Zack Snyder "would set [‘Justice League’] on fire before" using any of Joss Whedon’s version.
The 54-year-old director was replaced on the 2017 movie by Whedon after stepping away following the suicide of his daughter Autumn but Snyder is now working on a new cut of the film, featuring only his footage, and he vowed not to use any of Whedon’s work.
During a panel for Justice Con, he said: "There is no chance on Earth that I will use a shot that was made after I left the movie. I would set it on fire before I use a single frame that I did not photograph. That is a f****** hard fact… I would literally blow that f****** thing up."
He also revealed that after he made the decision to leave the movie during the post-production and editing phase, he did not choose Whedon as his successor but said the hiring had been made "by committee".
And Snyder called the released movie "Frankenstein’s monster" as it used footage he had shot along with Whedon’s reshoots.
Fans had long speculated that Zack would have offered a darker take on the story and have long campaigned to release his version, and he revealed in May that it’s coming to HBO Max in 2021 as either a lengthy new film or a six-part series.
He previously said: "It will be an entirely new thing, and, especially talking to those who have seen the released movie, a new experience apart from that movie."
The director – who hasn’t seen the cinematic version of the film – never expected to release his take in this way.
He said: "When we left the movie, I just took the drive of the cut on it. I honestly never thought it would be anything…
"I always thought it was a thing that in 20 years, maybe somebody would do a documentary and I could lend them the footage, little snippets of a cut no one has ever seen."
His wife and producing partner, Deborah Snyder, added: "With the new platform and streaming services, you can have something like this. You can’t release something like this theatrically, but you could with a streaming service. It’s an opportunity that wasn’t there two years ago, to be honest."