Rumour: DC Comics/Justice League-based movies in development

[Edd Grayson]

As for the Marvel films, the Marvel Rogues' Gallery may be weaker than DC's, excepting Spider-Man and perhaps the X-Men, but the MCU films have some how managed to make the most of their villains and have perhaps benefited from lower expectations and the audience's relative unfamiliarity with these characters.  Everyone and their grandmother has an opinion on how the Penguin or Catwoman should be portrayed but not many people have any pre-conceived ideas about Malakith or Justin Hammer.

Yes, but people had an opinion about the Mandarin too, and the filmmakers didn't seem to care.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

[johnnygobbs]

The Marvel films did get Loki right, and had the perfect actor to play him. Then again, the Red Skull was underdeveloped, and they also did the infamous Mandarin twist in Iron Man 3.

I don't know about the rest, but I would've loved to see the Mandarin of the comics and his magical rings instead of Aldrich Killian, who wasn't even in the comics and who had a story similar to Edward Nygma from Batman Forever.

I liked Iron Man 3, but still, a classic Mandarin could've rivalled Loki if you ask me.

But I agree about the DC rogues gallery. If they had produced a second Green Lantern film i think Mark Strong's Sinestro could've been great. They also could've learned from the first film and not repeat its mistakes.

I thought Zod was decent in MoS but not as good as the classic from Superman II.

I am looking forward to seeing all the heroes as well as the villains in BvS.

I've heard that Jason Momoa will play Aquaman. While I like the actor, I don't think he's sright for Aquaman. Not really.

I've heard suggestions that the Red Skull might return in a later film and that he's currently in a similar state to how Captain America was when he was encased in ice.

I'm a huge fan of the Mandarin in 'Iron Man 3'.  I thought the revelation was inspired but I can understand why some fans hated it.  Also Killian is from the comic-books: http://www.comicvine.com/dr-aldrich-killian/4005-83640/  You're right though.  He was presented as an Edward Nygma type character in 'Iron Man 3'.

I've heard that Jason Momoa will play Aquaman. While I like the actor, I don't think he's sright for Aquaman. Not really.

He's great in 'Game of Thrones' but what is it with comic-book movies and blonde characters?  Johnny Storm is going to be portrayed by a black actor in 'The Fantastic Four' and now Jason Momoa in as 'Aquaman'.  It's a shame Paul Walker died and nobody seems to want to cast Brad Pitt in any of these films.  As a moody, serious, partly ethnic brunette I've always enjoyed seeing glamorous blondes in these comic-books and some of the films.  But it seems no one likes to cast them anymore.

[riddler]

The Marvel films did get Loki right, and had the perfect actor to play him. Then again, the Red Skull was underdeveloped, and they also did the infamous Mandarin twist in Iron Man 3.

I don't know about the rest, but I would've loved to see the Mandarin of the comics and his magical rings instead of Aldrich Killian, who wasn't even in the comics and who had a story similar to Edward Nygma from Batman Forever.

I liked Iron Man 3, but still, a classic Mandarin could've rivalled Loki if you ask me.

But I agree about the DC rogues gallery. If they had produced a second Green Lantern film i think Mark Strong's Sinestro could've been great. They also could've learned from the first film and not repeat its mistakes.

I thought Zod was decent in MoS but not as good as the classic from Superman II.

I am looking forward to seeing all the heroes as well as the villains in BvS.

I've heard that Jason Momoa will play Aquaman. While I like the actor, I don't think he's sright for Aquaman. Not really.

I think Red Skull is returning at least based on the ending of the avengers.

I wish they did let Campbell make Green Lantern sequels. Imagine an epic parralax battle in a second film setting up the yellow lantern for a third? It wasn't that far off (or financially underwhelming) that it needed to be trashed especially if the film makers learned from their mistakes. Too bad because Mark Strong was fantastic as Sinestro.

MOS was still far too Nolanized; Nolan is great for storytelling but sucks out the fun factor and can't do action. What Nolan and his cronies haven't figured out is pacing; They don't understand that one 30 minute action scene is  not the same as three 10 minute action scenes.

[Edd Grayson]

What did you like about the Mandarin? They've turned Iron Man's arch-enemy into a joke. What's to like about that?

[riddler]

You two and your saturday afternoon chats :p

All the DC films got some things rights but dropped the ball  somewhere;

-the original superman films didn't quite get Lex Luthor right.
-burton got the tone and darkness right but some of the characterizations were off, especially the villains in returns
-Schumacher for the most part got the plot points right but wasn't executed properly. For instance if you read the script for Batman Forever wihout seeing it you'd think it was fantastic but he went over the top with the humour
-Nolan we have discussed the flaws in detail
- Superman returns the flaws are well apparent (visuals were impressive)
-green lantern badly underdeveloped every plot point they brought in. It followed the comics but practically every aspect of it was underwhelming.

One thing I hope DC takes advantage of is that they have a far better rogue gallery than Marvel; Spider-man is the only marvel character with a solid rogue gallery, the rest  only have 1 or 2 epic bad guys.

It's early evening where I am riddler. 

I think you're spot on about the flaws of all the various past DC superhero films.

Like you state, Luthor was too comical and lightweight in the Reeve 'Superman' franchise, although I still get a big kick out of Gene Hackman's performance.  Also, the 'Superman' films got progressively worse in quality although I enjoy all of them to some degree.  'Supergirl' is absolutely dreadful of course and plays as a b-movie, as does 'Return of Swamp Thing' (does that count as a DC superhero movie?)

You're right about the Burton 'Batman' films which I adore but got some character details 'wrong'.  They're great films but not very faithful to the source, other than in terms of tone and style.

You're right about the Schumacher 'Batman' films both of which made more attempts to be faithful to the original characters and got a lot of the look right, but were also far too garish and camp looking, and despite decent characterisations featured some awful dialogue and poorly staged action-scenes.

Nolan's 'Batman' films are of course too drab and plain-looking.  They're fine movies but no more true to the spirit of the comic-books than the Burton films.

Like you say, 'Superman Returns' looks stunning (particularly in 3D) but the casting was way-off across the board and the humour was lacking (but not for want of trying, and on the subject, it's a shame we got the campy Luthor, instead of the charming but sinister Luthor, again).

And 'Green Lantern' is just awful.  A really botched attempt, which is a shame because it featured some interesting, but poorly and half-heartedly realised concepts.

'Man of Steel' has some potential as a franchise-starter, and my opinion on the film may come to change in relation to how the sequels incorporate Superman into a post-Metropolis-devastation world, but it's a shame the film was so unrelentingly moody and lacked any of the hope one usually associates with Superman.

As for the Marvel films, the Marvel Rogues' Gallery may be weaker than DC's, excepting Spider-Man and perhaps the X-Men, but the MCU films have some how managed to make the most of their villains and have perhaps benefited from lower expectations and the audience's relative unfamiliarity with these characters.  Everyone and their grandmother has an opinion on how the Penguin or Catwoman should be portrayed but not many people have any pre-conceived ideas about Malakith or Justin Hammer.

Interesting you bring up Hammer, he too was changed quite a bit; in the comics he's an aging business man and  hammertech does sometimes outdo stark industries. But the changes made sense for that film; they wanted to make him a contemporary rival and with Stark being sleek and funny, it was more logical to make him inferior and somewhat incompetent

Perhaps Man of steel only consulted Nolan so heavily to ensure they got off the ground and will now try and do their own thing (sorry for all the Nolan bashing but after 4 films, I've already had enough of it). The issue I have is that Reeve was fantastic at acting like a nerdy klutz while playing Clark Kent; I have serious doubts whether Cavill can get that right. Perhaps the best part of the reeve films were how strong the scenes involving Kent, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen were. As talented as Amy Adams is, it's hard picturing her equalling Kidder. Likewise for whomever goes up against Marc McClure. Though having Laurence Fishburne helps.

It's a shame Kevin Spacey got stuck in Returns. He's played so many characters similar to Lex Luthor (check house of cards for instance). and has the look but he was surrounded by bad acting; Bosworth and Routh were underwhelming as was the plot.

[johnnygobbs]

What did you like about the Mandarin? They've turned Iron Man's arch-enemy into a joke. What's to like about that?

According to the Marvel one-shot we may see a proper Mandarin, but I loved the jokey twist.  It was funny, surprising, allowed Ben Kingsley to do some typically inspired work both as a scary seeming bad guy and a comical deadbeat, and it got over the potential controversy of featuring a stereotyped Oriental villain.

[johnnygobbs]

Interesting you bring up Hammer, he too was changed quite a bit; in the comics he's an aging business man and  hammertech does sometimes outdo stark industries. But the changes made sense for that film; they wanted to make him a contemporary rival and with Stark being sleek and funny, it was more logical to make him inferior and somewhat incompetent

Perhaps Man of steel only consulted Nolan so heavily to ensure they got off the ground and will now try and do their own thing (sorry for all the Nolan bashing but after 4 films, I've already had enough of it). The issue I have is that Reeve was fantastic at acting like a nerdy klutz while playing Clark Kent; I have serious doubts whether Cavill can get that right. Perhaps the best part of the reeve films were how strong the scenes involving Kent, Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen were. As talented as Amy Adams is, it's hard picturing her equalling Kidder. Likewise for whomever goes up against Marc McClure. Though having Laurence Fishburne helps.

It's a shame Kevin Spacey got stuck in Returns. He's played so many characters similar to Lex Luthor (check house of cards for instance). and has the look but he was surrounded by bad acting; Bosworth and Routh were underwhelming as was the plot.

They had 'Jenny Olson' in 'Man of Steel'.  She was the young, little brunette woman who was constantly seen in White, Lane and Steve Lombard's company.

I didn't quite get the ending.  Is everyone supposed to have forgotten what Superman looks like?  And does Lois' wry smile indicate that she alone does know who Clark Kent really is?

[The Laughing Fish]

Shouldn't "Sandman" in your post be Aquaman?

Sandman is another comic that I heard is supposed to be starring and directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt. So no Aquaman plans for now.

I didn't care for some details either like the way Pa Kent died (him dying of a heart attack in the first Reeve film was a much more elegant approach to electing to be swept up by a tornado - and his sacrifice was all for nothing in the end anyway because Clark did finally become Superman) or the flying Lord of the Rings type creatures in Krypton.

Even though I did enjoy Man of Steel much better than any of Nolan's Batman films, that film still wasn't immune from Nolan and Goyer's idiotic writing. Making Pa Kent saying "Maybe" was rather dumb and rubbed many people the wrong way, although I personally looked at Kent as a scared man who let his fears get the better of him, unlike the Pa Kent we see him in other media. And never mind the way he died, I just don't really see the need to kill off Pa Kent at all. Clark is already troubled by the fact that he is an outsider from another world; does a death in the family give him any depth to his character? I know that they tried to make a point that the world may freak out over the idea of a superpowered human being, but Clark did save his drowning classmates when he was younger. This is the kid who was willing to stick his neck out even if it arouses suspicion, but now he'll suddenly let his father die in the tornado? It was one of the few things that bothered about the film that I otherwise enjoyed.

They had 'Jenny Olson' in 'Man of Steel'.  She was the young, little brunette woman who was constantly seen in White, Lane and Steve Lombard's company.

I didn't quite get the ending.  Is everyone supposed to have forgotten what Superman looks like?  And does Lois' wry smile indicate that she alone does know who Clark Kent really is?

Actually, Jenny's surname in the credits is Jurwich, so I don't really think she is Olson after all. Though does bring the question will they ignore Jimmy in this series altogether?

The ending was rushed, I agree. It's especially like Batman Begins where for all the dialogue about inspiring people, you don't really get to see the reaction from the public at all. I would've been happy if the ending had a scene ripping off of The Avengers - the one where Nick Fury is watching the TV monitors covering live footage of people's opinions of the heroes after the battle of New York.

Anyway, it's a no-brainer that if WB wants to compete with Marvel they'll need to look to hire new directors and writers for their other characters. David Goyer scripting a Wonder Woman movie is simply not going to cut it.

[Edd Grayson]

I had to look up Sandman, I wasn't aware there was a DC Comics character with that name. I wonder how the film will be.

Johnnygobbs, I admit that the twist in IM3 took me by surprise and I did think it was funny, but I had to take into account that this wasn't some minor villain revealed to be a hoax, it was Iron Man's
arch-enemy from the comics. Characters like Iron Monger, Whiplash and Justin Hammer aren't even close. So I don't appreciate the way they've treated Mandarin in the film. I still think that the real Mandarin would've made a great villain, yes, even with the magic rings. Introducing another Mandarin in the MCU after the joke in IM3 would be ridiculous. They've ruined the possibility.

[johnnygobbs]

I had to look up Sandman, I wasn't aware there was a DC Comics character with that name. I wonder how the film will be.

Johnnygobbs, I admit that the twist in IM3 took me by surprise and I did think it was funny, but I had to take into account that this wasn't some minor villain revealed to be a hoax, it was Iron Man's
arch-enemy from the comics. Characters like Iron Monger, Whiplash and Justin Hammer aren't even close. So I don't appreciate the way they've treated Mandarin in the film. I still think that the real Mandarin would've made a great villain, yes, even with the magic rings. Introducing another Mandarin in the MCU after the joke in IM3 would be ridiculous. They've ruined the possibility.

Sorry Ed.  I disagree.  It's the fact that Mandarin is such a formidable villain who carries a certain degree of mystique that makes the joke so memorable, and I don't see why an actual Mandarin couldn't work.  However, he'd have to be particularly nasty and scary after his reputation was knocked by Trevor Slattery's charade.