This should be fun- watching everyone rush to laugh at Warner Brothers for pulling the Johnny-Come-Lately act that the same people have for months laughed at them for not doing!
However, news that Warner Brothers has jump-started development on a Justice League Of America film comes from Jeff Sneider at Variety with the note that the hiring of Will Beall (Gangster Squad, Logan’s Run, Lethal Weapon 5) actually occurred before The Avengers made a billion point three fucking stupid dollars. Turns out Warner Brothers saw the writing on the wall when Marvel’s crossover was still shooting, and hired Beall to write them a team-up flick of their own (likely not long after he turned in that Gangster Squad script).
You’ll recall the George Miller iteration of the JLA film that was gearing up (as confusingly as possible) long before The Avengers had taken shape, circa The Great ’07/08 Writers Strike (remember those heady days when Nikke Finke was, oh so briefly, not a total piece of shit?). That project had folks like Armie 
Hammer and Adam Brody starring, and seemed like it was going to create the awkward scenario of two simultaneous Bat actors. That collapsed, but momentum picked back up again last year as WB began moving on a JLA film again with the goal of getting it in theaters by 2013.
At the time it was made clear that the JLA universe would be separate from the other DC franchises like Man of Steel and Green Lantern. I see no reason why that would not still be the case. I still think it’s kind of half-assed and weird (kind of TV-feeling, in a way), but it makes some kind of sense to isolate the team film and let the rest of the franchises bounce around as they will. It may not make quite as many hundreds of millions of dollars as Avengers has, but it will be interesting to see a cinematic hero universe built from the team-up, outwards. And then again, it may make exactly that many hundreds of millions of dollars.
I’ve harped on this before, but I still find it weird that people try to equate the traditional comic book Marvel Vs. DC rivalry to the film universes, even though that shit doesn’t scale. Marvel began this cinematic endeavor as its own autonomous studio that depended wholly on its successes to continue, and will likely operate much the same way despite being acquired by the mouse house. DC has long been a total subsidiary of WB, and has never operated with the kind of single vision that the Marvel MCU put together.
It’s like mocking an oil field for not operating like a coal train- the business models have always been different. What this has provided us is with the best of both worlds- a beloved IP like Batman has been stacked — entirely on its own — amongst the Potters and Matrix flicks and Ocean’s movies as a property to be individually developed, while Marvel has orchestrated a grand plan where the individual pieces have served a whole. So for this reason we’ve gotten a lot of unique, singular takes on Batman (some good, some bad), while with Marvel we’ve seen a lot of decent, but compromised films lead to something epic and web-connecting. To put it more simply: consider that this year alone will have provided us with two entirely unprecedented experiences as a result of both approaches, neither of which could have happened as they did at the opposite studio. Your mileage may vary on which has provided you more raw hours of entertainment — and the scales would be more balanced if flicks like Green Lantern and Superman Returns were actually good — but there’s certainly a creative value to both.
Cool things could come of a bigger cinematic DC universe, but I personally feel it should either be done all the way, or not at all. My own personal aesthetic OCD demands consistency, and two men of steel running around is going to bug the shit out of me, and probably more than a few of you. I predict the next few years will be fascinating and frustrating for those paying attention to WB/DC’s efforts. Of course now begins the fun of wondering what kind of villain will draw these heroes together, how the origin of the team and new characters will work, and all those other fan-exciting questions…
Thoughts are welcome below.
18 comments
Renn, I actually believe the comparison between the two companies’s cinematic universes is way more fair than you think. As you stated it, DC has long been a subsidiary of WB- Warner owns the entire DC Universe, to put it plainly- so, the cohesion between all of their properties should be as easygoing and smooth as Marvel can only dream of and wish for their own.
I’ve always- well, at least since I understood that aforementioned fact- been utterly flabbergasted by the complete lack of some- just about any- visible plan on Warner’s part to kickstart a route at the very least similar to what Marvel Studios just accomplished with the vast DC material at their complete disposal and the possibly intended course of action they are apparently announcing does nothing to put such amazement at ease.
We get volcano/, asteroid/, digital bugs/, Wyatt Earp/, Capote/, Linda Lovelace/, and Lincoln/movie races, but when it really becomes apparent that blatantly ripping off a successfully proven formula is the way to go they just decide to go and present the world with this bunch of costumed guys out of the blue.
Not the way to go, at all, in my opinion.
Let´s hope there´s some truth and rumor both to this; that they are indeed moving forward with the notion of finally bringing to life the vast, unused DC Universe, but that they are not actually thinking of doing it in such an abrupt, idiotic manner.
Just rip Marvel off and start the comic-book-movies-mash-up/movie race and maybe just about everyone will come out winning.
Anyone who has ever read more than three comic books is used to the idea of multiple writers and artists portraying a character. Why does Hollywood think the general public would be any different?
Give me a JLA Universe.
I’d be happy to see a standalone JLA movie. Recasting a new Batman would separate this incarnation from the “Nolanverse”, and therefore the Joker could also come back as part of the Legion of Doom. (Oh come on, don’t look at me like that. If WB wants to one-up Marvel, why not have the first big-screen supervillain team as well?)
I think Superman Returns is unfairly maligned. It may not be the Superman film that most were hoping for, but it works pretty well when you look at it as the ‘real’ Superman III.
Eloy, from my understanding Warner Brothers has always been its’ own worst enemy when it comes to adapting DC properties not called “Batman” and even then it isn’t always easy. Bearing in mind this his thirdhand information half-recalled from items I’ve read elsewhere, but in the past WB was so internally fragmented and each segment super “possessive” of their properties. This was why we never saw proto-Batman or Wonder Woman on Smallville, despite the producers desperately wanting to include him, or why almost all the Bat-villains were nonexistent on the Justice League Unlimited cartoon.
Which makes this current move hilarious, since it’s basically a complete reversal of the whole “We are scared that people will get confused if they see a different interpretation of the character in the same media!” policy they seemed to cling desperately to for years.
OK lets begin the fanwank casting. I’ll start – Christina Hendricks as WW.
Of course it will make as much, if not more. Superman, Batman, and Wonderwoman alone have way higher a profile in pop culture than all of the Avengers combined.
Yet the last Superman film only made as much or just a little bit more than some of the middle-echelon Marvel movies, and WB can’t figure out how to make Wonder Woman work. Maybe they CAN, but they’re just not willing to risk it. What does higher profile in pop culture even mean? Yes, more people have heard of them, but does that make people want to pay to see a movie about them? I think audiences are smarter than you think as far as that’s concerned.
For more on how WB manages to horribly MISmanage all things not Batman, I suggest reading “Superman Vs. Hollywood: How Fiendish Producers, Devious Directors, and Warring Writers Grounded an American Icon”. It often comes down to WB treating everyone like they’re the same character, like Batman ’89 made more money than Superman ever did, so the Batman approach should be used for everything. Also, and this has been mentioned in a lot of places, Superman always gets a pass and will always be around because he was first. Same with Wonder Woman, as she’s THE female superhero that everyone knows. Whether or not they can capitalize on the fact that these characters *ahem* “have way higher a profile in pop culture than all of the Avengers combined” remains to be seen, but they’ll never pull the plug on Supes or Wonder Woman entirely.
It’s not like mocking an oilfield for producing coal, it’s like mocking a whaling ship for existing in the age of diesel. DC’s path will not lead to prosperity.
Isn’t this a little like looking a gift horse in the mouth? I can’t believe that they’re finally gonna have the balls to put the Man of Steel and the Bat in the same movie. My poor comic geek brain is gonna explode. Its one thing to play with Ironman and hulk and quite another to have the 2 superstars of the comic book world in the same film!
First, WB and DC can’t just disregard the superhero trend and the money the avengers made. And the new 52 launch went amazing btw. Second, for comic book fans its enough to see Green Lantern arrive on OA (even though the movie wasnt good) and see Bruce meet Clark. Who cares if they change the actors or mess up the story. I m gonna be ecstatic anyway.
Now, the only thing left is the development of the long awaited remake of a Batman live action TV series with all the fixings. May Adam West be with us!!
Please stop suggesting Christina Hendricks for Wonder Woman…geez, being top heavy doesn’t make her perfect for the part. Cobby Smulders or whatever her name is, looks like a valley girl and Adrianne Palicki who might have been okay was given the worst costume in creation. Lynn Collins from John Carter please.
In any case, I agree Renn, its always been unfair to use the recent film achievements of Marvel in comparison with how DC manages, they’re both run very differently. I don’t think I would mind seeing a team film that wasn’t so interconnected. As much as I love Avengers, it was tough explaining plot points to a friend who hadn’t seen the other films. Not to say it wasn’t enjoyable but there is a conceit expecting everyone to have seen three or four other films before getting to this one.
Nevertheless, if DC gets it ass in gear, I’d love to see Jensen Ackles having a shot at Green Lantern :).
Superman Returns wasn’t unfairly anything, it doesn’t work either as a sequel or a reboot – it was a failure.
It’s not all about profile…DC characters and indeed the DC universe has problems.
The Marvel characters have their respective millions of dollars of design development behind them, as they each had their own budget and had to stand on their own as a movie. Whilst i’m not saying the budget for this movie will be by any means miniscule, you see the cash imbalance here. Plus the CGI assets for the characters were already made (mostly) for Avengers, and the money could be spent elsewhere. Having less money to spent on each character is not going to help matters. What we will see is that what worked about Avengers is the multiple movies combining into one, they all had (at least some) character development beforehand. We knew them (kinda). A JLA film will have hella problems on the script level.
Itz gonna be extremly cheesy
You’re in a dream world homie, no way it would take in that kind of money, 1.4 billion and counting, i don’t think so. Yes, the names are iconic, but only Batman resonates with the modern day film audience. If you we’re talking about with just comic book circles, than you would have a good argument. But “The Avengers” has gone far beyond any comic book limitations, it’s hit with absolutely every singel demographic, reaching even people who can care the least about comic book films. You’re thinking like a comic book fan, and that’s fine and all because i’m one as well, but i also have enough common sense to reckonize that we only represent a very small percentage of the whole scale movie going public. Can the ‘Justice League’ be a hit if done right, yes, but a 1.5 billion hit, no way. Name alone does’nt guarantee you a big smash, if that was the case ‘Superman Retunrs’ would have succeeded, and Wonder Woman was such a disaster that it was cancelled before it ever got the chance to air an episode on TV, don’t sound like pop culture phenomenons to me. All i’m saying is put your feet back on the ground, be realistic, and try not to get carried away.
Nah, Gina Carano as WW. Hendricks is hot and certainly has the rack to fill out WW’s corset. However, at times, she looks like a porcelain doll that would shatter into a million pieces were someone to punch her. Carano looks like she would catch the punch, breaking the person’s hand/wrist in the process, and follow that up by slapping her attacker into some sort of crazy Lasso-of-Truth-assisted submission hold, which would be the more likely M.O. of an Amazon-trained warrior/princess. Plus, she looked pretty hot in Haywire, too.
There was a story recently by Renn about WB moving forward with a Lobo movie (/90789/of-all-dcu-characters-wb-has-pushed-forward-lobo/). Renn posits a theory that could actually work really well with this annoncement about a JLA movie. Since in the comics, the creative team that puts out the JLA books does not necessarily work on the individual titles (i.e. Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, etc.), nor do the stories from individual or team books always have a bearing on each other, even though the stories all exist in the same universe, WB uses that logic to go in the reverse direction of Marvel with their film universe. While, the JLA franchise – because it features all of the big money the characters together in one movie – would be the big studio-controlled set of movies with a consistent, polished style and a set cast from movie-to-movie, the individual character movies would feature a more filmmaker-driven approach for better (e.g. the Nolan Batflicks) or worse (Singer’s ambitious Donner homage/sequel in Superman Returns) complete with their own separate casts. This could help distinguish the WB/DCU superhero universe from the MCU as audiences would not necessarily have to see the individual movies to understand what was happening in the JLA movie and vice versa – each entity would be enjoyed on its own and of its own merrits.
Comments are shown as archived from the original site; new comments are closed.