The Future Is Here
We may earn a commission from links on this page

Justice League's Ray Fisher Alleges Joss Whedon Fostered a 'Gross, Abusive' Environment On-Set

Fisher as he appeared in Justice League as Cyborg.
Fisher as he appeared in Justice League as Cyborg.
Image: Warner Bros.

With the announcement that HBO Max would be bringing some version of Zack Snyder’s take on Justice League to the streaming service, actors involved with the production have become increasingly frank about the movie’s troubled path to box office and critical disappointment. But in recent days, Ray Fisher has made those discussions even franker.

Fisher played Victor Stone/Cyborg in the film and is still set to get his own standalone DC Comics movie (at some point), and earlier this week drew eyes with a tweet decrying Joss Whedon’s handling of Justice League. Sharing a clip from the film’s San Diego Comic-Con presence in 2017—in which Fisher described Whedon as “a great guy” and that “Zack [Snyder] picked a good person to come clean up and finish up for him”—Fisher said he was “forcefully” retracting everything he’d said about the director.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

While Fisher was willing to be vague this past Monday, today he made clear just why he’d retracted his support for Whedon. In a new tweet, Fisher alleged that Whedon—alongside writer/producer (and former President and Chief Creative Officer of DC Entertainment) Geoff Johns and Warner Bros. producer Jon Berg, one-time architects of Warner Bros.’ DC movie slate—fostered a toxic on-set environment during Justice League’s production.

“Joss Wheadon’s [sic] on-set treatment of the cast and crew of Justice League was gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable,” Fisher wrote. “He was enabled, in many ways, by Geoff Johns and Jon Berg,” the actor concluded, before simply adding “Accountability > Entertainment.”

Advertisement

This is not the first time we’ve heard about the on-set struggles Justice League faced, beyond the uncomfortable transition between Snyder’s control of the film to Whedon’s, after the former had to leave the production due to a family tragedy. All that seemed to stem from the production headache of script changes, reshoots, and the cast’s other commitments (and facial hair) creating problems for Warner’s attempts to build almost an entirely new movie out of what Snyder had shot before his exit. What Fisher is alleging here, however, is much more serious than a digitally-edited mustache.

Advertisement

io9 has reached out to Warner Bros. and representatives for Joss Whedon seeking clarification on Fisher’s allegations about the environment on Justice League’s set. We’ll update this piece when and if we hear back.

Update 7/1 5.10PM: Jon Berg, explicitly named in Fisher’s allegations, has reached out to Variety to deny the actor’s allegations, telling the trade that it is “categorically untrue that we enabled any unprofessional behavior.” Berg did however note that Fisher had expressed issues on-set: not due to hostile work conditions, but because the actor was “upset that we wanted him to say ‘Booyaa,’ which is a well known saying of Cyborg in the [Teen Titans] animated series.”

Advertisement

For more, make sure you’re following us on our Instagram @io9dotcom.