7. Justice League of America
A Justice League film has been talked about for the last five years or so, since comic book movies have really taken off at the box office, and specifically, DC films, thanks to Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. George Miller (
Mad Max, Happy Feet) was reportedly signed on to direct early in the film's development, with a plan to possibly film it entirely in motion capture, ala Robert Zemeckis'
The Polar Express, Beowulf and
A Christmas Carol. When the studio felt that re-writes were needed, the writer's strike essentially derailed this, though Miller's casting choices did eventually become known; Adam Brody as The Flash, the relatively unknown D.J. Cotrona as Superman, Common incredulously as Green Lantern, model Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, and in probably the best bout of casting, Armie Hammer as Batman. Naturally, the choice to cast such young, inexperienced actors resulted in a negative backlash from the fan community, and the project was eventually put on hold in 2008. It was then announced that prior to a Justice League film, Warner would aim to release several standalone comic book films, much like occurred with Marvel's properties prior to
The Avengers. Furthermore, by 2010, Miller's film had been scrapped, and Christopher Nolan was himself frequently rumoured to direct a newly-envisioned version, which he vehemently denied. Though executives stressed the importance of crafting strong standalone DC films, the colossal success of The Avengers changed this stance, and writer Will Beall (
Castle, Gangster Squad) was hired to write a script which would feature Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman as the protagonists. As Warner court directors following Ben Affleck's passing on the project, a release date for Summer 2014 is being considered. With the perils of casting iconic characters like Batman - especially in the wake of Nolan's outstanding work on the character - and Wonder Woman, as well as finding a director capable of pulling off such a momentous task, it's difficult to imagine that the film will get anywhere close to being released two years from now, and even beyond that. Basically, we'll believe it when we see it, and its moving forward will presumably hinge somewhat on the success of Zack Snyder's
Man of Steel next year.