As Marvel Studios continue to green light ever ambitious projects based on increasingly obscure properties that further expand their cinematic universe, rival Warner Bros' beleaguered attempts to do the same with their DC heroes hit another brick wall.
Bad Ass Digest claims from their "multiple sources" tonight that WB have tossed Will Beall's (Tales From The Gangster Squad) script for the Justice League movie straight into the bin, realising some ten months after it was initially approved, that it actually sucks. No official word has come from WB or any of the trades but as no real movement on the Justice League film has been made in months, and still no director attached (and rumours that at least half a dozen, including Ben Affleck, had turned the chance to direct the script down)... it wouldn't at all surprise us if this were true and the film is "falling apart". Indeed comic book writer
Mark Millar claimed recently to have read the script and remarked the movie was an "excellent way of losing $200 million". Not much detail is given in Bad Ass Digest's report for what problems WB have with the Justice League script except to say that superheroes "(beyond the core five of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and Green Lantern) have been cut and added from the proceedings seemingly at studio executive will." They also claim to confirm that the rumours are true and Darkseid would be the villain.
The prospect of a 2015 release date must now look severely in doubt and it looks like WB may be back to square one with Justice League, as they look enviously on as to what Marvel are doing; kicking off Phase 2 of their cinematic universe with Iron Man 3 in April and already having tentative plans for how Phase 3 would look. Presumably WB will soon begin the search for a new writer to make sense of how Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash and friends should co-exist together in a live-action film. As Marvel have proved the best way is surely to introduce each character with standalone movies before creating an inter-connecting universe... though WB/DC clearly want to jump straight to their The Avengers equilivant... but the logistics of doing so are giving them a huge headache.