should DC get moving on a live action Justice League?

[riddler]

So since the avengers the big question is whether DC should bring their heroes together.

One advantage DC has is that their movie rights are basically all under WB whereas Marvel's movie rights are scattered among Disney, Sony, and Marvel themselves. The disadvantage though is that only 3 of their characters have had films, only 2 have had more than one live action and only 1 has had a successful one in the last 30 years.

It's also tough due to the difficulty bringing them together. As fun as their bickering is in the comics, how do you bring the space oriented Green Lantern into the same world as the grounded Batman?

Ideally i'd like to see what the Marvel films started out doing; each film (other than Captain America) featured more references than the last up to the Avengers. If it stops working they can abandon it. I'd prefer to see Batman vs. Superman first as those 2 are the most popular and best fit into the same universe.

[Azrael]

Something like this has already been said, but it's worth repeating.

One thing Marvel did was establish the characters with succesful solo films, or at least 3 of them (excluding Hulk). DC didn't.

DC only had Nolan's Batman, which won't be part of a larger "DC film universe". Green Lantern wasn't very well received and Superman comes out in 2013. Introducing Wonder Woman and the Flash and re-introducing new versions of Green Lantern and Batman, with Superman as the sole anchor point (assuming the 2013 film is a success) is a huge risk, not to mention it could hurt the chances of Batman solo films.

[riddler]

Something like this has already been said, but it's worth repeating.

One thing Marvel did was establish the characters with succesful solo films, or at least 3 of them (excluding Hulk). DC didn't.

DC only had Nolan's Batman, which won't be part of a larger "DC film universe". Green Lantern wasn't very well received and Superman comes out in 2013. Introducing Wonder Woman and the Flash and re-introducing new versions of Green Lantern and Batman, with Superman as the sole anchor point (assuming the 2013 film is a success) is a huge risk, not to mention it could hurt the chances of Batman solo films.

The Incredible Hulk had a solo movie in 2008. He also had one in 2003 that isn't considered part of the universe. Another thing they did which seemed to work is include their lesser characters as supporting characters in the other films; Nick Fury, Black Widow, and Hawkeye all appeared in one or more of the 5 films leading up to the avengers. Though it's difficult to do so with the prominent DC characters. It seems Aquaman, Green Arrow and Wonder Woman would be lesser box office draws, the only one i could see this working with is the green arrow film.

Superman vs Batman had a lot of steam from 1995-2005 (basically put aside once Nolan and Bale nixed it in 2006), there were different interpretations of the script and most seemed to be pegged as 'solo' shots not necissarily as sequels to the previous films. Batman and superman are well established that you could basically put them in a film without a backstory and they'd work.

The green lantern film was flawed but most people believe it could have been great if the flaws were fixed (seems in the similar vain as daredevil; if you catch the directors cut it blows the film out of the water).

[Catwoman]

yes. i'll be hawkgirl.

[riddler]

yes. i'll be hawkgirl.

i'll play the villain

[The Dark Knight]

I have very little interest in the Justice League set-up.

[Azrael]

Still hoping this will have the fate of Burton's Superman or Petersen's Batman vs. Superman.

[BatmAngelus]

Honestly, I'm all for it.  The Avengers weren't the first team-up of individual superheroes in comic history.  DC did it years beforehand. 

And not to turn this into Marvel vs. DC, but I find the JLA stories far more interesting than any of the Avengers ones, in terms of playing off different personalities and exploring themes of power and responsibility, whether it's the animated series or the animated movies or Tower of Babel or even Kingdom Come.

They tried to do this years ago with director George Miller with a script written by Kieran and Michele Mulroney.  Due to the writers strike and tax issues with Australia, it didn't go through. 

But the script itself was solid.  Not perfect, it still had cheesy moments and could've used a dialogue polish.  But the characterizations were dead-on.  The plot itself was an adaptation of Tower of Babel and The OMAC Project, with elements of Kingdom Come.  The action was intense.  The ending was completely risky, but I dug it.  In terms of "big superhero team-up" scripts of recent years, I thought it was stronger than both X-Men: First Class and The Avengers.  Hell, compared to the scripts of this year's superhero movies (Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man, Dark Knight Rises), it was better written than all of them, in my opinion.  I hope that Will Beall's script captures the same elements and ideas.

I also feel like establishing a DC film universe would allow for an onscreen Batman universe that's closer to the comics, that could bring in the more fantastical villains and elements that Nolan didn't think would work in his world (Clayface, Man-Bat, Poison Ivy, Killer Croc, need I go on?).  The animated series was able to do this well and tie in their established Batman with the JLA setting, so it's not impossible.

Still, I have a bit of skepticism myself that this will work out like The Avengers did with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  WB has had the rights to these DC characters longer than Marvel Studios has been around and could've easily done its own film universe years ago.  Superman's already getting rebooted and Batman probably will, too, now that Nolan's done.  Who knows what will happen to Green Lantern, after the reception it got last year.  They still haven't gotten a Wonder Woman or a Flash movie off the ground.  They couldn't even get a good Wonder Woman TV show on the air.

So while I'd love to see a JLA film come out that's on par or above the level of the animated series or the Mulroneys' script, I don't have a ton of faith yet that it'll happen.

[thecolorsblend]

Yes. They should do it. The sooner, the better.

[Batman333]

Still hoping this will have the fate of Burton's Superman or Petersen's Batman vs. Superman.

Did someone say the magical words of 'Burton's Superman'