Justice League: Mortal is a cancelled film that would have been the film introduction of the classic DC Comics team of the same name and was set to be directed by Aussie director George Miller and release in 2009. The story was loosely based off the comic book storylines JLA: Tower of Babel, OMAC Project, and Superman: Sacrifice.
The film got so far into production that entire cast and crew was in Sydney, Australia preparing to start filming in January 2008 in anticipation of a February start. A series of Disaster Dominoes ensued that caused Warner Bros. to cancel the project not too long thereafter. WB hired married couple Kieran and Michele Mulroney to write the script but they weren't able to finish it before the writers' strike that occurred from November 2007 to February 2008 so WB decided to put the film on hold in January. The script just needed some minor work so they had hoped to film in April. The financial incentives package that the Australian government had given the project to film there fell through at the last minute so WB had to hastily find a new studio to film it in. They had settled on Vancouver, Canada but Miller insisted on trying to come to a compromise with the Australian government, further delaying the project. At that point, WB decided that filming would be pushed back until at least July. WB also had to let the entire cast out of their contracts and would have had to go through the process of re-casting everyone. Later in 2008, the global economic crash happened and The Dark Knight became an unexpected billion-dollar smash, further throwing the project's future into chaos. The former put the financing of the film's $220 million dollar price tag into question and after the latter's success, WB decided that they didn't want two concurrent film versions of Batman. By the Fall, WB had officially cancelled the project, deciding to focus on developing new solo movies while also allowing Christopher Nolan to finish the The Dark Knight Trilogy on his own terms.
The Justice League would have consisted of D. J. Cotrona as Superman/Clark Kent, Armie Hammer as Batman/Bruce Wayne, Megan Gale as Wonder Woman/Diana of Themyscira, rapper/actor Common as the John Stewart version of Green Lantern, and Adam Brody as the Barry Allen version of The Flash. There would have also been versions of Aquaman and Martian Manhunter introduced to join the team in the sequel(s). The villains were going to be Maxwell Lord played by Jay Baruchel and Teresa Palmer as Talia al Ghul. Most of the supporting cast hadn't been announced but it's known that Zoe Kazan was going to play the Flash's wife, Iris West, and the late Anton Yelchin had been cast as their nephew, Wally West.
The script was leaked online
in August 2013, and a Justice League film would eventually be released in November 2017, followed by a director's cut in 2021.
Compare Justice League 2, another cancelled Justice League of America adaptation.
Justice League: Mortal would have provided examples of:
- And the Adventure Continues: The script ends with the newly-formed Justice League heading off to confront Starro.
- Ascended Fanboy: Despite being a hero himself, Flash is a rookie who notably hasn't met any of the other heroes yet, and is a major fan of all them, especially Wonder Woman and Superman, as is elated to work with them.
- Big Bad Ensemble: Played With. At first Maxwell and Talia seem to be the co-villains and main antagonists of the film, but it's later revealed Maxwell was playing Talia all along, making him the true Big Bad.
- Big Eater: Barry has to eat a lot thanks to his fast metabolism, which is played as a joke several times, with the other heroes being weirded out by it.
- Both Sides Have a Point: While Batman's contingency plans are what allows Maxwell Lord to attack the Justice League, his mind control powers are ironically the exact kind of situation he created them for in the first place. After being freed from Lord's control and seeing the damage he caused, Superman admits that Batman might have been Properly Paranoid after all.
- Buffy Speak: At one point, Barry tells Diana to use her "rope-thingy"; he means her lasso.
- Control Freak: This story takes a lot of inspiration from the Tower of Babel storyline and therefore would have shown Batman at his worst in this aspect. He created Brother Eye to take out any meta-human at any time because he's afraid of them snapping and taking over the world.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: This version of Maxwell was a fast-food executive who was putting nanobots in the food to get people addicted.
- Corrupted Contingency: Batman's plans to take down the other heroes, and well as his satellite Brother Eye get comprised by Talia and Maxwell, leading to the events of the film.
- Dating Catwoman: The Batman/Talia romance was a big aspect of the story. In the backstory, she teamed up with Batman to take her dad, Ra's Al Ghul, down out of love for him. He broke up with her later.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Talia dies in Batman's arms while they both apologize for not being the person the other one needed.
- Everyone Meets Everyone: Downplayed. Many of the other heroes knew or at least heard of each other, but they never worked together as a team until the events of the film, which causes them to form the Justice League.
- Fighting Your Friend: Maxwell uses his Mind Control powers to take control of Superman and unleashes him against Wonder Woman.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In the end, Barry sacrifices himself to destroy ULTRA OMAC. Wally ends up succeeding him as the Flash.
- Neutral Female: While Talia is horrified about Maxwell's reception and opposes him killing Batman, she makes no real move to assist either during the fight.
- Hormone-Addled Teenager: Teen Wally has a hard time not getting Distracted by the Sexy when being near Wonder Woman, much to Barry and Diana's amusement.
- In Medias Res: The film would have started with the League attending Barry's funeral even though he doesn't die until the climax.
- Kid Hero: Wally West, who's still a teen but becomes the second Flash during the events of the film.
- A Lady on Each Arm: Maxwell Lord is introduced at Bruce's birthday party, having one beautiful one in each of his arms.
- Legacy Character:
- After Barry's Heroic Sacrifice, his nephew Wally West inherits the mantle and becomes the second Flash.
- It's implied that Hal Jordon has been killed in this universe and that John Stewart succeed him in being Earth's Green Lantern.
- Meta Casting: Armie Hammer would have been the first actor who came from an incredibly wealthy family to play Batman.
- More than Mind Control: Maxwell used his Mind Control powers on Talia to increase her resentment towards Batman and convince her to partner up with him.
- Nanomachines: Maxwell uses nanomachine technology created by the OMAC Project for most of his evil plan, including hacking Batman's batcave and taking control of Brother Eye.
- Power Perversion Potential: At one point, Barry uses his vibration powers to quite literally pass through Iris while they are having sex.
- Psychic Nosebleed: When Maxwell uses his psychic powers, his nose starts to bleed.
- Race Lift: Talia, who's mixed Chinese/Arab, was to be played by the blonde and blue-eyed Teresa Palmer. The script describes her as "exotic" and "from some other country, some other world, almost".
- Red Right Hand: Aquaman lost one of his hands, and replaced it with a magical hand made out of water.
- Revenge: Revenge is the motivation for both antagonists. Maxwell is out to get the JL because no one saved him from the freak accident that gave him his Mind Control powers. Talia wants revenge on Batman for abandoning her after she betrayed her own father for his sake.
- Sexy Discretion Shot: A flashback of Batman's love affair with Talia ends with both undressing and falling onto bed, and then the scene fades away.
- Sole Survivor: Maxwell is the only survivor of the experiments birthed from the OMAC Project.
- Superhero Movie Villains Die: Batman kills Maxwell by snapping his neck and Talia dies when Brother Eye takes over her body and turns it into its avatar, with her perishing after it gets defeated.
- Superheroes Stay Single: Most of the cast's iconic Love Interests are missing or just alluded to existing. Batman's many love affairs are mentioned (with his romance with Talia being an important part of the film), but his hero life keeps him from being truly committed. This is only Averted with the Flash, as Barry and Iris are Happily Married and her being a major supporting character.
- Supermodel Strut: When Talia shows up at Bruce's birthday party, the script stresses how she's doing a "slow, stately, sexy walk" and she makes her way to Bruce, with him being enthralled by the sight and the guests even moving out of the way of her strut.
- Thou Shalt Not Kill: All of the heroes are opposed to take a human's life, even that of a villain. Maxwell openly taunts Wonder Woman about his, saying all she needs to do to free Superman of his mind control is kill him, but she adamantly refuses to do. Batman on the other hand, is perfectly willing to snap his neck, much to the horror of the other heroes. This is an ironic role reversal to the comics Batman is usually the one most opposed to killing, while Wonder Woman is the most willing.
- Unwilling Roboticisation: Many of the world's elite are forcibly turned into OMAC due to Maxwell feeding them nanomachines. Talia is also absorbed by Brother Eye, with her body turning metallic and becoming its avatar.
- The Vamp: Talia managed to get access to Batman's files by seducing him, and injecting nanomachines into his body via a kiss.
- Voice of the Legion: After Brother Eye takes over Talia's body, it starts talking with both her and Maxwell's voice.
- What the Hell, Hero?: As is common for Tower of Babel adaptations, the other heroes are quite outraged at Batman not trusting them and designing counter-measures to fight them. It doesn't help he's not apologetic about it, he's only sorry it fell into enemy hands. Wonder Woman actually ends up punching him mid-explanation.
- Woman Scorned: Talia resents Batman for breaking up with her after she betrayed her father for him. Maxwell took advantage of this resentment and increased it with his powers to make her his partner in his Evil Plan.
