I wonder if the writers on the WB show “Smallville” can write in any DC character they want or do they have to get double secret super permission from DC before doing this?
Sigh… “carte blanche”
I would say no, simply because Bruce Wayne hasn’t shown up yet, although they’ve been talking about the possibility for years.
I bet the rights to present televised live-action versions of the Batman characters are still owned by the guys who produced the short-lived Birds of Prey series. That series started in 2002, and assuming a five-year contract (renewable if the series had lasted longer than 2007), I guess we won’t see any Batman-related characters on Smallville before it ends its run.
Similarly, I’d guess the only reason a Flash-like character could appear in 2004 is because the rights owned by the guys who made the Justice League of America pilot (in which a Barry Allen Flash was featured) movie in 1997 had expired.
With the exception of Birds of Prey, there hasn’t been a live-action television version of DC characters concurrent with Smallville competing for character rights, so I’d guess that any non-Batman character was up for grabs. Gough and Miller (the production team behind Smallville) have the rights to an Aquaman series based partly on a Smallville appearance by the character, though whether that pans out is anyone’s guess.
That said, the whole issue of character rights is a tricky one. Recall the never-released 1994 film version of The Fantastic Four, supposedly made because the rights-holders were about to see their contract expire unless they produced something tangible. Similarly an ongoing dispute between Kevin McClory and EON productions (going back to the early sixties) created a massive hassle and curtailed James Bond movies through the early nineties.
I’m not an entertainment lawyer, though, so this is all lay speculation. Take it for what it’s worth.
Batman Begins made sure Bruce Wayne/Batman were off-limits. Warner Brothers is really weird about who gets to play with which characters. I’ll bet it’s the same for Wonder Woman now that she’s got a movie in the works.
Yep, there are a few. Granted, this is in reference to JLU, but it’s still applicable.
I dunno, I bet distinctions are made based on the medium involved. Someone might have the rights to live-action film, someone else the rights to live-action television, animated film, animated television, animated direct-to-DVD etc. There’s money to be made in any medium, so DC probably doesn’t have a problem grabbing as many licensing fees from as many different people as possible.
The comic book Superboy was pretty ridiculous in that he met up with basically evryone who would be important in his life while still a teenager in Smallville except for possibly a Baby Jimmy Olsen. Lex Luthor, Mr. Mxyptlk, Lois Lane, Perry White, Bruce Wayne,Barry Allen, Hal Jordan, Oliver Queen, etc. Not to mention a bunch of Kryptonian survivors (my “favorite” being Dev-Em, Superboy’s juvenile delinquent neighbor back on Krypton), and real life cameos, such as when Bonnie & Clyde showed up in Smallville to rob the bank.
When’d he meet Lois? Or Barry and Hal, for that matter? I’ve read several Lex Luthor and Mxyzptlk stories, and one with Bruce. I’ve read of (but not, as yet, actually read) the Ollie and Perry stories. But I’ve not seen stories where he met Lois, Hal or Barry as a kid.
I don’t ask because I doubt it happened, I ask because I want to track the stories down.
How Clark Kent Met Lois Lane (cryptic title, huh?), presented in Adventure Comics #128, May 1948. The teenagers are winners of a “best school newspaper reporters” contest and employed as cub reporters for one week at the Metropolis Daily Planet. The editor’s name was Morton, though, not Perry White. The young characters are indistinguishable from their adult selves, with Lois finding Clark dull but Superboy exciting, as he rescues her from one scrape after another.
Strictly speaking, they didn’t actually meet in Smallville, though.