So, it’s back: after years of silence surrounding the Justice League movie adaptation, it now seems pretty certain that Will Beall will soon deliver a script that this time we’re likely to actually see hit the big screen in the not-too-distant future. Kick-Ass creator Mark Millar has given his support to the project, stating that from what he’s heard this will be a ‘dark’ interpretation of everyone’s other favourite superhero team. Meanwhile, fans everywhere are probably eyeing up their key candidates for the DC heroes who will make up the team, with the de jure consensus being that it’ll likely be the classic roster of Wonder Woman, Batman, Green Lantern, Superman, Aquaman, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter.
However, much as it seems that things can only keep getting better, as drafts are finalised and actors cast in the key roles, underneath all of the mounting anticipation and hype there lies a few potentially disastrous chinks in this film’s Kryptonite-infused armour that could make it more of a Fantastic Four than an Avengers Assemble if the team at Warner Bros and DC Entertainment aren’t careful. If the yet-to-be-revealed helm of Justice League wants the film to attain any kind of success, there are a few challenges he or she must be ready to face and overcome first…
1. The Dark Knight Rises… Again
There’s no doubt that for superhero fans everywhere, Christopher Nolan’s dark and grand Batman finale The Dark Knight Rises is one of their most anticipated films of the Summer blockbuster season. That’s to the credit of the success that Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008) have met in the past, and it is truly fantastic to see a DC Entertainment movie franchise performing so strongly in box office rankings.
That said, if DC and Beall are planning to essentially ‘reboot’ the lore of Batman for their Justice League film, there may be an adverse reaction to shifting the tonal direction of the Dark Knight so soon after Nolan’s interpretation concludes. Just look at Mark Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man; despite actually looking to be a genuinely unique and innovative take on the Webbed Wonder, this reboot of the Spider-Man franchise has been met with widely mixed reactions as a result of Andrew Garfield taking on the mantle not even half a decade after Tobey Maguire gave us his three entries. We’re probably looking at a 2014 release at the earliest or 2015 at the latest (to meet Avengers 2) for Justice League, so fans of Batman would have had barely two or three years to come to terms with the end of one of his film incarnations.
Whether this means Beall and the production team should recruit Christian Bale onto the project (unlikely, as Rises seems to be a definitive end to his version) or leave Batman out of the equation entirely is up to them, but either approach has drawbacks.
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27 Comments
You enjoyed Sucker Punch but think that Superman Returns totally suck… WTF is your problem?…. Please, just stop it.
They both sucked.
Hey Jose,
I reckon you’ll find that I wasn’t the only viewer who failed to enjoy Superman Returns- that we haven’t seen a Superman movie in years since that one goes to show how little overall positive reaction there was to that film. As to Sucker Punch, isn’t everyone entitled to their own opinion? Many people loved last year’s Scott Pilgrim movie, yet myself and a good number of critics thought it just didn’t live up to the hype, and to some extent that’s the same as the recent Prometheus. Everyone has their own opinions on films, I’d like to think mine are just as relevant as yours!
Cheers.
it might have been a better Superman if the lead didnt suck so much, thank god for a reboot on that one, sucker punch was better then superman so his opinion on that is fine with me as well.Not sure I disagree with who has the more recognizable characters though Superman and Cap are about a wash nearly as long a time as well , Batman is more then anyone else but the iron man movies make even that close , hulk is more then anyone after that probably the movies and the tv series but WW might be close, thor and aquaman probably a wsh there as well mainly because one of them has a succeessful movie as well, GL (my Fav DC superhero)was poorly cast as Hal jordan, should have been Kyle raynor if you keep RR as lead.And dont reboot Batman Just do a Worlds finest movie with whatever Batman you decide to go with in JLA, just make the movie well and have a good story can introduce WW, Martian MAnhunter in there nothing big On WW give a little Back round ON MM though, its needed and he cant Justify his own movie not enough people would see it(yet) then Give WW her own of course, really hope they do this right and take there time, im living in a fantasy land on that I know cause they are gonna do everything they can to jam this all together as afast as possible and it will end up SUUUUUUUUCKING which really does suck seeing as they have a blueprint already
DC characters may not be ‘more popular’, but what they are is ‘more recognizable’. Each character has an iconic insignia that EVERYONE even people who have never picked up a comic can recognize. Superman’s “S”, Batman’s “Bat”, Wonder Woman’s “W”, Flash’s “Bolt”, etc. People recognize them whether or not they even know the character. Compare that to the Avengers. . .Only Captain America has a logo, the rest don’t and thus don’t have that reach to those beyond comic fans.
DC has the advantage because they don’t need to establish the heroes. Everyone already knows who they are. They recognize the costumes (Aquaman’s Orange armor, Superman’s Blue spandex, etc.), they know the powers (Even if people still think Aquaman “talks” to fish), all the work is done. Prior to Avengers no one knew Iron Man or Black Widow, et al. They NEEDED the build up to introduce them to audiences.
As for the theme of this article, the only relevant problems I see were A. Green Lantern reboot and B. Man of Steel’s success. The other 3 problems were irrelevant.
To be fair, prior to The Avengers film EVERYONE knew Iron Man, thanks to the two recent, and largely successful, Iron Man films…with Black Widow though, you make a fair point.
DC would have to build the characters as much as Marvel had to. Thats generally how an action film works. You introduce the characters, build them a little, put them into a climatic situation, resolve said situation and end of film(sequels can be slightly different). They would also have to build them in terms of showing their powers. I have only ever seen the Justice League characters in Smallville and I have no idea if their powers were true to the comic or invented for Smallville, and that could probably true for a portion of their target audience.
Personally, as someone who’s a fan of comic book films but not the comics themselves, I would say that despite the latest avengers films, DC is still more popular because its two main flagship characters are Superman and Batman; and I would say those two are bigger than any other comic book character(outside of the comic book world; I have no idea who would be the biggest two among comic book fans). Put those two in a film, give it a good script and it doesn’t matter how much people like me are familiar with rest of the characters before the film; it has the potential to be bigger than The Avengers could ever be.
Meh to this article
Warner Bros listen. Let Nolan stew for a couple of years… We may get a fourth movie. Probably not, but we need time between reboots. I for one have no desire to see a non Nolan/ Bale Batman on screen for at least Another 6/7 years. Batman begins came 8 years after Batman and Robin, and that was a heap of turd… Following a mighty trilogy with a new vision 2/3 years later is suicide… Regardless if it’s a good film.
Green Lantern… Give it time to breath… It was an ok film but you put it in the hands of James Bonds director. Produce a stand alone sequel… Do not hold anything back. Give the fans Lantern and Sinestro and a strong backbone to the story… Dictatorship/ galactic politics… The one thing that was cool about GL1 was the cast… Keep Reynolds, keep Strong and lively. And hire a director with passion for the character and the universe.
Man of Steel… We’ve got Goyer and Nolan on story teller duty. And a visually incredible director working from their script. It could turn out very well… But again… Give this character space… There is news of slapping him in the justice league even before he has had chance to prove himself. THIS FILM CAN BE AWESOME!!!
Keeping your characters separate allows you to generate different moods for each fil
… Not all superheros have to be dark and gritty… Spidey2 is a great example… And in sone aspects Scott pilgrim VS the world.. AQUAMAN/ WONDER WOMAN / CYBORG can all be done justice on screen and do not have to be kneeling in front of grave stones cursing the world…
GIVE YOUR CHARACTERS THEIR IWN UNIVERSE, do not put star shapes in square holes… YOU WILL FAIL.
Might I throw out to you that to say that the Wonder Woman/Flash logos are widely recognised outside of fandom is ambitious at very least? I’m not trying to say that Marvel is absolutely iconic by any stretch of the imagination, but I’d like to think my other points are valid in that far more people widely know and care about events such as Civil War, origins stories of the likes of Spider-Man and the Hulk and countless other Marvel elements than they do DC. I just reckon that DC Studios need to improve the regard and recognition with which film fans hold their respective solo hero franchises before they try to combine them into some great Avengers-topping ensemble.
Apologies Screenwriter, last reply misdirected, it was aimed at Whatever’s comment! Cheers for the comment all the same.
No, all comic-book movies don’t have to be “dark” (whatever the heck that means!) but they don’t have to be stupid either. What many people claim to be “fun” is actually just dumb. I realize there’s some people who simply can’t enjoy a movie unless there’s some jokes. I call these the Will Ferrell moviegoers. They’re programmed to want comedy whether it fits or not.
These are the people who griped and whined like babies because Nolan’s Batmen films didn’t have any jokes. The same people who said a “serious” super hero movie would “never work.”
The same people who liked kick-Ass for being stupid retard-bait, but loved X-Men:First Class for being dark and serious, even though they were both made the same director!
It goes to show, catering to the comedy-mongers is a losing proposition.
I think after nipples on the batsuit and Scott Pilgrim these people can shut up now. In fact I insist.
Repeating that tired line of “they don’t all have to be dark,” is a thinly veiled ploy to talk people into forcing comedy into all these movies simply because you can’t enjoy a movie without tons of jokes.
Super hero movies work best when they take themselves seriously.
Same goes for Avengers. It wasn’t RED or Kick-Ass. However it was way too funny and that leads to self-parody (Batman and Robin anyone?) and as Iron Man 2 showed, you can get away with a super hero comedy once, but not twice. Serious and dark works all the time because smart and literal works all the time. Compare Sin City to The Spirit. Nuff said.
I just hope Whedon and Marvel better figure that out before Avengers 2.
Hey, i have a suggestion.. Im only 16 years old but who cares.. Lol… Seriously though, i think instead the director rebooting another Supermen.. He should consuder puttibg a crossover with batman abd superman.. Titled public enemies.. I remember an animated movie of batman and superman with the same title…. Then from there, the JL movie could start by the justice league forming due to a common foe… That would be awesome!!!
“is it really accurate to even begin to claim that DC Comics are more popular than those of Marvel Comics?”
This comment itself is ridiculous, you’re clearly not aware of the actual sales figures and statistics instead you just choose to take your assumptions and (what may seem like) prejudice against DC to make stupid statements.
If DC’s comics are so unpopular compared to Marvel’s comics why are there 7 DC titles in the top ten comics sold and only 3 Marvel comics in May?
It may also interest you to know that only a couple of months ago there were no Marvel comics in the top ten. It’s only thanks to the Avengers Vs X-Men titles that there’s any Marvel titles in the top ten. Even Aquaman was outselling every single Marvel comic out there a couple of months ago.
Also do you think the average non-comic book fan cared about the likes of Thor, Captain America or Black Widow before they were in any movies? My point is that comic book characters aren’t hugely well known before they’re given live action films so it shouldn’t come as any surprise to you that a lot of DC’s characters aren’t well known. Also I think from a visual stand point The Justice League is far more iconic and the chemistry between the characters is just as good as any Avengers comic you’ll read.
Don’t get me wrong I love both Marvel and DC, I just feel as though you’re being very unfair towards DC.
“the Martian-turned superhero”
….What?
“Is it really accurate to even begin to claim that DC Comics are more popular than those of Marvel Comics? If anything, I’d say the situation is quite the opposite in terms of vivid iconography and recognition of the comic-book industry. ”
I also have to say something about this. WTF are you smoking? The Hulk was the only hero from The Avengers that was widely known by the average film-going public prior to Marvel film’s Iron Man. Many people were asking, “Where’s Spider-Man?” when they went to see The Avengers. DC heroes are ICONIC and EVERYWHERE. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are in the DNA of this country and have been for decades. Marvel only really reached that deep into this country’s heart with Spider-man and The Hulk. Sorry, I love the hell out of both Marvel and DC, but you have to RECOGNIZE and HONOR the legacy that is DC Comics. Marvel rules their corner of the universe, with their flawed, fun and relatable heroes, but DC was there first and gave us the strong archetypes that everyone else riffs on and rips off. I can’t wait for the Justice League film. I’d love to see a Batman that’s closer to the one seen in the comics, prior to Nolan’s take. I think that for as strong as Nolan’s trilogy has been, a lot of people would be eager to see Batman back in the saddle again. I guess we’ll see how the world reacts to Man of Steel. If it bombs, forget about it.
DC VS MARVEL
new DC info on JL UPDATES EVERYDAY BEEG.COM
Justice League has an uphill battle. The Nolanites won’t even give another Batman a chance to make his own mark, so called fans by and large ignored Green Lantern, The Flash in my opinion can’t carry his own film, and Wonder Woman I believe would be a Green Lantern type of dud. Superman might be the one character of the bunch that will have some type of success as I think most of us are just anxious to wash the bad taste of Superman Returns from our mouths once and for all.
They are also in the unfortunate position of following in the footsteps of The Avengers, comparisons are unavoidable. Justice League should have been there first but they now could end up looking like sloppy seconds. Good luck to Warners/DC they’re gonna need it.
I believe they should have started to build up The Justice League in Superman: The Man of Steel, because not only is he the most Iconic DC character but he is also the most Iconic American character as well as The First Superhero. He is the one who started the DC Universe. So in order for the Justice League film to succeed, Superman: The Man of Steel MUST SUCCEED!!!
Superman may be an Alien from another Galaxy but people he is also one of the most relatible comic book characters because his secret identity Clark Kent is an Average American struggling to make it in today’s world!!!
The problem is half the super heroes from JLA are dated or stale throwbacks from the 50′s. Nobody wants to see Aquaman, he is lame and uninspiring, Green Lantern was an awful movie, in comic/cartoon form Latern is cool but on the screen his power can seem a bit hokey. With the Avengers all of their movies were good, people like Hulk, Ironman and Thor.
I’m not sure people will say the samething about JLA. If they’re going to make a JLA they need to modernize the heroes and leave out Aquaman, maybe even the flash because with the flash the only thing I can see from it is a lot of Matrix type special effects for him.
you wrote Green Lantern twice, just saying.
I did an article about this on my blog if anyone’s interested: http://teenagenerdyrocker.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/justice-league-movie-will-it-be-super.html
To honest, DC has more problems then the list you have there. Marvel has both shown how DC may fail and succeed.First, like you said some of the heroes of the JL are not that famous like Cyborg or the Martian Manhunter. But as Marvel has shown, not too well characters can be world names as shown by Iron Man, Thor and Captain America, but only with a well done film. Which DC has not been doing well lately. Thirdly the main problem is if DC can create continuity, as that allowed the Avengers to focus on developing the characters and show the dynamics of the team, when telling the origin. Finally it is harder as to make a JL story, as you probably have to use the Big 7, which takes not only more time harder to give each character screen time.
esta pendejo el q comento mierda aserca de DC, justice league es mi comic favorito y la verdad le rompe la madre a avengers que no sea pendejo el que escribio esto
Look, lets be honest.
I WILL WATCH ANY JUSTICE LEAGUE MOVIE.
So will anyone who has ever read, watched, or played them. Its a fact. Dont kill time by cussing about who’s directing what or who’s casting who. Wont change anything either way and like the kid sitting down at dinner, we will swallow anything put before us.
Just keep the moaning till after whatever we get, gets here.
Also, someone fire the entire cast and crew of Superman Returns, lest they taint any future movies with their curse of undying
I liked the Green Lantern. The fear versus will theme touched me.
I’m a fan of DC and I really want Justice League to beat The Avengers but this seems to be so hard since there are so many problems that the producers are facing.
The thing is, I think WB and DC should let their characters rest for a while. Last year we have the Green Latern, this year is the Dark Night rises and next year will be Man of Steel, and they’re all likely to be in The Justice League. 2015 is too soon, if they want all the actors from the original films to be in the assemble, they have to take their time. No matter how popular the characters are, if they use a completely different cast, the movie won’t be a success, The Avengers did it not only by reunite the characters, but also the actors who are already known in their own movies. That what makes success. Obviously The avengers did not have the best script or director, but the cast and the fact that it’s a reunion made it a big hit. I rather wait for more few years than see a complete strange cast to be in the Justice League, and worse is, the movie becomes a failure.
Even though I hate…hate…to admit it, I don’t think that the Justice League is slated to do well in the box office. The brilliance of the Avengers is that the superhero movies, for the most part, all referenced one another. They built and sustained anticipation for years. The DC movies don’t make any references to the other. You don’t see a reference to Green Lantern or Superman in the Batman movies, and you don’t see any references to Batman or Wonderwoman in the Green Lantern movie. They still have time to fix this if they are smart, but as it is, they are not properly building anticipation and references. Hopefully the new Green Lantern references another hero, or The Man of Steel references another hero. Not saying that it cannot be pulled off without references, but it certainly puts them at a disadvantage. I guess we will have to see how Man of Steel and the new Green Lantern 2 do before drawing any final conclusions, but currently it does not bode well. PLEASE FIX THIS! DC JUSTICE LEAGUE WOULD BE SOOOOOOOOO AWESOME!!!