What now for the DC-verse?

Cafe Society
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So Man of Steel has been a big hit, and isn’t half bad (not brilliant, but not half bad), and the DC executives are itching to get on with their plans to build the next installment in their movie franchises, but they’ve got a problem. What do they do next? Assuming that DC’s end game is to make a fortune from a JLA movie, how do you think they should play it?

For me, rebooting Batman so soon after Nolan’s movies would be a bad idea. The next Batman movie has to be slightly less real world, and slightly more more comic booky, if its going to exist alongside other superheroes. Its already a tough gig for any director, but this could make it a bit of a poisoned chalice. Also, whoever takes it on might have to have Nolan as executive producer, so whatever they do, its going to draw a lot of comparisons to the Dark Knight trilogy. Ideally, Batman needs a rest for 5 years.

After Batman, the other members of the JLA don’t have a lot of mainstream appeal. Green Lantern didn’t do well, so they either need to reboot that, or go with one of the other lanterns (Guy Gardner could work). I’m not sure that Flash is strong enough to carry his own film, and Wonder Woman is so dated, she is going to be tricky to fit into the new gritty universe that Man of Steel has established (and lets not even get into Aquaman)

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I don’t think it would be a good idea, but they might just decide to go straight to the Justice League movie.

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As I understand it, they are already working on the next Batman series of movies, because it’s a proven moneymaker. They having a fairly big name (can’t remember who just now) working on the JLA script. Wonder Woman is a distinct possibility.

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Seriously? It’s a huge criticism of comic book movies that they’re always about white guy heroes. There actually is a fairly well-known Green Lantern (from the JL/JLU cartoons) who isn’t another white guy. But you went with… angry white guy GL?

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:dubious:

What a truly bizarre statement.

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I agree and I don’t even like grittification. If they were able to do it to Supes I see no reason they can’t do … whatever it is that they did to him … to WW.

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I can see both Flash and WW working with some re-imagining and real-world-ification.

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Will Beall? One of the writers for Castle, also writing the Logan’s Run reboot.

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Yeah, I’ve heard those rumours, and I think they are probably correct, but personally, I don’t think its a good idea. I’m asking how they SHOULD play it, not what they actually are doing.

Because John Stewart isn’t any more interesting than Hal Jordan. Guy Gardner is actually quite a fresh character in terms of superheroes, because he’s a complete dick. He would actually provide something new in a superhero film, and it would be great to see Batman having to deal with someone who isn’t remotely intimidated by him.

You think? I’m not very up to speed on Wonder Woman, I must admit, and its probably changed a lot since the New 52. Isn’t it all lost islands full of Amazon Women, invisible planes and truth ropes, or has that all been phased out?

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Seriously? :dubious:

You’re about 2 or 3 decades late to the party. Most of those elements are still around, I guess, but it’s not some kind of lurid softcore, bondage comic.

And that’s the case even pre New 52. One of major moments in Infinite Crisis (which is itself 8 years old now) was WW killing Maxwell Lord on national TV.

They’ll need to introduce her somehow, though. I don’t see any sort of Justice League movie (which DC has been desperate to get going for years) without what is basically their only major female superhero.

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Yeah, never read a Wonder Woman comic in my life. I think I have a copy of JLA where she turns up, but thats about it.

Also, depends on what version of the JLA you are talking about. When I used to read it, they had quite a few female members; Fire, Ice, Power Girl, Huntress, Black Canary and a few more. Admittedly, none of them have any mainstream exposure, but then, neither did Black Widow and Hawkeye

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Per IO9, DC is working on a Man of Steel sequel as well as a Wonder Woman movie by 2015. I’d like to see WW, no doubt, but I would hope that they can figure out how to do it right. They would have to get away from the WWII roots, I think. Maybe Diana’s mom can say “Hey Diana, I used to be Wonder Woman back when, time for you to take up the mantle.” Was Queen H the WW in WWII still? I know there was some point where DC said that she went back in time.

I think Wonder Woman will also have problems with her rogues gallery. Maybe she can come to the land of mortals to stop Ares or something. Her only other villain that people would recognize is Cheetah. Then again, cat fight, woof woof!

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First things first, they need to get out a quality sequel to Man of Steel ASAP. As I understand, Warner Bros. even before the film was officially released already fast-tracked the sequel, so I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw the sequel in 2015. But, really, they need to get something out next year that is consistent with this universe.

I agree that it’s too early to do a Batman reboot, trying to run with Christian Bale or JGL as Batman isn’t going to work. However, Batman is well enough established that he really wouldn’t need a movie prior to Justice League. I could see them doing a little name dropping of him in some other film and leaving a lot of anticipation for Batman on Justice League. For instance, Bruce Wayne could be mentioned as a business partner with Lex Luthor in the Man of Steel sequel and be given a little screen time as just Bruce Wayne, not unlike how they had Harvey Dent in the Tim Burton Batman with the intention of having him be Two Face later and then scrapping it for the campy version by Tommy Lee Jones. They could also drop Batman’s name in comparison to other heroes, talking about how he’s a vigilante and above the law, essentially just letting him be an established hero. IMO, he really needs to be a bit older when he’s in the Justice League and not fresh out of an origin story, so that could work really well.

Hell, have him working with Lex specifically because he believes he’s corrupt and going to use the Kryptonian technology for nefarious reasons, so he’s stopping him internally while getting his own hands on it to help establish the Justice League, use it to build the Watchtower, and he could be a Nick Fury type character who has the experience as a hero, realizing they could do more together and gathering the people together and at the end of the sequel, he and Superman know who eachother are and he invites him to join the club.
I really think they need a Wonder Woman. That’s one place where DC can get a leg up on Marvel because, while Black Widow is cool, she’s not a hero on the level of Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America. It would be a bit of a risk, but DC having a successful female hero as the solo lead of a film would be cool. She definitely needs a lot of modernization, even moreso than in the JLU cartoon, to work as a film. They need to take the same sort of approach to her as they did with Superman in Man of Steel, pretty much just not using the name Wonder Woman, letting it be dropped once, and just having her go by Diana or whatever.The biggest problem, though, is I don’t think Greek Gods, as is, is going to work, and the other obvious solution would stink too much of copying Thor.

I’d love to see Green Lantern done right too, but I’m not really sure how. I think the biggest problem with that film, other than the awful script, was the selection of basing it on Hal Jordan. While he’s the best known Green Lantern, he’s not going to work well and, frankly, I think his character would have too much overlap with Flash. I think JLU made a wise choice with Jon Stewart, his character worked well and added some diversity, but they could pick any of them. Hell, they could do a sort of partial reboot by skipping the origin, having another lantern for some reason, and picking up with Sinestro as the villain.

As for Flash, I’m not sure how he’d do in a solo movie. He probably should get one, but only to help establish his character and so he could be thrown into the movie as young and unsure of himself. At least in JL cartoon, a lot of of his early characterization that I think worked well was that he was around established heroes like Batman and very powerful ones like Superman and he didn’t feel like he had much to contribute. Give him a decent origin, hopefully better than “splashed with chemicals” which I think is his usual origin, and let him learn about his powers and that movie, but kind of let him be the internal eyes for the audience in awe of the other JL members. If they don’t think they could pull it off, they’re better off doing nothing and just leaving his origin untold than throwing him as an extra hero in another film, I think that’s one of the mistakes Marvel made, particularly with Hawkeye, just throwing his name out there, not giving us a reason to find him interesting then, worse, having him mind controled for half of the Avengers film.

Either way, it looks like a Justice League movie is probably best put off until at least 2017 or so, which makes me sad.

ETA: I haven’t watched it, but how is the Arrow show going? Could they possibly use that as partial lead in to a Justice League movie?

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No, currently Hippolyta never left Themyscira, and there were no public superheroes active during WWII. (Although apparently the US government was secretly fielding one going back to the end of WWII.)

And I don’t think recognized villains is that big a deal - I doubt most of the public knew who Ra’s al Ghul was when he was used in Batman Begins - what’s important is interesting and easily introduced villains…which, to be fair, Diana’s not got an overabundance of, either, since some of her more interesting enemies are fairly intimately tied into her continuity - but Ares (or, if they base it on the current comics, where War is her ally, Strife/Eris), Cheetah, Giganta, or Dr Poison could be made to work. I think Strife or Giganta would by my favorite choices.

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Johnny Depp in the role he was made for-Ambush Bug.

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Cheetah would be a terrible idea, because I think one of the problems that female heroes have had in films is getting the heavily male audience interested. Seeing Wonder Woman fight essentially a cat lady would just be too similar to the abomination that was Halle Berry’s Catwoman. I think running with the Greek mythology idea, assuming they can come up with something consistent that would work in universe and doesn’t stink of Thor, then they get automatic name recognition with Ares or Hades. Plus, like it or not, I think a male villain would help give her more credit in being able to hang with the boys.

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The two recent reboots threw out most of what was making WW interesting. They nixed the continuity entirely. Today, under the New 52, there’s no island, no amazons, no plane, even the lasso and wristbands are de-emphasized. And they’ve introduced weird, hokey, alien-looking Greek Gods. Ugly, stupid creatures – Hephaestus is a half-molten lava creature, and Hermes has actual bird-feet and alien looking eyes. All of the familiar supporting characters are gone.

This is the worst thing to happen to WW since John Byrne mucked with her. (I loved William Messner-Loebs’ treatment!)

Hell, just about all of the New 52 are boring. Everything we’d come to know and love about the DC Universe got thrown out. Who the hell is this pack of idiots calling themselves the Teen Titans? Who is this vapid amnesiac calling herself Supergirl? Why did they throw out “Oracle” and put Barbara Gordon back in as Batgirl? The “Oracle” idea was brilliant. Now? Oh, miraculously, she re-grew her spine and can leap from tall buildings again. Pee-UUU!

Of the whole goddamn family of comics, only Jonah Hex is any good!

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The only thing I disagree with is getting the Man of Steel 2 out ASAP. I’m worried that they are going to do just that, but rushed movies usually end up with ropey CGI/3D and gaping plot holes. If there is one important lesson that I think DC can learn from Marvel, its that they had a plan, and they took their time

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I didn’t mean to imply rushing it, they definitely need to do it right rather than getting it done now. More just that they can’t sit on it. It’s clear that the movie is doing well, between merchandising and international ticket sales, they’ve already made all their money back, and even if the critical reviews were all over the place, it seems the actual movie goers were much more consistently positive. Start making the big plan now beyond the next movie or two, if they haven’t already, and have the balls to invest the kind of money that’s being invested in the Marvel properties.

If they’re going to do Justice League, there’s no reason they can’t have some kind of tie in in the Superman sequel or Wonder Woman movie, even if it’s just a final scene like in Captain America, or a quick line like in Thor. It doesn’t need to be a huge plot point, like it was in Iron Man 2; in fact, in my opinion, that is part of why that film wasn’t as successful because it was too distracting from the main storyline. Just give the fans a nod that, yes, we’re planning on it. They did a little bit of that with some subtle eggs in Man of Steel. But they need something more blatant; that’s why I think perhaps not building a new Batman franchise yet and letting his character tie the heroes together would work well.

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Such as?