Justice League Movie: 5 Ways To Build The Universe

A Justice League of America movie has the potential to be the greatest superhero film of all time. Forget about The Avengers or even Christopher Nolan's excellent trilogy of Batman films; a good DC ensemble would blow them all away. Rumours have been circulating for quite some time about which direction DC will take. Will they opt for a more grounded portrayal of its characters or will they try and replicate Marvel's success with The Avengers? The rumoured storyline seems to suggest that DC will carve their own path. They plan on skipping the origin stories of most characters apart from Superman, who will kick-start the universe with Man of Steel. Instead, JLA will start where The Avengers finished - the introduction of an inter-galactic storyline. Darkseid has been rumoured to be the main super villain and to be honest, I think this could be a master-stroke. Who cares if The Avengers introduced Thanos first? Marvel fans are going to complain about the similarities no matter what. Anyway, Darkseid was first introduced by DC, and as Thanos was clearly inspired by his introduction, it's all fair game. Of course, this is all speculation.The biggest challenge DC faces is deciding whether to recast every character for the JLA or to implement Christopher Nolan's universe, as well as Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern. Building the universe will act as the foundation for which all future plans will be built upon, so it's imperative that it's done right. Marvel did an excellent job integrating the origin stories into their universe but DC needs to carve their own path. Superman will be explored in Man of Steel, Green Lantern is already established (even if the movie wasn't great) and everybody knows how Batman came to be. DC need to focus on the bigger picture and use the Justice League of America movie as a launchpad for other characters who need the exposure. Building the DC universe won't be easy, but here are 5 ways to do it.

5. Keep Ryan Reynolds As Green Lantern

GG Green Lantern wasn't a great movie but it was by no means terrible. The writing was mediocre and the overall tone was unbalanced, but the main reason Green Lantern failed was because it tried to accomplish too much - a problem that also plagued Iron Man 2. Recasting the titular character might be most fans' wish, but I think Ryan Reynolds is too good an actor to be simply discarded. Sure, he didn't do the character justice the first time around, but that doesn't mean he shouldn't be given a second chance. JLA should open with short introductions to each character, starting with a more serious Hal Jordan who has learned to accept his responsibility. I would scrap plans for a standalone Green Lantern sequel and instead make him a main character in JLA. All that would be needed is an introduction to Superman by Martian Manhunter, which brings me to my next point...
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Barry O' Halloran has been a whatculture writer for the last two years and having recently graduated, now plans on writing about games & movies until his hands fall off. Follow him on twitter!