Justice League Movie: 3 Major Issues Writers Will Have To Overcome

2. Balancing the Powers

Everyone loves to joke about how Superman could essentially do the jobs of all the rest of the Justice League all on his own, but really, any one of the major members of the League are pretty overpowered. Whereas the Avengers operate on something of a grading scale of power ability, with Black Widow on the low end and Hulk on the other, most of the League is at the top of the food chain. Superman can basically do anything, Martian Manhunter can do even more, and Green Lantern can make anything, just as examples. And Batman? Batman is the most overpowered of them all at this point. Thanks to his impossible planning abilities, knowledge of seemingly all things, and limitless gadgets, absolutely no one will ever bet against Batman in a fight. Not even against Superman. So the question is how to make each of these supers a vital member of a functioning team. I think that the Justice League TV show got this right (along with pretty much everything else one can possibly get right about superheroes) by very rarely using all the team members at once, and rotating who would be featured in each episode. Obviously, that isn't an option for this movie. So how will this work? I think the answer is tied directly into whatever threat is concocted for the heroes to face in the film. It has to be a problem that can't be conquered solely by physical might, nor intellect, nor otherworldly energies. In the comics, the first villain the Justice League fought was Starro, a space starfish that could take over people's minds. A giant starfish? Physical challenge. Dealing with innocent, mind-controlled people? Intellectual challenge. Alternatively (and this is what I would like to see), you could have the Legion of Doom or some other supervillain team be the antagonists, creating a nicely diverse set of challenges to overcome. Again, though, if you're dealing with introducing all these new characters, it would probably be too unwieldy. Another reason to start with the team already in place!