The internet is aflutter with the sensational rumours that Christopher Nolan will oversee Warner Brothers’ Justice League expansion, possibly to be directed by Zack Snyder, and potentially starring Christian Bale as Batman. Early word from test screenings of Man of Steel seem to have infused the studio with new-found confidence in their big DC properties, and with the enormous success of The Avengers last summer (it is, after all, the third most successful movie of all time, not adjusted for inflation), a Justice League movie would seem like a no-brainer.
But superhero movies are hard enough to pull off well, much less large, ensemble films such as this one. Up until last summer, Bryan Singer’s X2 was easily the best and most deftly balanced ensemble superhero film ever made. However, the Justice League movie will face the huge challenge of combining different characters from films directed by various directors with differing styles. Even with Nolan at the helm, it will be a challenge to combine the over-the-top camp of Green Lantern with the dark, brooding hyper-reality of Nolan’s Batman series, for example.
However, in Nolan (and, hopefully after the release of Man of Steel, in Snyder as well) we trust, and luckily, the two auteurs have a third contemporary they can draw inspiration from: Joss Whedon, who so deftly and successfully balanced the different styles and sentiments of the Marvel super heroes in The Avengers. The Justice League movie has quite an uphill battle ahead of it, but in the meantime, here are five lessons the film could learn from the elements that made The Avengers work so well.
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8 Comments
I disagree with you on the following (although ultimately agree with your end point):
In your first point, while I agree that the Justice League movie should not dwell on their history, I do think that there should be dialogue that references their origins. Even in the Avengers, there is reference to who Captain America is and where he is from (voiced by Coulson), a bit of Black Widow’s history (voiced by Black Widow) and the dialogue between Thor and Loki briefly rehashes what occurred in the previous movie thus a review of their origins played a part in the movie.
Your second point would make it too much like the Avengers (as you point out in the concluding point). One of the things that I know people at WB don’t want is to be seen as copying the Avengers. I would rather see the heroes battle their own idiosyncrasies. For example, perhaps Wonder Woman is a loner who tries to battle whatever villain herself and has trouble asking for help, Batman goes through some level of self-doubt since the villain may be greater than anything he ever faced before. I think they should battle inner demons…not themselves.
I agree on the point about escalatio…BUT…I am challenged to see how The Dark Knight Rises did not have escalation. Batman is soundly defeated in the first encounter with Bane. When they first meet no one knows who will come out on top. The very fact that Bane defeated Batman so easily in their first encounter itself escalated the stakes in the second confrontation. He had to face an enemy who beat him before and had to do so in time to save the city from the bomb. That sounds like escalating stakes to me.
The BIGGEST PROBLEM to avoid is sticking to the cartoonish nature of comics books. Despite what “fanboys” may state, the record has been pretty clear. When you start talking about aliens billions of years old that live on Oa then you will lose half of the viewing public. That is not to say that these movies cannot have fantastic elements in it (in fact they need to have those things given the subject matter). However, there is a limit that comic books can cross and movies cannot. Moviegoers want an explanation of something that they can relate to. Everyone sites Thor as an example of the opposite view point when in fact Thor went out of its way to address the 800 pound gorilla in the room, that Thor was from another dimension and not simply a “god” with magical powers. I still found that flimsy BUT it was addressed and I think people let it go because of that effort to address it. The same thing in Catwoman, where she had these powers because a magical cat entered her life. If the Justice League and related films embrace the tangible universe and mold these stories of amazing beings around it, you are halfway there to making a good comic book movie.
The only lesson Justice League can learn from The Avengers is how to screw up a movie. Besides of a boring and predictable script, it makes no sense having, for instance, Black Widow, Captain America or Hawk Eye if you have Thor or Hulk (which could have beat the army by themselves). The only reason why The Avengers was done is the money (I don’t see any appeal in watching them all together, as I don’t see it in Justice League). Batman and Superman have been made for the same reason, although they have great scripts.
PS: Marvel can do great movies such as Spiderman 2, The Amazing Spiderman or Blade 1. Problem is Marvel will never understand that they can make great movies and win a lot of money at the same time…
The bad guy letting be captured by the heroes has been used some times before (curiously TDK has used it), so I think it was already a cliché in The Avengers.
Patrick: Well said on all points. I think the most important lesson is the final one: that at the end of the day, the Justice League movie needs to differentiate itself from The Avengers – while also finding new, fresh and original ways to tell a relatively similar story. I also definitely agree that avoiding the naturally cartoonish nature of comic books would be an important step – but I think Nolan and Snyder are probably on top of that!
Ethan: It’s a shame that you didn’t enjoy The Avengers. I certainly found it to be one of the best superhero movies of all time, with one of the most taught scripts. But to each his own! And at the end of the day, the reason why EVERY movie is done, at least in the studio system is money – but there is a reason Marvel took a gamble and bet on giving Joss Whedon the reigns – and it paid off in spades.
Mate, the whole “villain gets captured by the heroes is part of the plan” became a cliche after it was used to great effect in The Dark Knight. The Avengers, just like Skyfall last year, simply followed that trend, it hardly made it a clichè.
Making more than one billion doesn’t mean that a movie is good. Marvel should stop trying to atract people with that overused humor and give writers/directors more creative power. When they do, you have things like The Amazing Spiderman, Blade 1, X-Men 2 or Iron Man 1 (they are excellent movies, I hope my comments are not seen as a Marvel hater ones).
“taught script”? C’mon, the whole movie was predictable. The Avengers was a Marvel/Second Unit movie more than a Joss Whedon one.
Come on Ethan… you can sit back tell yourself that a movie isn’t good based on how much it grosses financially – but the simple truth is that the numbers don’t lie. Granted – there are some exceptions where truly great movies aren’t as well received. But Avengers is the 3rd highest grossing movie OF ALL TIME. If you think that it was predictable & a second unit movie – then you’re beleiving your own lies.
For that same reason Transformers 3 (the 5th highest grossing of all time) is a great movie. Isn’t it? You can believe me or not, I knew the whole time what was going to happen. Many of the non-action scenes where some kind of “cut & paste” from past Marvel superheroes movies (Barely none character development). Most of the time you can’t take “seriously” the story beacause there was too many humor.
Anyway, one thing is clear, since Marvel produces their own movies they can do right or wrong, but they are better than before (shame on the two Fantastic Four and a few others…)
I completely agree wit Ethan, it was predictable(to me that always happen when movies show too much in the trailers, they showed the team not getting along, they showed Loki being taken prisoner and ofcourse they win in the end)and it was a little disapointing. We all know why it made more than TDKR. And besides all that what’s happening with the rest of the JL roster?lol Because at this point it’s gonna be a Batman/Superman movie.