Let’s keep this simple.
Drew McWeeny has apparently dug up some grapevine-traveling word from around the halls of Warner Brothers suggesting that not only is a plan being formulated to put Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the Bat suit in Justice League, but that he and another Nolan trilogy actor are being tapped for an unknown purpose here soon.
So, the meat of this is that not only will Nolan’s Dark Knight continuity effectively continue on, but that it will become part of a shared universe with Man Of Steel and the soon-boiling Justice League film hinged around Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character moving forward in Bruce Wayne’s place. Also, this news very subtly jibes with older rumors from WB concerning their plans to skip an origin, start the hero back up in Justice League, and follow up with a year-two caped crusader story in a film called The Batman (which nicely turns “Batman” into a title one hold’s, rather than a single person now don’t it?). It distinctly does not jibe with rumors of Armie Hammer being up for the role again, but I’d call bullshit on that line of thought quicker than any of the rest of this stuff, frankly.
The gristle of this story is the speculation that starts- are JGL and, say, Gary Oldman or Michael Cain (I’d guess the former) perhaps being pulled in for a Marvel-style stinger to be added onto Man Of Steel? How will continuity be handled between the new Superman film, Nolan’s trilogy, and the team-up films? Etc. etc. etc.
I’ve long said that it would be a smart way to do a soft reboot on Batman to let JGL to continue forward, while also allowing a new director to make a new stamp with a Batman that would inherently have to be more detective than ninja (Rian Johnson? Eh? Eh?). Already I’m seeing frustrating levels of geek silliness on Twitter, asking how this would make sense with Bruce Wayne still around (he’s old, decrepit, retired, and has definitively passed the torch to someone able-bodied. DONE.) or how this or that won’t fit together.
I think it’s a little early for all of that. Let’s pop the breaks and deal with the baseless speculation at hand! If you’ve got thoughts, I wanna hear ’em. Shout out down below on how you think this could (or why it won’t) work out.
Source | HitFix
12 comments
This is a terrible idea on many levels. Why would you want to introduce Superman into the Nolanverse and why would you want to start a Justice League franchise with a non-Bruce Wayne Batman? This is just evidence of the WB’s desperation to cling to the one sure superhero property they have. It’d be one thing if they could get Bale back, but if not they need to just let Justice League be its own thing.
It’s only slightly better than someone wanting to turn that “Grayson” into an actual film someday…….geeks who haven’t seen the seasons change this millennium hope that happens.
How is this not setting up Batman/Nightwing? I mean, if something is going down on a world wide level, does anyone think Wayne would just sit on the sidelines and watch the fireworks? No way. Dude has some little machine somewhere that will go off and he will suddenly think that donning the suit is a good idea. And does anyone want a movie with two bat-men? Skip the Robin, go straight to Nightwing. Done, end of story. Warner’s/DC, message me on twitter (@barrystiglets) and i’ll give you details about where you can send my check.
It doesn’t matter how old and decrepit Bruce Wayne is. As long as he’s alive (which he is) and has his mental and physical faculties intact (which they are) he will always be Batman. Period. Anyone one else in the Batsuit is merely a caretaker until Bruce decides he’s had enough of sunbathing and boning Selina in Venice, and returns to Gotham. If TDKR had the balls to kill Wayne, then JGL as Batman has some credence. But it didn’t (in fact it was a shitty movie with a shitty conclusion) and this nonsensical idea is doomed to failure.
Fuck it. *DO IT*. Why? We need some brave ideas and this might just be one of them. In a Justice League movie we aren’t going to watch it to see BRUCE WAYNE, we are watching it to see BATMAN. Plus, who cares realistically. I’m a massive Batman fan, and I want to see this happen. In the comics, Batman wasn’t Bruce Wayne for years at one point, so this isn’t a new idea.
Under most circumstances I could see the argument that this is a terrible idea, but Nolan’s Bat-films comprise one of the most successful movie trilogies of all time, and by the time Justice League actually hits, there will be even more people that have seen it via home viewing. Continuing on with JGL in the role wouldn’t be so crazy when you figure that millions of people would recognize the carryover from TDKR and probably appreciate it even if it twists fanboy panties into knots.
That having been said, overcoming the inherent “pseudo realism” of the Nolan Bat-verse to suddenly fold it into a larger superhero universe…would be painful, but not insurmountable (especially if you establish Nolan’s trilogy as having occurred before the other superheroes became active). The more difficult part is justifying Batman’s place in the League when neither Bale-Batman nor Blake Pre-Batman have been shown to be nearly so omnicompetent as the comic book Batman. I simply can’t see either character standing up to Superman or Wonder Woman as an equal.
I have to agree with weresmurf. Getting hung up on continuity at the expense of actual storytelling is what is killing DC Comics for people like me, who got into comics about ten years ago, but have slowly drifted away because the top brass keep tinkering with things. DC (and by extension Warner Bros) don’t have to completely rip off the Marvel playbook in order to be successful; they just need to stop going for the quick buck and commit to making films that don’t suck massive donkey bollocks.
I love JGL – but way too small for The Batman! Nightwing or Batman Beyond maybe…
Amen Brother! Tbh, I saw the teaser for this Supes and just thought instafail. If the most exciting thing that happens his him sonic booming, only my die hard mate will love this film. Though… saying that it can’t be worse than the TV pilot for the Justice League.
The part of me that would really like to see DC make a successful JLA franchise says that this is a good idea, since the carry-over continuity may compel casual Bats-fans to pony up for a JLA film to see how JGL continues in the role. But then the part of my that was bored and annoyed by the Nolan films quails at the prospect of miring an expanded JLA universe in the same gloomy tableau. Fuck Nolan’s relentlessly dour, self-important Batverse right in its ear. Start fresh.
Entertainment Weekly is now saying JGL said the story is “completely false.”
http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/11/27/joseph-gordon-levitt-batman-justice-league/
Let’s suppose for a moment that MAN OF STEEL and JUSTICE LEAGUE will indeed be set within the continuity Nolan established. Where does that leave the Joker? If we were dealing with an entirely new universe, he could be easily recast with another actor’s completely different take on the character. But if the Joker is to reappear in WB’s future movies, will they just cast an actor who could channel Heath Ledger’s version? Wouldn’t that be unfair to the actor?
Comments are shown as archived from the original site; new comments are closed.