Marvel did five films in their lead-up to The Avengers. Warner Bros. response? “Fuck that, we can do it in one.”

That’ll likely be the case if and when Man of Steel hits. Regardless of its take on opening weekend, you can bet that Warner Brothers will make some sort of announcement in the realm of going full steam ahead on a Justice League team-up picture in the days after. The film is as yet without director (that we know of) but screenwriter Will Beall (Gangster Squad) is working on cranking out a treatment. And it looks like whatever creative powers are behind the film have already decided on a villain. Latino Review seems to think that Darkseid, war monger of Apokolips, will be handling any and all antagonist duties in the film.

Here’s Darkseid:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here’s Thanos, the Mad Titan: villain of The Avengers 2, coming out 2015, likely the same summer a Justice League picture would release:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both villains shoot cosmic beams and chew double mint gum.

I haven’t read a comic in over a year and a half, but I’ve always considered myself a DC guy. And I’ve long held onto the hope that fans would get a World’s Finest picture leading into Justice League. After Superman Returns, it wasn’t hard imagining Nolan’s Batman teaming up with Singer’s Superman. Nolan’s films would later outgrow such a teamup while the 2006 incarnation of Superman was taken out back and headshotted with a Kryptonite bullet. But I’ve always held a torch for Alan Burnett and Paul Dini’s take on the material. If you were going to lead into a Justice League movie, World’s Finest is where you start.  Team up Superman and Batman first, get that crucial dynamic out of the way in one extroidinary film, and then do Justice League. This lead-up, if it indeed comes to fruition, feels like a rush job.

Credit where its due, Marvel realized the mistake in jumping feet first into the team-up genre – opting for a healthy amount of world building instead. Which is also what lends itself to audiences being able to accept a villain like Thanos in the first place. Part of the reward in watching Cap share screen time with Tony Stark was in having already spent time with these characters on film.

Similar to “Spinal Tap, then puppet show.” Heroes first, then team.

Source: Latino Review via Collider