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

[The Laughing Fish]

Apparently, a highly regarded Hollywood insider claims that WB are on the verge of announcing their plans for new Justice League and DC Comics-based films for the next few years.

Warner Bros to take on Marvel studios with slate of comic-book superhero films

Warner Bros will officially announce a hugely ambitious slate of new comic-book movies, including Wonder Woman and Justice League films, at this year's Comic-Con event in San Diego, reports Nikkifinke.com.

The studio has long been planning to ape the success of Disney-owned rival Marvel by producing a series of movies based on the DC Comics heroes to which it owns the screen rights. Finke, the respected former Deadline editor who has now launched her own website, says seven films based on a variety of characters will be released in 2016-18. Several will feature multiple heroes, a trend that Marvel began with its hugely successful 2012 box office behemoth The Avengers.

The previously-announced Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will arrive in May 2016, with films based on Shazam and Sandman in July and December of the same year. Justice League, a followup to Dawn of Justice featuring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, arrives in May 2017, with a film starring Flash and the Green Lantern debuting the following Christmas. Man of Steel 2, a sequel to last year's Superman reboot, is pencilled for May 2018.

A source also told Finke that Batman v Superman was delayed to allow Warner to secure actors on multiple contracts, just as Marvel has done with stars such as Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Chris Evans (Captain America).

"Like Marvel's The Avengers, there will be cameos of superheroes for future instalments [in many of these movies]," the source told Finke. "The cameos will include the already known Cyborg and Flash. Green Lantern [not played by Ryan Reynolds, thank God] may be introduced. And Aquaman will be seen in the Justice League movie. Problem is, Warner Bros Pictures was still negotiating with the actors for those cameos and future roles, meaning major contracts for multiple JL/character films to follow. The studio didn't want to move forward until they had more of this secure, so they held off starting production for a few months. Seemingly simple reason, but the implications are pretty darn huge."

Pitching Green Lantern and The Flash in one movie allows Warner to present those superheroes in a fresh format that should help erase memories of Reynolds' poorly-received 2011 take on the former. And with the announcement of a solo Wonder Woman movie, the studio wins brownie points for delivering the first female-fronted comic-book movie of the new era ahead of Marvel.

Aquaman was the butt of numerous jokes as the subject of a fictional superhero movie in the Hollywood-themed comic TV series Entourage, but Warner will be hoping to present the ocean-dwelling King of Atlantis in more heroic form in Dawn of Justice. Finke suggests Warner at one point considered future films for relatively minor superhero/supervillain teams such as Metal Men and Suicide Squad, suggesting that the studio's plans for delving into the DC back catalogue are moving way beyond the venerable US comics publisher's headline acts.

• This year's Comic-Con runs from 24-27 July in San Diego, California.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/jun/13/warner-bros-announce-dc-comics-superhero-films

So assuming that this is true, the roadmap for the films will look like something this:

• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (May 2016)
• Shazam (July 2016)
• Sandman (December 2016)
• Justice League (May 2017)
• Wonder Woman (? 2017)
• Flash/Green Lantern (December 2017)
• Man of Steel 2 (May 2018)

I'm surprised to hear that there aren't any rumours about Affleck's Batman in his own solo movies, but most astounding to me is that Dawn of Justice sounds like it is NOT a direct sequel to Man of Steel after all. I'm looking forward to see if WB will confirm whether or not these plans are real at Comic Con next month.

[Edd Grayson]

I actually prefer DC characters to Marvel, I hope these films will really challenge the MCU.

But why is Justice League first and WW and Flash/GL after? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Or are they planning to do things different than Marvel...

Dawn of Justice sounds more like an introduction for Batman and a setup for the Jusitce League than a Superman movie to me.

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

[riddler]

I actually prefer DC characters to Marvel, I hope these films will really challenge the MCU.

But why is Justice League first and WW and Flash/GL after? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Or are they planning to do things different than Marvel...

Dawn of Justice sounds more like an introduction for Batman and a setup for the Jusitce League than a Superman movie to me.

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

As far as comic books go, I'll read a justiice league comic over the avengers any day. I prever the marvel comics which focus on one or two heroes, the avengers ones are generally convoluted and not overly compelling stories. I enjoy the justice league because the characters all have unique relationships with each other; Remember the final fight in the avengers film where they divided and conquered based on their strengths? Imagine what they could do with the JLA?

I don't think it's a big deal that the order of films isn't a build up. Guaradians of galaxy is coming after the avengers film and ant man is coming after 2 avengers films. Personally I feel DC doesn't have enough faith in its characters other than Batman and Superman. Even Green Lantern wasn't bad enough that a sequel couldn't have salvaged the character; for instance look how much better cap 2 was than cap 1.

I like that they are doing dual films. That is one thing DC has over Marvel; While marvel's done it, a 2 character teamup isn't that exciting in itself, DC has many such stories.

Now the key question is; will Warner Brothers embrace the notion of a film based on a comic or will they attempt to Nolanize their characters.

[Edd Grayson]

You could said that Superman was "Nolanized" in Man of Steel, I don't think I'd like a more Nolanized Wonder Woman, Green Lantern or Aquaman.

Look at the Marvel films, they respected the comics and were successful. Why shouldn't WB try the same?

[johnnygobbs]

You could said that Superman was "Nolanized" in Man of Steel, I don't think I'd like a more Nolanized Wonder Woman, Green Lantern or Aquaman.

Look at the Marvel films, they respected the comics and were successful. Why shouldn't WB try the same?

This is one of my key gripes with the current DC franchise and why I'm rather apathetic to the announcements.  'Man of Steel' has, like you state, already 'Nolanised' Superman so it appears that this is the direction the subsequent films will take.  It's a pity.  The DC films could benefit from the colourful, fantastical tone the MCU have already demonstrated, perhaps with a slightly more mythic tone to suit its more god-like characters.  As much as I love the Burton Batman films I still don't think anyone has got the DC tone right on film.  The first two 'Superman' movies came the closest.

If only there had been a Justice League movie with Christopher Reeve and Linda Carter back in the early 80s. 

[Edd Grayson]

I don't think Man of Steel was really that bad, I knew I wasn't going to get a Donner/Reeve film watching it and I ended up not being disappointed. But of course I prefer the style of the earlier films to the :realistic" approach in MoS.

"Green Lantern" was a film that went to the other extreme and embraced the cheesy elements of the comic books, but the lack of a good villain, poor character development, rushed special effects and miscasting made it be barely acceptable and killed off the possibility of a sequel.

I don't think I'm going to like more Nolanised characters. I hope this franchise will have people on board who understand that comic book films don't have be "realistic", and that they should bring some fantasy and faithfulness to the tone of the comics to these films, like the Marvel films and the original Batman franchise.

A Justice League film with Christopher Reeve as Superman would've been the perfect comic book film in my opinion, but it never happened...

[johnnygobbs]

I don't think Man of Steel was really that bad, I knew I wasn't going to get a Donner/Reeve film watching it and I ended up not being disappointed. But of course I prefer the style of the earlier films to the :realistic" approach in MoS.

I like aspects of MoS such as the relationship between Clark and his adopted parents, Clark being portrayed as a brooding loner trying to find his place in the world during the mid-section of the film, and Michael Shannon's 'Zod'.  But the overall tone was relentlessly dour, and the final sequence, which is my biggest gripe with the movie, was too bombastic.  So much of Metropolis was left in ruins I can't think what Superman has to save.  Then again, maybe the sequels will play out as a post-9/11 type allegory about restoring faith and hope after the devastation. 

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.

Then again, like you state 'Man of Steel' is infinitely better than 'Green Lantern' which suffered from a promising but sketchily defined villain, some ugly CGI and an annoyingly glib lead man (I don't get why Ryan Reynolds, who strikes me as a limited comedy actor keeps getting cast in superhero films - at least Michael Keaton brought a certain darkness and manic energy to his pre-Batman comedy roles).

I would have liked Wonder Woman to have got her own film back in the 80s around the same time as Reeve's Superman films and then maybe dovetail into a JLA movie.  I like Linda Carter as Wonder Woman but seeing as she was a 'TV actress' who else could have played the role in a film back then?

[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.

[Edd Grayson]

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.

[johnnygobbs]

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.