In the midst of many attempts, DC has only had one real cinematic success story in the past decade: The Dark Knight trilogy. Before Batman Begins, the last we had seen of Batman in a motion picture was 1997's Batman and Robin. For years, it seemed that that travesty had done what the Joker never could and dealt Batman a final blow. Then along came Christopher Nolan and Batman was suddenly cool again. With The Dark Knight Rises marking the end of the new Batman era, Warner Bros. is looking to recapture that magic with it's oldest hero, Superman. Along with the rising fervor for the Man of Steel reboot are whispers that this new film will be the jumping off point for DC's shared film universe. Not only that, but execs at DC Entertainment are already planning release dates for a Justice League movie, said to be readying for release in 2015. If rumors are to be believed, DC plans to deviate from Avengers' formula by releasing the team-up movie BEFORE giving each hero their solo films. While this is no doubt an attempt to separate themselves from Marvel's films, I think it will end up doing more harm then good. There is an alternative, however. DC has a secret weapon that would introduce the idea of a shared universe but would prevent one movie from providing all of the origin stories for four+ members: a long established tradition of Superman/Batman team-ups. In 1941, DC published the first in a new series of comics called World's Best. After the first issue however, the name was changed to one that comic fans should more easily recognize: World's Finest. This new series featured Superman and Batman, DC's biggest names, in separate stories. Soon, the pair began to join forces to take on bigger foes which continued through 1986 when it was cancelled. It wasn't until 2003 that the pair would find themselves together again in a new series called Superman/Batman. This new series explored in much more depth the intricate and complicated relationship between the two as they dealt with the presidency of Lex Luthor, arrival of Supergirl, and Mr. Mxyzptlk's antics. The series was, for the most part, well received by critics and fans and sales of a few issues set records. Aside from the genius of pairing your top selling superheroes, these stories demonstrated the versatility of the DC Universe better than any I have found. Assuming that the upcoming Man of Steel movie is a success in the vain of Batman Begins, DC and Warner Bros. would be smart to consider making a World's Finest film before any Justice League feature. One reason that comes to mind is that currently there is no Batman franchise. Christopher Nolan's trilogy has ended and while some would like to see that story continue, I think it is naive to think Batman is not looking at a reboot in the next few years. However this inevitable reboot will most likely not be an origin story. I believe it would be more interesting to use a World's Finest movie to introduce the Dark Knight, maybe early in his career, to the Man of Steel's world as built by Nolan and Snyder. This would establish a shared universe and a new iteration of Batman. Another reason this would be a good decision is that Batman now has the largest audience he has ever had. The Dark Knight trilogy brought him back in a big way and drew in people who would have never considered themselves fans. For this reason, Warner Bros. will no doubt be tempted to make any Justice League movie a Batman movie featuring the Justice League. I think this would be a major insult to these characters who deserve equal footing and would be akin to making the Avengers movie all about Iron Man. After a Superman/Batman movie, the Justice League would be a lot easier to swallow especially if we see hints of others in the film. By the time a Justice League movie came around, Superman and Batman would be old friends mentoring a group of other superheroes. I would still like to see individual movies for each hero, but if that is out of the question, I think we should at least see the World's Finest in action.
