminder who Clay Enos is, he is a prominent photographer who works on DCEU movies. The fact he supports the assertion that Johns is a traitor...maybe there is more to the story than just JL getting sabotaged. If not, it still doesn't change the fact that corporate politics and greed played a hand in sabotaging the whole franchise. It's shocking stuff.

[thecolorsblend]

It basically looks like Geoff Johns is the major culprit. Sure, he had help. But virtually none of this would've happened if not for him gaining access and power.

As far as creative forces go, it's becoming easier and easier to lump Geoff Johns into the same basic category as JJ Abrams: talented but not so creative as to be able to create totally new ideas and concepts out of whole cloth; when push comes to shove, this type will always badly homage the past in a way that damages both the past and the new work being produced.

Johns has written some good stories. But his biggest successes appear to be team efforts which heavily depend upon his collaborator's new ideas mixed with Johns boner for the past.

There's also a bit of entitlement going on here, where Johns wants certain of his ideas (Flashpoint, Blackest Night, etc) to become not just canon but the ONLY canon. Unfortunately, history shows that the more involved Johns gets with a DC movie, the worse the final product ultimately becomes. It's one thing for Geoff Johns to be a snake with a better idea. But being a snake with demonstrably worse ideas is just unbearable.

[The Laughing Fish]

I need to correct something here - this particular concept art was NOT created by Rob McKinnon. It was created by another artist called Kelton Cram. Here is another version of this character design without the body suit.



Source: https://www.artstation.com/kelton-cram

McKinnon drew the first concept art I shared; the one that shows Metallo wearing that over-exaggerated hybrid military/jet pack suit armed with machine-guns laced with Kryptonite.

If you compare Kelton Cram's concept art and this picture of Wallace Keefe, the character in the art does bear a resemblance to Scoot McNairy.



I get the feeling McNairy was always going to be Metallo but then compromises had to be made, and that's when the role of Wallace Keefe was born.

Now that we know Metallo was originally the second villain planned for BvS, this is what I think was planned: after Emmet Vale discovers the Kryptonite and sends it to LexCorp as he does in the movie, Lex Luthor begins to pull the strings on Corbos (curiously not named John Corben like in the comics, but whatever) and promises him the chance to get revenge on Superman over the Metropolis incident. Corbos, driven with hatred and grief because of the disability he suffers following the Black Zero attacks, agrees to become a LexCorp test subject in exchange. As you can see with the cybernetic implants installed on his body shown in Kelton Cram's concept art, it appears his body would retrofit together with that humongous armor, with amplified superhuman strength. If you look carefully in McKinnon's concept art, you can see the LexCorp logo imprinted on Metallo's right amputated lap.



I guess the reason why they initially opted a radical design for Metallo is because the character, more or less, kinda resembles James Cameron's Terminator and they didn't want to be accused of being derivative. But then again, there's no guarantee that these were final character designs, so it could be possible the artists were brainstorming for ideas before settling for a finished concept.

If Metallo's story got developed into Wallace Keefe, it makes me wonder how much of those original plans made it through the rewrites. Maybe the vandalising of Superman's statue in Heroes Park was there from the start. Was the whole Capitol bombing planned in the original script? If so, it would've added an extra dimension to Lex shaming Superman. Lex would've not only used Corbos's lead-covered wheelchair to set Superman up to fail, but to incite Corbos's hatred of him even further, and that's when his transformation into Metallo begins. I'm under the impression that the Batman stuff was always planned from the beginning and remained unchanged, so I'd be inclined to believe that Metallo would be Luthor's back-up plan, just in case Batman failed to kill Superman. It all depends on how much did the original material got changed in the rewrites. Until the day comes when that original draft leaks online, we'll never know. I'm fine with BvS as it is, but I'll forever be curious to know what might've been.

It basically looks like Geoff Johns is the major culprit. Sure, he had help. But virtually none of this would've happened if not for him gaining access and power.

I still blame Warner Butchers more. Yes, Johns was certainly a perpetrator by the sound of it, and I'm in no way trying to excuse him. Far from it. But the studio endorsed such misconduct in the first place, and if it's true that Johns was a saboteur then they're culpable for letting a petty, entitled man ruin their biggest film properties.

As a matter of fact, I'm convinced Warner haven't learned anything because despite Johns is no longer in charge of DC Films, he is STILL involved in the production. Remember, he has a story credit for Aquaman, and he co-wrote the story AND screenplay with Patty Jenkins for Wonder Woman 1984: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7126948/fullcredits

If WW84 succeeds, I expect the praise will go to Jenkins because she's a media darling at the moment. But if it fails, I expect disgruntled DCEU fans to take their anger out on Johns once more. I don't care either way, however. All I know is I was invested and ready for whatever the original plans were made for the DCEU, and I'd be more than willing to take the good and the bad.

Now it's all thrown in the bin, all we can do is lament at all the missed opportunities. It's bad enough that a lot of actors got their scenes cut from JL, it's even worse to know a lot of them lost the chance to play recurring roles as Apokolips characters, Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern, and now, possibly Superman villains.



Sighs. I'll say it once more: just give me the Justice League movie that Snyder got to make, and that's it. I'm done.

[The Laughing Fish]

It's one thing for Geoff Johns to be a snake with a better idea. But being a snake with demonstrably worse ideas is just unbearable.

That snake Johns may have struck again. Doesn't this Rook guy look familiar to you?

https://www.instagram.com/p/CyTeZJnOu4p/?img_index=1

On one hand, Jason Fabok appears to claim ownership of this comic. He claims these characters were based on old sketches from fourteen years ago.

On the other hand, the resemblance to the Knightmare Batman is too strong. Replace the talon-looking head and put on the Batfleck bat symbol, and that's Knightmare Batman.



The description of the "winged scavengers" sounds very similar to the Parademons too.

I would've given the benefit of the doubt to Johns and Fabok if I hadn't known what a sabotaging scumbag Johns turned out to be. And what does that say about Fabok and co continuing to work with somebody so shady, to say the least?