Dwayne McDuffie's long lost script for the original DCAU version of "Justice League: Crisis On Two Earths" has just been made available

[Millicay]

Just saw this a few minutes ago on reddit, the script is available to download from Dwayne McDuffie's new website. Can't wait to read it in full after twenty years! Here's the link.

 

[Karkull]

Wow. Just wow.

Okay, first things first: it appears that the screenplay is genuine. You can also download it from Dwayne McDuffie's new website. Just scroll down, click on "Work," then "Animation," then "Warner Bros.," and then "Series" to get to the Justice League Unlimited scripts (it's listed under it's original working title, "Fearful Symmetry"). You can also find the script and WB notes for Doom by simply clicking on "Work" (NOTE: it's eight rows down).

Based on posts made by McDuffie from back in the day, it appears to be one of the first three drafts (the latter drafts prior to acceptance included Icon).

 

[Yojimbo]

Never thought Worlds Collide would see the light of day, can't wait to go through it!

Also on the Work page, there's scripts for Static Shock and Teen Titans, too. JL: Doom as well.

 

[Frontier]

Wow, such a major piece of lost DC Animation history, and in its original form by the late great Dwayne McDuffie no less, finally revealed .

 

[Karkull]

I'm about forty pages into "Fearful Symmetry / Worlds Collide / Crisis on Two Earths" etc. It's funny how, when you're reading it, the old JLU voices come in loud and clear.

 

[Yojimbo]

I'm about forty pages into "Fearful Symmetry / Worlds Collide / Crisis on Two Earths" etc. It's funny how, when you're reading it, the old JLU voices come in loud and clear.

Funny, it seems "Into The Light" wasn't the original name of Luthor's book. Never knew Fearful Symmetry was the original (?) name for the Worlds Collide script but too good not be used and became that JLU Supergirl/Question/GA/Galatea episode title.

 

[Karkull]

From what I recall, the script was originally "Fearful Symmetry," then "Worlds Collide," and then finally "Crisis on Two Earths." I really need to write a piece about it.

Nice script, aside from a few typos. Major differences: the original script was originally meant to be a bridge between Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, and it shows. For example, keeping with the symmetry of the Justice League and the Crime Syndicate, there were originally seven gangs in this script, with Angelique fronting one prior to her death (in the actual film, it was implied that she was a "made man" on J'edd J'arkus' team). There's a bit of Green Lantern dealing with his breakup from Hawkgirl (he's the one who tries to get J'onn to stay with the president's daughter, not Diana). Speaking of which, J'onn's "mind meld" shows Alien Invaders instead of White Martians, and Batman mentions destroying the original Watchtower at one point.

Aside from that, a few of the names changed. Jimmy Olsen's variant is named "Jimmy Bow-Tie" rather than Mr. Action. The Jester's original name was the Court Jester. A little much, but okay. But the biggest difference here was that the president is a generic guy named Taylor than a good analogue of Slade WIlson. And his daughter's not Rose, but Marie.

There was a clearer understanding of the gangs, but it was what I expected: Owlman's crew was made up of the variants from the superhero team the Outsiders, while J'arkus' gang were made up of variants from the Detroit-era Justice League. I wish the breakdown of the groups at the Jester's old hideout had some more info about the other gangs.

 

[Yojimbo]

An FYI, the Teen Titans "Fear Itself" outline morphs into pages from a JL "The Terror Beyond" outline (named "Out of the Depths" at the time).

 

[Karkull]

Also, the JLU outline for "The Cookie Monster" morphs into an outline for "The Clash." And the teaser for "Ultimatum" just ... stops.

Another shocker: the outline for "A Brief History of Time" (aka "The Once and Future Thing, Part One") has future Superman aiding what's left of the future Justice League, and they're fighting the Fatal Five rather than cyberpunk Jokerz.

 

[-batmat-]

Great find. So, other than very minor differences and the DCAU references, from what I see the script is almost exactly the same as the movie that ended up being released.

What was the reason to make it stand alone and removed from the DCAU instead of making it as it was intended to be originally? I can't find anything about it

 

[Yojimbo]

Some of the Static Shock ones are really interesting. "Power Play" where Richie gets temp powers from Ragtag started out as Dr. Alva hiring a scientist named Dr. Kilgore who builds a machine that steals super powers. Alva wanted to take Static's powers from himself but due to a mishap, Richie ends up with Static's powers. And the "No Man Is An Island" where Alva kidnapped Metas to save his son was pitched as aliens kidnapping them and they had to get free before the alien's ship's warp drive kicked in and returned to its planet!

Wow, and that Teen Titans "Winner Takes All" (then "How You Play The Game") was going to also include Jericho, Risk, Red Star, Damage and a new character called Ringer. They got around to Jericho and Red Star in the final season.

As for the JLU stuff
-Pretty neat they considered having Faust as the head of the mystic division, in an urn lol
-Langstrom was gonna be Cadmus
-Ultimen were in the Doomsday backstory

-Whiz was in Clash

-Joseph Kuhr pitched a Zauriel episode where he falls for Cheetah...

Great find. So, other than very minor differences and the DCAU references, from what I see the script is almost exactly the same as the movie that ended up being released.

What was the reason to make it stand alone and removed from the DCAU instead of making it as it was intended to be originally? I can't find anything about it

Bruce Timm explained the reason why it turned into Crisis on Two Earths here. Basically, he had to gamble they could make the movie albeit in a stand alone format or take a gamble and wait x years for WHV to reverse their decision to pull the plug on World's Collide.

Another shocker: the outline for "A Brief History of Time" (aka "The Once and Future Thing, Part One") has future Superman aiding what's left of the future Justice League, and they're fighting the Fatal Five rather than cyberpunk Jokerz.

Wow, would have loved to have Newbern take a shot at the Beyond era Superman. Oof, glad whoever it was thought of using the Jokerz instead though.

 

[Antiyonder]

Wow, would have loved to have Newbern take a shot at the Beyond era Superman. Oof, glad whoever it was thought of using the Jokerz instead though.

I mean For the Man Who Has Everything did have Christopher McDonald reprising his role as Jor-El. Maybe he would have voiced Superman Beyond too?

 

[Yojimbo]

I mean For the Man Who Has Everything did have Christopher McDonald reprising his role as Jor-El. Maybe he would have voiced Superman Beyond too?

Good point. Probably would have down to his availability if it happened.

Also noticed in the Fearful Symmetry draft that Luthor's Into The Light is instead titled Luthor: Savior of Justice. The heroes summoned to Watchtower are Aquaman, Supergirl, Metamorpho, Static, and Steel. And bonus trivia for Karkull, when it became a standalone movie, it was called Crisis on Earth 2 but WHV was concerned people would mistake it for a sequel so it was renamed Crisis on Two Earths.

 

[Karkull]

Additional members of the Legion of Doom (they really did use the name in the scripts) that were mentioned in the "big reveal" at the beginning of "I Am Legion": Captain Boomerang, Crowbar, Fastball, Galatea, General Eiling (?!), Jack and Ten from Joker's Royal Flush Gang, Kalibak, the Shade, Shatterfist, Steven Mandragora, Tsukuri, Tala, the Ultra-Humanite, Vox, and Weather Wizard.

Speaking of Mandragora, apparently in the first draft of Gail Simone's script, his little boy's name was Adam instead of Edgar.