Joss-Stache League – Stiff Upper Lip

Joss-stache League (Justice League) is a cobbled together mess. It's the Frankenstein's monster of movies. I wish that were an understatement, but, sadly, it is not; and though it bears Zack Snyder's name in the credits, it is not his movie.

According to Fabian Wagner, the original cut's cinematographer, up to 90% of what they shot is not in it. That's right, folks: In under two months, Joss Whedon basically reshot the entire thing.

Why? Well, the answer to that is long, winding, and even filled with heartbreak. To keep it brief, the studio was no longer in support of Zack's vision. When Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice failed to break a $1 billion, a series of decisions were made.

In retrospect, many of them were stupid. And Justice League paid the bulk of the price for them. It's a mishmash of competing interests and an attempt to please both critics and fans with something more similar to the MCU. That desperation backfired.

At the time of its release, Justice League had the lowest opening of any DCU film ($93+ million). It would go on to gross $657.9 million—also the lowest for a DCU film at the time— against a production budget of $300 million. Deadline Hollywood reported that the film lost the studio around $60 million, scuttling their new plans and throwing DC's big screen universe into further turmoil. It also sits at just 40% on Rotten Tomatoes with 395 reviews—a modest improvement over its predecessor and certainly not worth the hack job they put to it.

Now, despite of all you have just read, this movie is somehow still watchable—even if you are forced to look away as a certain CGI'd mustache burns a hole through your TV.

So, sit back, enter a new dimension with a Mapping the Multiverse Hazy IPA from Surly Brewing Co., and unite the Seven! I, the Thunderous Wizard (@WriterTLK), Capt. Cash, Chumpzilla, Mayor McCheese, and special guest Mario Francisco Robles—the Fanboy himself—are struggling to process Henry Cavill's face!

This Week’s Segments:

• Introduction/Plot Breakdown – The road to DC's ultimate team up is rife with speed bumps, and we tackle them all. (00:00)
• Lingering Questions – We hear from our beer bros. at Hop Nation USA, and then I pose some questions to the crew. What did Whedon nail? And what are we most looking forward to come March 18th? (1:33:59)
• The "Something's Definitely Bleeding" Trivia Challenge – I challenge the field to questions about the movie, as well as the movement it inspired. (1:54:05)
• Recommendations – After a word from our pals at The Double Turn Podcast, we offer our picks for the week; and next up: We rev our collective engines for the third entry in our "Hops and Heroic Flops" series, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance! (2:06:06)

And, as always, hit us up on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram to check out all the interesting factoids—the Release the Snyder Cut book and more—from this week’s episode!

You can find this episode of Hops and Box Office Flops on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Podbean, Spotify, Acast, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, Vurbl, and Amazon Music!