Though there aren’t any details yet, a virtual table read of George Miller’s aborted ‘Justice League: Mortal’ will be held for charity. Along with ‘Superman Lives’/’Superman: Flyby’, ‘Batman Unchained’, and ‘Super Max’ (starring Green Arrow), this is one of those potentially great DC Comics movies that never got made, although its basic plot has been public knowledge for years now.
In 2015, filmmaker Ryan Unicomb announced plans for a documentary that would delve deep into this unmade film, but it failed to materialize. Earlier this year, Unicomb announced that production on the doc would resume, under a new title, ‘Seven Friends: George Miller’s Justice League’. But until then, this table read may suffice if you’ve ever had any questions about this project.
Voice performer Shannon Farnon teased the table read with a post on her Facebook page:
‘Justice League: Mortal’ was on the verge of filming in Australia in 2007, when a writers’ strike derailed it. Even though the cast had been gathered and sets had been built, Warner Brothers opted to scrap the project entirely. ‘Mortal’ had been envisioned as an attempt to compete with the popular Marvel Cinematic Universe, but WB decided to work backward and release a team-up movie first to be followed with solo pictures. These movies would have overlapped with the Christopher Nolan ‘Dark Knight’ trilogy, but WB seemed fine with that.
After scrapping ‘Mortal’, WB decided to emulate Marvel and release solo movies first. The first was ‘Green Lantern’. That was also the last film in this particular plan.
None of the participants of this table read were part of the original cast of ‘Justice League: Mortal’, but some should be recognizable to super fans. Farnon was the voice of Wonder Woman on the ABC/Hanna-Barbera cartoon ‘Super Friends’ from 1973-1983. Eugene Brave Rock, who is voicing Superman, appeared in the ‘Wonder Woman’ movie. Michael Gray, who is voicing The Flash, portrayed Billy Batson on the 1970s ‘Shazam!’ live-action series. Tim Russ is best known for playing Tuvok on ‘Star Trek: Voyager’, but he has appeared on ‘Supergirl’ and DC Universe’s ‘Swamp Thing’.
Narrator Andy Mangels is an author, journalist, and comic book and animation historian, with an especially keen expertise in all things Wonder Woman. He can be seen in multiple DVD bonus features, and recently wrote the ‘Wonder Woman ’77’ comic book series, based on the Lynda Carter TV series, including the crossover mini ‘Wonder Woman ’77 Meets the Bionic Woman’.
The plot of ‘Justice League: Mortal’ would have borrowed from the ‘Infinite Crisis’ comic book event and the ‘Justice League’ animated series. Armie Hammer, who was an unknown at the time, would have played Batman. D.J. Cotrona was cast as Superman, while ‘The O.C.’s Adam Brody would have played The Flash/Barry Allen. Both would later play adult superheroes in ‘Shazam!’ as the older versions of Pedro (Jovan Armand) and Freddy (Jack Dylan Grazer), respectively. Megan Gale, who would have played Wonder Woman, and Hugh Keays-Byrne, The Martian Manhunter, later worked with Miller on ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’. She played The Valkyrie, while he portrayed Immortan Joe.
The film’s main villain would have been Maxwell Lord, played by Jay Baruchel. The cast would have also included Teresa Palmer as Talia al Ghul, Zoe Kazan as Iris Allen, Santiago Cabrera as Aquaman, Common as John Stewart/Green Lantern, and Anton Yelchin as The Flash/Wally West. Brody’s Barry Allen was to have died in this movie, to be succeeded by his sidekick, Wally.
Check back for details as they emerge!
