Justice League : Rise of the Motherboxes

Bad Movies Made Less Bad Presents:
Snyder's main vision, but with some much needed humanity injected from the Whedon version.

Major Changes:

• A mainly ZSJL restructured edit that lets the story unfold more naturally, that tightens up ZSJL and adds as much of the best parts of JWJL. 
• More of JWJL Diana struggling with leadership

Editing Intent:

I took this edit on as it’s my most requested edit due to my other DCEU edits. I did my original DoJ Trilogy edits in hopes of the ZSJL release, and I couldn't be happier that it happened. As absolutely bloated as it was, I saw no need to rush to edit it. And legendary editors Gieferg, Spence, Krausdafr and BionicBob made amazing edits of their own. But as seems likely in this hobby with so many possible choices to make along the way, I never saw an edit quite the way I would cut it, and now it seemed time.

As always, I stayed true to my goal of editing movies - first and foremost for myself. I genuinely watch my edits repeatedly.

The goal was to try to use this movie to move these characters from the darker ZS origins, to end with the more positive, classic Justice League HEROIC archetypes I am more familiar with and fit better with the following DCEU movies.

This edit pushed my skills to new levels, as I wasn’t satisfied with the footage we got so I had to sometimes mix two shots together to get the result I needed. Dialogue rebuilt in many instances, and color correction throughout to integrate JWJL footage into the ZSJL, and the ZSJL color was brought up a little bit too to be less gloomy.

Cut List:

Intro:

• Credit intro FX to remove “Time Warner Media Company” for a more timeless feel.

• New “WB” and “DC” logos used from the ZSJL Trailer, upscaled and heavily slowed with Topaz

• Scene 1 – Battle at Themyscira

• base of ZSJL:

• - JWJL intro shot to Themyscira used over ZSJL for footage of the group riding to the stronghold.

• - New audio intro created beginning with horses running and then parts of “Ancient Lamentations”

• - Trimmed shots of Hippolyta entering stronghold to remove smiling strongwoman.

• - Removed some exposition from the dialogue before Step’s arrival

• ZSJL footage cut similar to JSJL for Hippolyta’s exit from the stronghold

• Hippolyta’s slide shortened

• Only one shot of Hippolyta looking back at the crumbling stronghold used

• Trimmed a few initial frames of Hippolyta handing of the box to the riders

• Trimmed first shot of Hippolyta looking out over the cliff

• Trimmed a bit of Step’s fight with the Amazons for pace and continuities issues, like removing the spear stuck in Step

• Removed lingering shots of Euboea’s death

• Scene 2 – Steppenwolf arrives at the Nuclear Plant

• ZSJL Base:

• First and second scenes of Step at the Nuclear plant combined, with Step calling out to Desaad then he first puts the box into the nuclear waste.

• Desaad and Step’s dialogue trimmed slightly

• 
  

• Scene 3 – Intro Credits

• After Stephenwolf says “For Darkseid”, we move to the shot of the paradeamons leaving the nuclear stack and text added for Warner Bros Pictures Presents” and “A Zack Snyder Film”. Typography all pulled from the ZSJL trailer, upscaled, and rebuilt for this edit. We begin to hear an extended intro for the song Everybody Knows from JWJL. The song has been pitch shifted to better match the music from the previous scene. The music lyrics have been chopped up to make lines more relevant to the scene on screen when possible by separating the lyrics from the music.

Act One : The Call To Stand

• Scene 4 – Bruce and Arthur’s Intro

• ZSJL Base

• Removed credits from Bruce’s journey over the mountain, and trimmed out shots what didn’t work.

• Removed Bruce walking into village

• Trimmed town hall dialogue so instead of Bruce asking Arthur to talk outside, its clear that this interaction IS THE TALK. Mix of JWJL and ZSJL dialogue, removed a few of Arthurs lines while keeping glares to emphasize that Bruce and Arthur are communicating privately within the conversation.

• Added trimmed JWJL footage of Bruce noticing the wall artwork about the boxes

• Changed Bruce’s Icelandic line to “I thought you’d have gills.”

• Heavily edited dialogue of Bruce and Arthur outside to mix JWJL and ZSJL, kept “Doesn’t mean I’m wrong” footage, trimmed women singing to just the start, and lots of color correction to try to make the footage here blend better

• Scene 5 – Alfred meets up with Bruce

• ZSJL base

• Trimmed Alfred harassing Bruce, kept him more supportive here. Dialogue ends with “Naught for two.”

• Scene 6 – Diana’s Intro

• ZSJL Base

• Removed the outside guard of the building, he just waits too long to notice something’s wrong

• Removed shots of Diana outside.

• Trimmed Diana’s interrogation of the terrorist,

• Moved bomb trigger start to after, fx to change bomb start to 20 sec to increase tension

• Tightened Diana fight with terrorists (and removed first use of slow-mo powers, to try to keep Barry special)

• Scene 7 – Message from Themyscira

• ZSJL Base

• Dialogue tightened for exposition

• Scene 8 – Diana receives Message

• ZSJL Base

• Trimmed Scene similar to JWJL

• AE removal of bald artist historian’s tool in final shots to lessen visual connection to initial Bald historian

• Audio transition to next scene uses Diane Theme transition audio from BvS

• Scene 9 – Silas and Victor Intro

• ZSJL Base

• JWJL footage of Silas and the Janitor

• New Victor flashback sequence inserted between Silas leaving Victor the tape player and when Victor pick it up

• Frames removed of Victor looking at his hand before seeing the nukes

• Some shots of Waitress removed to speed all this part up whenever possible.

• Scene 10 – Bruce and Alfred Jet Discussion

• JWJL Start with ZSJL End

• Adjusted discussion by Alfred of Victor and Barry info

• Kept the line about the wind-up penguins

• Move to ZSJL with Alfred and Bruce discussion his motivations

• Scene 11 – Silas at Lab Crime Scene

• ZSJL Base

• - Dialogue trimmed heavily

• Scene 12 – Steppenwolf interrogates the Atlantians

• ZSJL Base

• Initial shot of parademons coming out of the water trimmed.

• Scene 13 – Silas warns Victor about Monsters

• ZSJL Base

• Trimmed dialogue:

• JWJL line added from Silas “You are not a monster!”

• Scene 14 – Batman and the Burglar

• JWJL Base

• Removed burglar faking walking away before pulling a gun

• Tightened up Batman and Burglar fight

• Reordered shots of Batman jumping from Water tower

• Removed Batman’s line “They can smell it”

• Sped up slowmo shots of Batman and Parademon

• Removed some of the air battle shots

• Ending scene after Batman says “A Scout”

• FX to Burglar looking up to keep him from talking after

• Scene 15 – Victor Discovers Batman’s Identity

• JWJL Base

• Scene 16 – Bruce and Diana in the Hangar

• ZSJL Base

• Begin with JWJL to include trimmed dialogue about the car alarm sound.

• Removed Diana starting with “From what I've learned” as she knows this story from her many years on Themyscira

• Removed some shots and lines in the story of Darksieds first arrival

• Dialogue edits

Act Two : The Age of Heroes

• Scene 17 – Barry and Iris

• ZSJL Base

• Tightened this scene so the car starts the first time, the crash cause shots are reduced, and Barry saving Iris removed the creep factor.

• Scene 18 – Barry Signs In

• JWJL Base

• Tightened the whole scene when possible, frames and dialogue

• Scene 19 – Barry and Pops

• ZSJL Base

• Used FX for the removal of expositional dialogue about why Barry is pursuing law, since it was already discussed between Bruce and Alfred, squeezing one long shot.

• Scene 20 – Arthur saves the Captain

• JWJL Base

• Used ZSJL intro before Arthur’s arrival at the boat for better score

• Scene 21 – Arthur and Vulko

• ZSJL Base

• This scene has been adjusted to remove shots of the Arthur visiting the past King of Atlantis.

• Trimmed Arthur and Vulko’s interaction to not break “Aquaman Movie” continuity

• Built an establishing shot of Vulko with a far shot of Vulko mixed with a later close up face shot of him saying “You’re the rightful King of Atlantis.”

• Trimmed dialogue to remove continuity issues with Aquaman movie, but kept to show Arthur rejecting his people just as he rejected Bruce.

• Added shots of him ditching Vulko using heavily cropped footage from when he ditches Mera, then upscaled with Topaz to match.

• Scene 22 – Bruce and Diana

• ZSJL Base

• Removed discussion about Arthur being Half Atlantean

• Removed Diana mention Amazonians and Atlanteans fought in the past

• Changed the Arthur footage on screen to de-emphasize the trident in his hand that he just ditched Vulko with.

• Removed a small part of the awkward interaction with Diana and Bruce and the mouse

• Scene 23 – Cyborg and the Parademon Scout

• ZSJL Base

• Nothing changed here

• Scene 24 – Steppenwolf Attacks the Atlantean Stronghold

• ZSJL Base

• Removed all of Mera’s arrival and fish talking

• Added subtle extra audio fx for the fight, tightened up some shots, removed some of the extended shots of Mera incapacitated just before Steppenwolf almost executes her

• Trimmed Arthur and Mera’s interaction to not break “Aquaman Movie” continuity

• Used ZSJL footage but used JWJL Mera dialogue without the accent

• Trimmed Arthur ditching Mera and responsibility

• Scene 25 – Bruce and Barry

• ZSJL Base

• Added JWJL Line about railroads

• Removed “snack-hole” line.

• Scene 26 – Diana and Alfred

• ZSJL Base

• Trimmed discussion of “batman gauntlets”

• Replaced footage of Victor and Silas where Victor has a leg, with BvS footage

• Trimmed Diana and Victor’s discussion

• Used JWJL footage of where Victor wants to meet

• Scene 27 – Diana and Victor

• ZSJL Base

• Trimmed out gratuitous shot of Mercedes logo

• Tightened up dialogue here so Diana gets to the point quicker

• Added Diana’s line “More than once” in reference to the two times she lost Steve

• Removed Victor burying the box in his own grave

• Scene 28 – Silas and Ryan

• ZSJL Base

• Trimmed this scene, but felt it was needed to leave clues to Silas’s eventual sacrifice

• Scene 29 – Silas kidnapped

• ZSJL Base

• Nothing changed

• Scene 30 – Gordon in Gotham

• ZSJL Base

• Nothing changed

• Scene 31 – Bruce, Diana and Barry meet

• ZSJL Base

• Nothing changed

• Scene 32 – Steppenwolf builds the dome

• ZSJL Base

• Second dialogue with Desaad removed

• Scene 33 – Victor discovers his Dad Missing

• ZSJL Base

• Nothing Changed

• Scene 34 – Gordon meets the team

• ZSJL Base

• Trimmed to remove many of the extended shots of Gordon which made the whole scene seemed forced

• Scene 35 – Strikers Island

• ZSJL Base, heavily mixed with JWJL

• Score edited for better vibe, moving more bits to “hit” at needed times or to better emphasize what music was already there

• Team crossing bridge edited

• Diana’s “plan” dialogue moved to after they see Steppenwolf

• Steppenwolf’s line from JWJL added when we first see him interrogating the janitor

• JWJL discussion between Bruce and Barry about not being ready added

• Victor calling to his Dad removed, now he just shoots and swoops in to save him

• Steppenwolf mentioning that Diana is not like the other Amazonians removed (DoJ3 Continuity)

• JWJL footage of Barry making saves added

• JWJL footage Bruce calling for the Crawler added

• Trimmed Silas and Victor dialogue

• Mixed footage so the slow-mo of Diana falling while Barry helps, so there is a parademon right behind Diana

• Added sfx to Steppenwolf attacking Bruce, trimmed Alfred reacting to the crash to emphasis worry over the fate of Bruce

• Removed most of the standing around as the flooding starts

• Mixed in some JWJL Barry dialogue

• “Did he just bail” line delivered sooner

• Scene 36 – Striker’s island aftermath

• JWJL Base

• SFX of helicopter added sooner

• ZSJL footage of Cyborg arriving with the motherbox

• Scene 37 – Steppenwolf discovers the secret

• ZSJL Base

• Nothing changed

• Act Three : All The Kings Horses

• Scene 38 – The Hangar Discussion

• JWJL base with heavy doses of ZSJL

• Lighting correction throughout to match footage

• Trimmed intro with Victor and Arthur

• Used JWJL to put Barry on the lift

• Kept ZWJL footage of Arthur questioning Victor

• Used ZSJL Victor backstory, removed mention of box’s official Item number

• Back to JWJL discussion about resurrection Clark

• Hologram of Superman used

• Diana and Bruce argument trimmed

• Scene 39 – Bruce and Alfred in the Den

• JWJL Base

• Heavily shortened, mainly used as a transition to next scene

• Scene 40 – Lois and Martha

• ZSJL Base

• Trimmed out Martha talking from outside

• Trimmed Martha looking on knowingly

• Trimmed Lois dialogue slightly

• Scene 41 – Steppenwolf has News

• ZSJL Base

• Removed mention of the Anti-Life Equation, Steppenwolf now just recognizes Earth as the world that fought back.

• Scene 42 – Clark’s grave

• ZSJL Base

• Dialogue trimmed to remove mention of Atlantean/Amazonian war

• JWJL footage added with Barry and Victor, removed mention of “racially charged” and that Victor died in an explosion.

• Scene 43 – Alfred and Bruce as Mechanics

• ZSJL Base

• Trimmed dialogue so it doesn’t sound like it’s the first time Alfred is hearing this, it’s the last time he can be a voice of reason.

• Scene 44 – The team loads Clark into the van

• ZSJL Base

• No change

• Scene 45 – Lois Decides

• ZSJL Base

• Trimmed the extended shot of the press badge

• Scene 46 – The team arrives at the Kryptonian ship

• ZSJL Base

• Trimmed some of the credentials delay at the guard tower

• Removed Bruce telling Victor to start the distraction

• Removed the first shot of the team entering the ship, they are now revealed when Silas first sees them

• SFX to change the suit that Barry walk by when he mentions “It knows he’s here…” from the color suit to the black suit

• Used JWJL Audio of Arthur saying “You lunatics…”

• Lots of dialogue and shot trims here

• Removied Victor’s visions of the future

• Barry’s run rebuilt so he slightly reverses time to get the exact moment when the box touches the water

• Removed Arthur saying “Everybody down!”

• Scene 47 – The team arrives at the Kryptonian ship

• JWJL Base

• Trimmed teams intro to Clark

• Trimmed closeup shot of the beat cop

• Trimmed and reedited fight to include JWJL footage of “The Big Gun” and Clark picking him up, but kept Clark silent for this part

• Added sfx to Clark dropping Bruce

• Trimmed some of Silas reacting to the motherbox

• Scene 48 – Silas’s sacrifice

• ZSJL Base

• Trimmed and reordered Silas killing himself so Victor only has a chance to react, nothing more

Act Four : So Begins the End

• Scene 49 – The team arrives at the Batcave

• ZSJL Base

• Trimmed lots of exposition about the location of Steppenwolf’s base

• Scene 50 – Diana and Bruce discuss Leadership

• JWJL Base

• No change

• Scene 51 – Clark and Lois at the farm

• ZSJL Base

• Slowed their descent to be more gentle

• Removed the line “Did I not before?”

• Scene 52 – The team prepares to leave

• ZSJL Base

• No change

• Scene 53 – Steppenwolf unites the boxes

• ZSJL Base

• Removed Clark visiting Alfred (Alfred isn’t relaxing at home while this all is happening lol)

• Scene 54 – The team discusses the plan while on the Fox

• ZSJL Base

• No change

• Added them “assembling,” Bruce givig the trident to Arthur, Victor checking his hardware, and Barry stretching and meditation

• Scene 55 – Clark, Lois and Martha

• ZSJL Base

• Added line from JWJL about “calling mom”

• Scene 56 – The Battle at Steppenwolf’s Base pt 1

• ZSJL Base

• Batman’s first single missile attempt to break shield removed

• JWJL Shot of the Flying Fox damaged after breaking through the dome added and heavily color corrected

• JWJL car alarm idea integrated into the ZSJL footage, heavily color corrected to match

• Car alarm sound added to the ZSJL batmobile chase time

• Team slow-mo shot removed (we get enough of that at the end, and why is everyone else running into that building?)

• One extended shot of Arthur’s parademon surfing removed

• Scene 57 – Clark don’s the black suit

• ZSJL Base

• Removed Clark’s walk down the hallway of suits (used in my BvS edit)

• Removed the voiceovers from Pa and Jor-El, since they use new dialogue, some of Jor-El’s words would never have been heard by Clark. Best to go silent.

• Scene 58 – The Battle at Steppenwolf’s Base pt 2

• ZSJL Base

• Removed Arthur arrowing the two parademons with his trident

• Removed Steppenwolf saying he killed Hippolyta

• Removed some of Steppenwolf’s dialogue:

• Tightened up sequence as Victor does the countdown

• Removed time between Victor touching the boxes and getting a surge, so it happens immediately

• Moved Steppenwolf’s “He’s Here.” To just after the boom tube begins to open

• Used shots of the planet changing from Victor’s vision when the boxes synchronize and reversed it when Barry turns back time

• Dialogue trimmed for Desaad and Darkseid

Epilogue

• Scene 59 – Silas’s Tape Monologue

• ZSJL Base

• Removed Victor rewinding tape

• Removed Arthur saying goodbye to Vulko and Mera, he just leaves Mera on the shore alone

• Removed Ryan Choi taking over Star Labs

• Removed Clark asking Bruce “how he did it”, and Bruce saying he “bought the bank”.

• Removed Gordon turning the Batsignal on

• Used JWJL footage of Diana being a public hero instead of tracking the arrow

• Removed Silas’s lines about “discover, heal, love, win” so we end on “It’s time to stand, it’s time to fight.”

• Used ZSJL footage of Clark opening his suit since it’s a longer shot, but recolored to put him back in the classic suit.

• Used JL Footage of Clark flying away

• Scene 60 – Credits pt 1

• ZSJL Base

• Used ZS “Motherboxes” trailer for visuals

• Scene 61 – Bruce Meets Tomar-Re

• ZSJL Base

• Used footage from the Green Lantern Movie to replace Martian Manhunter.

• Scene 60 – Credits pt 1

• JWJL Credit Base

• Cut short for Lex’s Escape

• Scene 61 – Lex’s Escape

• ZSJL Base

• Trimmed when possible

• Scene 62 – Credit pt 2

• Built the dual credit scroll for both sources, and

• Used the Cartoon Network Groovie “That Time Is Now” as the song here

• Scene 63 – Barry and Clark Race

• JWJL Base

• Tried to avoid the bad upper lip cgi when possible

• Removed Brunch Reference