Zack Snyder’s “S---ty” Justice League Firing Gets Detailed New Reflection From Ben Affleck

Published Oct 12, 2026, 7:22 PM EDT Adam has been writing in the entertainment news space for over a decade. Beginning his career of covering film and TV at CinemaBlend, he has also appeared on The Flash Podcast and done several radio spots. Ben Affleck shared his negative reflection on when Zack Snyder was removed from Justice League. When Justice League was released in theaters in late 2017, Snyder was credited as director, despite the fact that the majority of this cut consisted of footage helmed by Joss Whedon during reshoots. Whedon was tapped to fill in for Snyder after the latter filmmaker left the production to be with his family following the death of his daughter Autumn. Nearly a decade later, Affleck, who played the DC Extended Universe’s Batman, has shared his scathing comments about how the changing of directors was handled. During his appearance on Happy Sad Confused, Affleck told host Josh Horowitz that working on Justice League showed him “how not to make a movie like that, which is where the studio is at odds with the filmmaker.” As such, he was “glad and gratified” when Zack Snyder’s Justice League, the four-hour cut that better reflected Snyder’s vision for the superhero team-up, was released in 2021. Affleck continued: That was s—-ty, him being taken off that movie and the reshoots that we did. If you want the low point of my career, it was that. Somebody’s death by suicide eclipses everything. The way in which that was, I thought, used as an excuse [to replace Zack] was one of the s—-tiest things I’ve ever seen. It was so gross. The whole environment and vibe [on set during the reshoots], much of which I was not privy to but heard secondhand from the actors, it was just, "Wow, this is about as gross as it gets.” Affleck acknowledged during the interview that his personal troubles also factored into his poor experience on Justice League, noting that he was “drinking too much” and got divorced. However, while those things were “painful” for the actor, they “did not impact the movie,” unlike the changeover from Snyder to Whedon. Under Whedon’s direction, Justice League went through a drastic overhaul that kept the basic narrative structure intact, but resulted in major story and tonal changes. The theatrical cut of Justice League was met with primarily negative reception, ranking at 39% on Rotten Tomatoes’ critic-driven Tomatometer. This resulted in a fan campaign to get Warner Bros. Picture to release Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League, i.e. reassembling the footage he shot during principal photography. This version was more positively received, as evidenced by its 71% Tomatometer. ScreenRant’s review of Zack Snyder’s Justice League gave a mixed perspective, saying that “while there are individually interesting, meaningful character arcs and it's far superior to the 2017 film,” it’s nonetheless “fragmented.” Snyder had a five-movie arc planned for the DCEU franchise, starting with Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Two Justice League sequels would have wrapped up this saga. Zack Snyder’s Justice League teased this with aspects like Darkseid’s inclusion and Harry Lennix’s Calvin Swanwick being Martian Manhunter. Ultimately, the DCEU pivoted in a different direction before ending in 2023, and Snyder went on to direct movies like Army of the Dead and the Rebel Moon duology. Affleck played Batman one more time in The Flash. Both the theatrical Justice League and Zack Snyder’s Justice League can be streamed on HBO Max. Release Date November 17, 2017 Runtime 120 Minutes Director Zack Synder Cast Superman / Clark Kent / Kal-El