Last week brought the stunning announcement that Zack Snyder needed to drop out as Justice League director, and Joss Whedon (The Avengers) would shoot some additional scenes and finish up the post-production work. Even if we could leave aside Snyder’s personal tragedy, this shift seemed to come out of nowhere.

We were aware that Joss Whedon had made a deal with Warner Bros. to make his Batgirl movie, which is expected to hit sometime in 2019. However, Justice League is scheduled for a 2017 release, and is basically completed, so this move clearly came out of the blue.

However, producer Charles Roven said that events didn’t take place in that sequence. Joss Whedon had already been signed to work on additional Justice League photography:

Producer Charles Roven talks about how Joss Whedon stepped in to “help Zack [Snyder] finish his vision” for #JusticeLeague pic.twitter.com/5ph8YbrZnl

"” Variety (@Variety) May 26, 2017

We were saddened by the events that caused Zack Snyder and Deborah Snyder to have to leave and turn the reins over to Joss Whedon. He was already working with us on some of the scenes for the additional photography that we're gonna be doing shortly, and it was fortunate that Zack convinced him, and he agreed, to step in and finish the movie, help Zack finish his vision. We're excited about that.

Of course, the big question is this: How long has Joss Whedon been working for Warner Bros.? Was he hired after the Snyders’ tragedy in March?

In any event, this was an interesting move that showed that Warner Bros. might have been tempted by that Avengers money. It remains to be seen whether there will be any noticeable difference between Zack Snyder’s work and Joss Whedon’s additional scenes.