Superman’s Black Recovery Suit was Filmed for “Justice League”

When returning from the grave after his battle to the death with Doomsday in the comic books in 1993, Superman wore a black Kryptonian recovery suit. With the Man of Steel having perished in the film “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”, many fans thought that Superman’s return in “Justice League” would also see him wear a black “recovery suit” of some kind.

It didn’t happen… but “Justice League” cinematographer Fabian Wagner say it was filmed…

In August 2016 Henry Cavill posted a photo to his Instagram account of what appeared to be a close-up of an all black Superman costume.

#Superman

A post shared by Henry Cavill (@henrycavill) on

A Mattel “Justice League Mighty Mini Figure” advertised on BestBuy.com seemed to confirm the appearance of the black Kryptonian suit in the “Justice League” movie.

However, when fans sat in the theatre to watch the film, there was no black recovery suit to be found. We only ever see Superman wearing the familiar blue, red and yellow version… a brighter version, but definitely not black and silver.

Some fans even took to social media to chastize Henry Cavill for “tricking” them into thinking they’d see the black version of the costume in the film.

In an email interview with Inverse.com, Wagner says scenes with Superman wearing his black suit were removed in the final cut. “There were [scenes shot],” Wagner said. “It’s a cool looking costume. Sadly, we didn’t see that either in the final cut.”

It sounds like Warner Bros. may need a whole separate disc containing Deleted Scenes when it comes to the Bonus Material that could be included in the Blu-ray release of the “Justice League” movie.

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Phresh
Phresh
December 6, 2017 5:21 pm

While I would not mind seeing the deleted scenes, it would be much better and wiser for WB to include a longer version of the movie with the deleted scenes put in just like it was done with Superman v Batman Ultimate Edition. It should be done in all fairness.

GodzillaofSteel
GodzillaofSteel
December 6, 2017 5:51 pm

It would have been nice to see Superman in the black recovery suit.

Kal-Ed
December 6, 2017 6:01 pm

I think that will be Warner Bros. Standard filming. Show certain potential tentpole features in cinemas and everybody will either love it or hate it. Show an alternate/director/ultimate/extended/bootleg/unseen edition and every one will wonder why this was not shown because it was much better than the theatrical release.

Adekis
Adekis
December 8, 2017 12:21 am
Reply to  Kal-Ed

How long can they keep doing that? They’ve been doing it for so long now, they’ve victimized two Superman movies like this. Of course, I loved the JL theatrical cut, but plenty of folks who don’t like it, hate it because so much was cut. A bunch of the rest are too caught up with who directed what scenes to actually care about whether the movie was good or not. The other big category of haters, I’m convinced, just walked into the theater wanting to hate it and looking for reasons to justify their hate. These groups overlap, too. Anyway,… Read more »

Kal-Ed
December 8, 2017 6:12 pm
Reply to  Adekis

For the long haul I guess. WB needs a shift in management and should release DC Comics to be its own entity. But they know they can’t or won’t. They’ve got gold between their hands with Superman and Batman. They know they can’t screw it up (which they did anyway) and let them slip outta their fingers. I still support DC Films and they will figure a good strategy for the sake of its future.

NeoRanger
NeoRanger
December 9, 2017 2:55 am
Reply to  Kal-Ed

They’ve announced they are doing some shifts, but they’re in the lower level. They’re also undoing their DC-specific studio thing and pulling the movies back to WB proper. For some reason. Overall, I’m not sure they know what it is they’re supposed to do. Again.

Johns will remain in a consultation capacity; I guess they blame him for Justice League? Weird, too, because he barely had any time to have any significant input in that film. I think he was more involved in Aquaman.

redcape
redcape
December 6, 2017 6:33 pm

Well ….we waited all this time to see his normal suit colors brightened up. Now you want to see black???? He’s already had a black suit on in MoS. That was enough black for me.

Adekis
Adekis
December 8, 2017 12:24 am
Reply to  redcape

Eh, he only had the black suit for like one dream sequence, but I totally agree; that’s definitely all the black I need in his costume for the whole series.

Clark_Jo
Clark_Jo
December 6, 2017 10:42 pm

So, the question is now, why and for how long? *SPOILERS* for all you sensative types. Watching the movie we know that how he returns is original footage, him shirtless, they just reshot the dialogue. So what was the context of the scene? He left Metropolis, shirtless and in ragged pants, he is at the Kent farm with the flannel shirt, then the whole sequence is missing of what happens from there till the end battle. I read from the individual who leaked some of those deleted scene videos that he was supposed to have returned to the ship, found… Read more »

NeoRanger
NeoRanger
December 7, 2017 4:03 am
Reply to  Clark_Jo

It depends on a variety of factors. Right now I can’t remember if Henry tweeted this picture before or after JL Part II was cancelled. I have nothing to base this on, but I maintain that when the film was a two-parter, Superman was going to be the antagonist in the first part. It makes too much sense to me. The film went through extensive rewrites during production, because of the changes Warner kept making. Even if this was after Part II was cancelled and JL became one movie, they’d still have to go through extreme retooling to make the… Read more »

Clark_Jo
Clark_Jo
December 9, 2017 3:07 pm
Reply to  NeoRanger

I looked it up and principle production started 11 April, it was announced that JL was not a 2 part movie in June (via articles I found all dated in June), he posted the picture on Instagram in August. Though, the picture could just be a color filter on the regular suit, it’s a black suit, with a black S with silver backing. Under a black and white color filter blue and red both turn black and yellow turns sliver. The alleged black suit (along with the MoS one) was a black suit, with a dull silver S and black… Read more »

Superman2878
December 7, 2017 1:28 am

Could it be that there was a black suit only to have color added in digitally?

NeoRanger
NeoRanger
December 7, 2017 4:04 am
Reply to  Superman2878

Too much money when they already had a suit with color.

LarGand
LarGand
December 7, 2017 3:31 am

It’s a real shame what happened with ‘Justice League’. I watched the movie a second time a few days back, and it really is lacking in so many ways – despite the handful of scenes I found really enjoyable as a Superman fan. I suspect the recovery suit was just one of many things we lost as a result of the Whedon reshoots and the studio insistence on a shorter running time, and that Snyder’s original vision would’ve given us a very different – much more memorable – movie than we actually got. 🙁

sundevil82
sundevil82
December 7, 2017 4:32 pm

It’s pretty obvious they glossed over many things in this film. One of those things being Superman’s return. He was definitely short changed. I have exhausted my faith in WB execs. I will rejoice in the streets when Kevin Tsujihara and Toby Emmerich get shuffled away in the at&t merger.

Kal L
Kal L
December 7, 2017 8:02 pm

Black suit works best without a cape!

Superman2878
December 7, 2017 11:06 pm
Reply to  Kal L

I recall back in the 90’s Dean Cain’s black Superman suit with a blue s he wore. I thought it was a cool look. It kind of reminded me of Superman’s recovery suit from the reign of the Supermen/the return of Superman story. Although I prefer the blue suit, red s, and red cape look.

Kal L
Kal L
December 9, 2017 6:47 pm
Reply to  Superman2878

Yes I remember that episode too! I think it looked good because of the lower neckline and without the cape, it showed off Cains physique more.

That’s why the black suit looked so good in the comics, minimal and very effective.

Adekis
Adekis
December 8, 2017 12:15 am

Personally, I don’t know why everyone gets so worked up over the black suit, or a beard or a longer hairdo. I was half dreading that they might go with all three of those things, so I was really pleased when we didn’t have to deal with any of them. Now I learn that there were scenes with the black suit, and I felt so vindicated that it wasn’t there that I’m actually kind of disappointed? But in all probability, I’ll still like the extended cut anyway- if they decide to release one. 😛

manofsteel
manofsteel
December 8, 2017 3:20 am

What a shambles. It’s hard to enjoy JL when you see how much was removed. It sucks.

LarGand
LarGand
December 8, 2017 5:24 am

By the way, guys, there’s a change.org petition asking for a Superman solo sequel with Henry Cavill. I’ve signed – hope you do too. There’s a link in this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/after-justice-league-dc-fans-are-petitioning-for-a-superman-sequel_uk_5a287ec2e4b09ee35b8ae619

MattComics
MattComics
December 9, 2017 11:02 am

Not that keen on seeing the black suit if only because the entire way the Death/Return arc is handled in the Snyderverse doesn’t really work for it. They beer-slammed DKR and Death Of Superman which is the kind of move that only makes sense to desperate executives. I wouldn’t mind the black suit if the Death/Return story got to play out more naturally. I mean to be honest it’s kind of overlong in the comics but had it been something as part of a Superman series of movies where we had gotten to spent some real time with the character… Read more »

lcmcbain
lcmcbain
December 11, 2017 10:26 am
Reply to  MattComics

It sounds like the original Snyder plan would have been for Superman to be in his post-resurrection rage (possibly under Darkseid’s control) fighting the League with the black suit for all of his time in the first JL movie and not getting to see him truly as Superman again until near the end of the next one which is not an idea I was ever fond of. That’s what i’ve read as well and if that is accurate, i am very happy they did away with it and that entire story line. They need to out the “evil Superman” idea… Read more »