With the Snyder Cut of Justice League finally being released this month, I thought it’d be fun to take a look at all of the live-action incarnations of comics greatest superhero team. No, I didn’t stutter and you know I’m right. If you don’t know, the Justice League consists of the greatest heroes in DC Comics. “The Magnificent Seven” as they’re know are comprised of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter with Manhunter later being replaced by Cyborg in updated and current versions of the team. They come together when just one hero isn’t enough. If you’re like a lot of mainstream fans, you’ll most likely know the team from the astounding and near perfect animated series that aired on Cartoon Network but that’s not why we’re here. Let’s get into the meat and potatoes of it all.

Honorable Mention

Justice League: Mortal

This incarnation of the team never came to fruition. Famed director George Miller was attached to direct with a budget of around  $220 million. The casting left something to be desired. D.J. Catrona was cast as Superman, Armie Hammer as Batman, Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, and Teresa Palmer, whom auditioned for the Wonder Woman role, was cast as Talia al Ghul. I’m only on board with Armie Hammer as the Caped Crusader, but everyone else can kick rocks. They don’t make a lick of sense and that especially goes for Teresa Palmer as the Daughter of the Demon. Two of the better casting choices, Common as Green Lantern John Stewart and Adam Brody as the Barry Allen version of the Flash, are solid but I honestly believe that Brody would have been better served as Wally West. The best casting decision was Jay Baruchel as Maxwell Lord.

There were many reasons that this movie didn’t come forth. The Writers Strike happened and production had to be delayed for three months which caused the options of the cast to lapse. The movie was supposed to be filmed in Australia but the Australian government denied Warner Bros a 40% tax rebate as they felt that there weren’t enough Australian actors hired. There were more delays and the success of The Dark Knight caused Warner Bros to focus on singular films.

Justice League

If the reviews are to be believed, then the Joss Whedon directed version of the film will be long forgotten. Joss Whedon had to finish Snyder’s film due to a family tragedy. He ended up cutting much of what Snyder intended including removing a majority Cyborg’s scenes and story as he was clearly intended to be the focal point of the film. If you’ve seen one Joss Whedon film or TV show, then you’ve seen them all and you know what to expect and that is very much true here. What Snyder had set forth has largely been forgotten with Whedon putting his usual flair on the writing. If you’ve been living under a rock then you know all about the claims made by Ray Fisher. The racism, the treatment by Whedon, and so much more. The less said about this film, the better.

Legends of the Superheroes

This 1979 two-part television special featured the most famous Batman and Robin at the time, the late Adam West and Burt Ward. Other heroes included Black Canary, Captain Marvel [now Shazam], Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Huntress and many more. This one was mostly played for laughs.

Smallville

The decades long comic book series had their own version of the League featuring Clark Kent, the Flash, Cyborg, Green Arrow, and Aquaman. The characters were all introduced in previous episodes where they were given proper introductions. Chloe Sullivan, Clark’s long time best friend, acted as the surrogate Oracle using the code name “Watchtower”. Later in the series, they were joined by Black Canary and Martian Manhunter with Manhunter having a prominent tutor-like role on the show. Smallville also gave us the first time live-action iteration of the Justice Society of America.

Arrowverse

A combination of the CW Arrowverse shows, this Justice League featured characters from the various shows. With the ending of Crisis on Infinite Earths, the amalgamation of Earth-Prime (Earth-1, Earth-38, and Black Lightning’s Earth) needed a team for such an occasion where one hero wouldn’t be enough. Taking on the Anti-Monitor, all of the heroes were needed. If you know DC Comics, you know that when the words “Crisis” are uttered, it’s about to go down, In the end, our heroes were successful but not without suffering a great loss. Oliver Queen after becoming the Spectre, sacrificed himself for the greater good. The Arrowverse team consists of White Canary, The Flash, Supergirl, Batwoman, Martian Manhunter, Black Lightning, Superman, and an empty seat to honor the man who started it all, Green Arrow.