Despite a few critics insisting that it was a vacuous, emotionless affair, The Avengers generally smashed it so far out of the park that it hit the batsman on the back of the head. It was probably one of the most hotly anticipated movies of the last ten years (thanks to the clever post-credits set up that took place across five years of Marvel film output), and judging by its insane box-office business – currently, it’s the highest grossing comic book movie of all time – it certainly satisfied audiences the world over.
With the unprecedented success of The Avengers, DC and Warner Bros. Studios clearly had their excitement piqued by the prospect of raking in that sort of acclaim for their own Superhero ensemble: The Justice League of America.
Many of you are skeptical, arguing that DC have been floundering compared to Marvel of recent years, but I just don’t think that’s the case. Nolan’s Dark Knight franchise has doing it for world-wide cinemagoers for the last six years and before The Avengers knocked it off the top spot, The Dark Knight actually held the ‘most profitable comic book property’ moniker proudly. And let’s be honest with ourselves; not every Marvel movie leading up to the Avengers was even nearly as good.
Indeed there are many ways that The Justice League Movie could outperform The Avengers, both in terms of box-office success and critical reception. Here are just ten of ‘em.
We are currently seeking Film contributors on WhatCulture. To find out more about the perks of being a Film contributor, click here.
10 Comments
I liked Loki as the villain. He was already set up, it stayed true to the comics, and Hiddleston delivered a powerhouse bravado, Shakespearean performance. And I liked that he had the army because it gave us a chance to see these heroes be what they are: a team.
When you have one, solitary villain, you compromise “awesome villain” for “muddled” or “stupid” action. With an army villain, you’ve got all these heroes getting their moments to shine. When you have one villain, odds are the team is going to take him one at a time, a-la the Ninja Turtles with Shredder in the first TMNT movie (where they actually play rock-paper-scissors to decide who fights). And I’d rather it be a collective effort. After all, that’s the point of the movie, isn’t it?
Because you can only do Flash, Superman, and Green Lantern charging at Darkseid only to be batted away, then have Wonder Woman try to tie him up just to get thrown away, just to have Batman come in and plant some sort of “gotcha!” device on him, finally knocking him to his feet so many times. Seeing Iron Man throw down Chitauri by blasting Cap’s shield with repulsor rays was a literal one-second extravaganza.
I don’t want to see Superman one-on-one battle the primary antagonist of JL. He’s got his own film already for that.
I do agree with a lot of your points, though. JL can definitely learn through Marvel’s success.
WB has their work cut out for them. The bottom line is that Marvel spent years developing the back stories and (more importantly) the audience’s relationship with their characters. We’re coming into a DC franchise effort on the heels of the best representation of Batman ever. You can’t help but think that there will be a disconnect from Nolan’s Batman and whatever the new incarnation will be. WB may have introduced 3 of the main characters from JLA in their own movies but they’re wildly different in tone and there’s no implied tie in. JLA will definitely make plenty of money but in order to top Avengers it’s going to have to be done absolutely perfectly. I want to see a great JLA movie, but I really do not have high hopes.
Also, Loki was a good choice for the villain in the Avengers for us Marvel fans since it was his threat that brought them together in the comics in the first place.
EXACTLY! That is what had me so excited. As a helpless MARVEL fanboy, i was stoked to find out that it was Loki as the villian (and doubly so when in the movie his target was “releasing” the Hulk) as close to canon as you could ask of Hollywood.
I just hope that they eventually get to The Avengers 2.0 (once they get the Spiderman licence back) so that they can bring in The Sentry (who IMO is better than Superman cos he is more “human” in that he has serious mental problems but the power of a million exploding suns) which could lead to ‘The Dark Avengers’, which in turn could lead to a ‘Planet Hulk/World War Hulk’ movie (or series of movies). The Planet Hulk/World War Hulk has been one of the best MARVEL story arcs ever, IMO. It really made me sympathise and empathise with the Hulk whereas before i thought he was just a bit “RoidRage’ish”.
Superman isn’t actually the first superhero, some say Mandrake the Magician is the first superhero who was created four years before Superman.
Green Lantern 2 NEEDS to be The Sinestro Corps War to prevent the franchise from dying
I think that the Justice League has much better individual superheroes than Marvel, BUT… they just don’t work together in a shared universe. I also disagree that because their powers are more extravagant, that means the movie will be better. I think the opposite, the more outlandish the power the more unbelievable it would be viewed. That is precisely one of the main reasons why the Nolan films are better than the Shumaker/Burton versions of Batman. Fanboys are more accepting of omnipotent powers in heroes because they are already acclimated to the characters through the comics. The average person will watch Wonder Woman lasso someone and force them to tell the truth because of “magic” and many people will roll their eyes at this premise and many more will roll their eyes after watching Green Lantern creates a giant green bear to scare away some criminal. These kinds of things do not happen in the Marvel universe and I think while still fantasy is much more palatable. DC could potentially re-imagine their property in a way that could translate into film – I know because I know someone who did it – but for whatever reason I don’t think there is either the will or imagination to do so, which is a shame because after what I have read in the re-imagining, the Justice League could be one of the most epic series of films ever put on the screen.
A good list with some interesting points.
Like Cameron above, I definitely approve of Loki as the villain in Avengers, especially as he was also their first nemesis in the comics.
Anyhow, not to quibble, but point 6 (It’s Still In The Process of Being Made) is not really a way in which the movie could be better than Avengers, is it? What you’re essentially saying is that because the movie is still in production, then it has the potential to be really good, which is surely the point of the entire article and the other 9 points.
They should have Superman, Batman (Bruce Wayne), Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, and the Flash in a Justice League live-action film to stay true to the comics. In fact, all of the above characters are the founding members in the early 1960s.
i think they can make a JL film first because everyone knows the JL already. the avengers most regular movie goers dont know them. just make a good movie and all will be fine.
In regards to the A BETTER VILLAIN part……Its was to pay homage to the fact that Loki was the very first villain that the first incarnation of the Avengers (Iron Man, Thor, Ant-Man, Wasp, and the Hulk) fought as a team.
But anyhow, i lost faith in WB/DC. They give us a non-fantastical, un-iconic Batman franchise under Nolan, but havent been too successful otherwise in the live action department. And to think, WB/DC had so much of a head start of Marvel with Marvel Studios now being the trend setters.