Joss Whedon Calls Ray Fisher A “Bad Actor” & Denies Threatening Gal Gadot In ‘Justice League’ Accusations Rebuttal

“The beginning of the internet raised me up, and the modern internet pulled me down. The perfect symmetry is not lost on me.” Or, you live by the fandom; you die by the fandom. That’s the theme of a new and rather long and expansive New York Magazine article by Lila Shapiro about disgraced writer/director Joss Whedon. Something of a cautionary tale about how the things that love you can swallow you whole; the article also does get into massive detail on the history of the “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” showrunner/creator and “The Avengers” writer/director’s alleged abusive behavior over the years.

READ MORE: Gal Gadot Confirms Joss Whedon Threatened Her Career On ‘Justice League’ Set

To briefly recap that history, Whedon was once known as an unimpeachable geek god, a feminist writer that fans of sci-fi, fantasy, and comics adored. But a series of articles starting in 2017 pulled him down from his perch. The first was an article about his ex-wife calling out his feminist hypocrisy, laying out his cheating, gaslighting, and calculating conduct, then various reports during the post #MeToo movement from the “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” cast that alleged toxic, manipulative, and cruel behavior (Charisma Carpenter, in particular, accused him of appalling behavior).

READ MORE: Ray Fisher Calls Out Joss Whedon For “Gross, Abusive, Unprofessional” Behavior On ‘Justice League’ Set

Then finally, the big one most fans know: the cast of the “Justice League” reshoots complaining about Whedon and outlining abusive behavior onset. Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman) and Ray Fisher (Cyborg) have been the most vocal about this, the other cast members generally quieter. However, Ben Affleck recently said the “Justice League” was the “worst experience of his life,” but didn’t quite single out Whedon (eventually, an investigation into Whedon’s conduct and the “Justice League” reshoots was made by WarnerMedia, but the investigation ultimately found very little wrongdoing, only taking “remedial action,” something Fisher still alleges that WarnerMedia and Warner Bros. swept under the rug and says there was “lack of transparency”).

READ MORE: Ray Fisher Says “We’re On Our Way” As ‘Justice League’ Investigation Concludes With “Remedial Action”

Whedon was, of course, asked to come on board “Justice League” after director Zack Snyder left the project during editing following the death of his daughter Autumn by suicide). It should be noted that many journalists (or articles) have suggested that Snyder was removed from the film and didn’t quit on his own accord (one journalist who was “quitting” the business and did not give a f*ck any longer, just tweeted that out in 2018). Through Whedon, this article strongly contends that the allegations are true: that Snyder was ousted, or at least being passed over in favor of Whedon taking over, but unfortunately, doesn’t quote Whedon directly and only paraphrases his thoughts.

Here’s the passage in question, in full:

“At first, the studio executives told Whedon his role would be restricted to writing and advising, but soon it became clear to Whedon they had lost faith in Snyder’s vision and wanted him to take full control. (A representative from Warner Bros. denied this. Snyder has publicly stated he left the project to spend time with his family; his daughter had died by suicide two months earlier.)”

“They asked me to fix it, and I thought I could help,” Whedon is quoted as saying about “Justice League,” the article also contending that the filmmaker regarded the decision as one of the biggest regrets of his life. Much is made about Whedon finally agreeing to talk for the article, as he could no longer remain silent about all the people trying to tear down his legacy. But in the article, he’s also acutely aware of people using things he’s said against him. “I’m terrified,” he said, “of every word that comes out of my mouth.”

The “Justice League” part of the article begins with a crew member explaining the initial frictions. Snyder had treated his collaborators as co-writers, whereas Whedon expected them to say their lines precisely as he’d written them. “That didn’t go down well at all,” the crew member said.

Evidently, according to the article, the actors began criticizing his writing, and Gadot suggested Whedon didn’t understand how superhero movies worked. Whedon, in response at one point, according to the crew member, announced that he had never worked with “a ruder group of people,” and the actors all fell silent on the set.

But the most extensive rebuttals (and in some cases clapbacks) in the article from Whedon are against Fisher and Gadot, his two most outspoken adversaries in the war of “Justice League” words. For one, Whedon says he never threatened Gadot, as she has alleged in the past. “I don’t threaten people. Who does that?” He alleges she misunderstood him. “English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech.”

Gadot asked Whedon to change a line or scenario, and he apparently said “over my dead body” would he change it. “Then I was told that I had said something about her dead body and tying her to the railroad track,” Whedon said in this new article. (“I understood perfectly,” Gadot shot back to New York mag in an email.)

Whedon described why he cut much of Ray Fisher’s Cyborg storyline that is seen in full in the four-hour “Zack Snyder’s Justice League.” “The storyline “‘logically made no sense,’ and he felt the acting was bad,” is how NY Mag frames what Whedon told them.

According to NY Mag, Whedon wasn’t the only one that felt that way. At test screenings, one source claims, viewers deemed Cyborg “the worst of all the characters in the film.” Whedon apparently spent “hours” discussing the changes with Fisher, and their conversations were cordial. But Whedon said none of the claims Fisher made in the media were “either true or merited discussing.” Asked about Fisher’s motives, Whedon said, “we’re talking about a malevolent force. We’re talking about a bad actor in both senses.”

There’s much, much more in the article (it’s nearly 9,000 words!). Anonymous “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” actors and “Dollhouse” crew continuing to hit back at Whedon, and many more allegations about his behavior on that show; a “Firefly” writer alleging Whedon dressed down one of their subpar scripts cruelly in front of the entire writer’s room, Whedon firing back at his ex-wife (“I was made a target by my ex-wife, and people exploited that cynically”) and fandom in general (“They don’t give a fuck about feminism”), but that’s only just the tip of the iceberg.

One of the final sentiments? Whedon defending his overall behavior on TV sets despite admitting to much of it too. People have used “every weaponizable word of the modern era to make it seem like I was an abusive monster,” he said. “I think I’m one of the nicer showrunners that’s ever been.”

As for the fandom that generally wages war around any articles around #TheSnydercut, don’t expect any of it to die down any time soon. Presumably, the entire thing will be online soon, but that’s the long gist of this rather explosive article.