They already blew their best chance at a JLA franchise by making a stand-alone Superman movie and not connecting it to the Smallville TV show.
The show organically introduced many elements of what could have become a live-action Justice League. If the Man of Steel movie were presented as a continuation of Smallville rather than an entirely separate story, the road to a big-screen DCU would already be mostly paved.
If the sequel to Man of Steel is successful, I would expect a Death of Superman movie next (or at some point)- I think it could work for the screen pretty well: the first half-hour or so is the fight with Doomsday, then he dies, then an hour introducing the four “supermen”, then another hour or so wrapping it up with the resurrected Superman, and you’ve also got a couple of new franchises that can be spun off (Steel and Superboy).
There’s no way “Death of Superman” would work as a movie. Well, maybe if you end it after he actually dies and skip all that idiotic four supermen stuff and Kryptonian hypersleep or whatever he was in.
I remember liking the four supermen stuff (though I was a teenager at the time)- and I’m sure they could write a better (and more filmable) explanation for Superman’s resurrection.
The Death of Superman was woefully bad, just one long fight scene from start to finish. Can you imagine this story in the hands of Zack Snyder? We would be lucky if the planet survived
The return was much better, but I can’t see it working in a movie (certainly not in an hour of a movie). It ties in with too much existing DC continuity, so it would need to introduce Hank Henshaw, a Green Lantern, Coast City, Mongul etc. I don’t think anyone is really that keen on a new Steel movie (except maybe Shaq)
Pfft. Smallville sucks. Its audience isn’t worth catering to, as it won’t translate into a blockbuster hit.
As some suggested, they should do a “big three” movie before a JLA movie. IMO, they shouldn’t do a batman reboot at all. The audience already knows who Batman is. They should do a Wonder Woman movie and a Superman sequel. In those movies they can drop broad hints that Batman exists: more Wayne enterprises stuff, a character complaining that Pizza in Metropolis can’t hold a candle to Gotham style pizza, a reference to “that crime fighter in Gotham” etc. Maybe have a stinger at the end of one of the movies where either Clark or Diana gets a phone call–or even meets someone in person–who says “Clark, [or Diana] we need to talk {meet, whatever].” Then have the first 30 minutes of the JLA movie be nothing but Batman–no origin story, audience familiarity assumed–investigating some mystery and realizing it has broader cosmic implications which he may not be able to deal with so he enlists Superman and Wonder Woman. Maybe even have Alfred say “Sir, with all respect this may be a job for Superman.” Fans should like that. During the trinity movie you can introduce a few other characters. Ray Palmer could be interviewed on TV to explain the situation (Darkseid?), Barry Allen could be investigating a crime scene, At the end of the movie you could have the Guardians observing and commenting that it may be time for a human lantern etc. The you could set up a full JLA movie a few years from now.
Larry Borgia: God, I wish you were a lead writer for DC!
The Death of Superman sucked because it was a rush job. They’d planned a story arc where Clark reveals to Lois he is Superman, and then they have the wedding, etc. BUT the Adventures of Lois and Clark had their characters marry, so the powers that be told the writers to put the arc on hold. Unhappy with this, one of them said he wished they could just kill him off. And the rest is semi-readable history.
Seconded!
Well, one can update Wonder Woman as much as one can update Batman. It just takes vision.
But Guy Gardner? Really? I’d go with John Stewart or Kyle Rayner over Guy. I like Guy all right in the comics, but I don’t see how a movie can do him justice. [In the comics, Guy was a nice guy who suffered brain damage after becoming a superhero, had a coma or something, then came out with a massive personality shift, then had to sort of relearn how to be a grownup.] Obviously you can find someone who looks like Guy, and there is an arc to work with after a fashion, but he’s not really a character a movie can pin down. He’s generally been a supporting player in Green Lantern, and the closest to being a leading man he got was in Guy Gardner: Warrior.
I wonder if DC is going to suffer if they try to be even more a conservative white-guy power fantasy nostalgia company than Marvel. They might be smarter to use some of their more recently developed characters from the 1970’s on, try to get away from the old JLA paradigm, and leave some of the Great WASP Hopes from the 1950’s on the shelf. That’s not just about racial diversity (though they can do that, and would be smart to do so). It’s about doing more than just picking up Julie Schwartz and Gardner Fox’s trademarks and slapping a script together. I won’t hold my breath.
This would work.
Batman doesn’t really need Supes to handle Darkseid. He stalemated him in official continuity. Because he was prepared.
Thanks so much, but as I’ve learned from my attempts to write fantasy action, it is very easy to come up with broad ideas, very hard to write a detailed story.
@JayJay, yes that may be in the comics, but it doesn’t have to be true for movies. At any rate I’m a little weary of the “Batman can beat anyone, if he’s prepared” meme. Batman is just a man, albeit a man with maximum human potential, comic book ninja skills, and sci-fi gadgets. It cheapens him–IMO–to make him take down near literal gods on the whim of a writer. Having him be able to beat the combined forces of Cthulhu, Yahweh, and the Q continuum by being “prepared” ruins his character. “You’re just bone and meat like all the rest, Bruce.” That’s what makes him great.
Obviously, that should be the Trinity movie.
What DC should really focus on is a movie with the new Blue Beetle (before the soft reboot before the New 52 reboot). Cool character, awesome supporting characters, good storyline, good action. AND relatable by young audiences, without all the baggage that grognards want foisted on some of DC’s legacy characters.
Hmm…Blue Beetle and Booster Gold. We haven’t really seen (other than the pre-Nolan Batman stuff) a superhero buddy comedy, and BB and BG were like Starsky & Hutch in [del]spandex[/del] unstable molecules.
Well, there was a minor Booster Gold shoutout in Man of Steel. Some keen eyed moviegoers spotted an ad for Blaze Comics in Metropolis.
If I had my pick, I’d sooner want to see Marvel put out an Iron Fist / Luke Cage movie. Preferably shot in a Tarantino-esque grindhouse tribute fashion with a blacksploitation Isaac Hayes-style soundtrack.
If they want Batman back, they could always bring back…Michael Keaton Batman.
Have him older, and training his “replacement”…maybe it’s Dick Grayson (okay, not Chris O’Donnell), maybe Terry McGinnis. Maybe Cassandra Cain, maybe Barbara Gordon. Maybe Helena Bertinelli/Kyle/Wayne.
One thing I would like to see the DC Movies bring back is making their fictional Cities look more stylized. With the next Man of Steel, they have a good opportunity. Since Metropolis is in ruins, I would love to see it rebuilt as a Sci Fi Art Deco City of the Future for the next Movie and a return of the Gothic, grimy Gotham City for the Batman in this continuity. I always loved how Gotham City looked in the Burton films. I would like to see something like that again.
I get that making the cities more generic is more realistic but one of the key differences between DC and Marvel is that DC uses fictional settings. They should embrace that rather than run from it.