When Justice League came out in 2017, the film bombed with fans for many reasons, but the most perplexing objection Joss Whedon’s version faced was the dubious CGI work that was done on Henry Cavill’s upper lip, leading to what quickly became known as mustache-gate. Zack Snyder’s Justice League did away with this incredibly distracting problem, yet some talented creators weren’t so happy to see it go.
The explanation for mustache-gate in the first place was that after Snyder left the Justice League production due to personal reasons, Whedon decided to reshoot several scenes with the added problem that Cavill had now grown a more than respectable stache for his role in Mission Impossible: Fallout. Ultimately, things came down to an agreement between studios (or lack thereof), that basically made it impossible for Cavill to shave, thus resulting in a matter of digitally removing the mustache in Justice League rather than adding it in Mission Impossible.
When the Snyder Cut came out, the YouTube channel Corridor Crew took an eye at the movie for the many cinematic changes that Justice League underwent, namely in the special effects department since it’s their area of expertise. This prompted Corridor Crew to embark on a challenge to digitally Deepfake Cavill’s mustache back into Justice League, which is not a small feat and requires some pretty powerful hardware, as well as tons of hours of work to pull it off.
Like the guys from Corridor Crew explain, the biggest challenge here is matching Cavill’s very different facial expressions from Justice League to those in Mission Impossible, which really makes the contrasting personalities of both characters stand out. The results are nowhere near their masterful Mark Hamill Deepfake for Star Wars, but viewers who haven’t seen the movies and are not aware of the scandal might be fooled at first glance.
Of course, Corridor Crew also had a lot of fun making this video, so they also attached some less flattering mustaches to Cavill’s face, everything from handlebars to Yosemite Sam’s red mustache, and even their own comically large mustache built from the ground up in an even more complicated action scene. The YouTube channel also started its own #ReleaseTheMustacheCut campaign that echoes the current calls to #RestoreTheSnyderVerse, and it will probably be just as successful.
Corridor Crew’s previous video goes into great detail to establish some of the key differences between the Snyder Cut and the original Whedon Justice League release. In the video, the entire team comments on everything from the CGI hot dogs to the different camera angles, lighting effects, and Steppenwolf’s extreme makeover for the better.
Zack Snyder's Justice League is now available on HBO Max.
Source: Corridor Crew/YouTube