What a great accelerator $1.4bn can be to a film studio,
this one being Warner Bros and the $1.4bn being roughly what The Avengers grossed this summer at the
box office. That film released, obviously, by Marvel Studios and Disney. Now
despite the success of the The Dark
Knight Trilogy which championed and “realistic” take on the Batman
character (easily one of DC and Warner Bros. biggest characters), as well as
making them a fair bit of cash, nearly £2.4bn I believe. Their reboot, which so
far looks intriguing, of Superman next year promises to bring them in another
healthy income ever two or three years, they have decided to finally (well,
again) kick start a Justice League film to be released in 2015, directly
competing with the already established The
Avengers sequel.
The basic idea of the Justice League, and I will keep it to
a minimum as I am no expert on the team, is that is a way for DC to bring
together their greatest heroes and have them confront great threats to the
planet as well as, and this is part that is the most interesting to me, work
with each other despite the very different rules, beliefs and morals that they
all had. The biggest draw being the relationship between Superman and Batman.
The biggest arguments against the idea is that fans want to
see the heroes be introduced in their own films, in much the same way as Marvel
did with their Phase One plan, which worked, despite the varying degrees of
quality the films had. So that we get to know them, who they are what they can
do, then have them meet up. This introduction, will be even more important for
people who don’t know some of the less familiar, although I’m sure still
recognizable other members such as The Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and
Aquaman.
As for the big two of Batman and Superman, it could be
argued that they don’t need the Justice League film. Batman certainly not after
the conclusion of Christopher Nolan’s trilogy, which although ended it’s run
and continuity , leaves the character unquestionably a top the comic book
mountain. Superman, despite some average recent films, will always draw
interest from both the hardcore and the mainstream, as one of the first ever
superheroes and arguable the greatest. So what will WB achieve by forcing two
of what could be their biggest money makers into a risky film that could knock
back their production of DC properties, not that it could get any slower
really, back several years.
As it’s going to happen, lets look at how it could be done,
these are only my theories and I don’t put them forward as the only way it
could be done. Will Beall, of the soon to be released Gangster Squad is currently on script duties which is
understandable being kept under wraps until it is finished, or is at least
ready to be shown to prospective directors and actors.
With the basic story, they will have to be careful so that
they don’t imitate too much of The
Avengers, especially with the team coming together over the course of the
film just in time for the final showdown with whichever villain they choose.
They have to do something with the characters that is different, one thing that
differentiates DC from Marvel, is that DC’s characters tend to be darker and
more complex (in my opinion anyway). So play up to it, give the characters
important decisions to make, make them difficult, ones that could very well
tear the team or at least potentially force out other members out or cause
themselves to be exiled as a result. This is something that The Avengers didn’t have, and while
there have been hints that their third film will take from the Civil War story
arc, DC and Warner has the chance to get in first and deliver and potentially
very interesting comic book film with depth and intelligence, in the same vain
that The Dark Knight trilogy did. The only obstacle with this idea is that
it requires the characters to be fully fleshed out, ideally in their own films,
something they won’t get if they are thrown head first into this team up film.
One of the most important parts of any action film is its
villain, if they’re memorable and genuinely pose a threat then the film thrives
as you get behind the heroes. If they’re weak then it’s hard to feel any sense
of danger or fear of the villain and his or her threat. So with that in mind
it’s unlikely that we will see any of Batman’s Rogue Gallery, it’s more likely
to be one of the bigger, most likely extra terrestrial threats, such as
Darkseid or Brainiac, my personal favourite, as it would turn parts of the
Earth into warzones, a kin to the opening of the DC Online video game.
As for casting the Justice League themselves, I’ll quickly
rattle off a few suggestions for who could play the mandatory characters and
even make a case for one or two secondary members. As there is no way of
guessing which supporting characters, such as Alfred or Lois Lane could appear,
I will avoid these roles and just focus on the “heroes”.
Superman will be in a tricky situation come 2015, either Man of Steel will have flopped and swept
under the carpet by WB, or it will have been a resounding success, therefore
cementing Henry Cavills position as Superman. Which will force WB into a
decision about whether they want to carry over this Superman into the Justice
League, thereby immediately linking him with all the other characters. Or they
could cast someone else and keep this continuity separate from Man of Steel and the eventual (at least
for Batman) solo films of their heroes. So to keep it simple for the wider
audiences and because I like him as an actor, let’s stick with Henry Cavill.
The tough one, Batman, after Christian Bales performance,
it’s going to take a very brave and talented man to step up and take on the cap
and cowl. I previously touted Ryan Gosling as one of the few both capable of
portraying the various sides of Bruce Wayne as well as a big enough name to
attract attention. I would still at this point be very happy with Gosling
taking the role.
But as an alternative how about Jake Gyllenhall, he was
considered back for Batman Begins, so
this isn’t completely original, but of late he has begun to take a number of
interesting roles that have challenged him and undoubtedly brought out the best
in him. Although his best I still feel is Brokeback
Mountain. It wouldn’t be a surprise if he were to get the role, he has the
right looks, the acting capability and is certainly a name actor.
Wonder Woman is arguably one of the hardest characters to
get right on screen, bar the seventies television show there has been a number
of false starts and stalled projects. But as she is one of DC’s top characters
and an important member of the team, she will have to turn up here, cast well,
written well and given the time to develop. Firstly she has to be an equal,
essentially to Superman and Batman physically (I don’t mean size, as that would
look odd) so that she can hold her place as part of that trinity.
My personal suggestion would be Eva Green, she has the
height and the looks to pull off the characters look and can also portray very
different versions and parts of the character, she can be strong and commanding
whilst also vulnerable (not that the character is permanently weak or
vulnerable) during the character scenes throughout the film. Which will be
crucial, none more so to Wonder Woman, during the film.
The Flash, like Wonder Woman has been touted to get a film
of his own for the last six or seven years, but has unfortunately never come to
fruition. One of the problems being that there have been a few people to hold
the title of The Flash during the characters run. The most popular version
seems to be Barry Allen and is the one that is probably most likely to appear
in the film.
The Flash is the character that in all likelihood would
handle most of the comic moments, a character trait that I believe is apart, in
certain ways of all characters. Also when compared with who else is on the
team, is largely to be expected. As for the casting well, prior to The Dark Knight Rises, I would have said
Joseph Gordon Levitt, but now I’d be more inclined to go for I’ll throw out
three of four names, all of which would be interesting choices more than
qualified to bring a different portrayal of the character, starting with Logan
Marshall-Green (Prometheus), John
Krasinski (The US Office), Ben Barnes
(Prince Caspian) or, ah what the hell
Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
The Green Lantern had a pretty rough start when it comes to
feature films, it didn’t hit the heights that anybody wanted, but neither was
it as bad as some people make out it to be, it was about half an hour too short
and left one big plotline unresolved, too busy hoping for a sequel, before they
had finished the first one. But still, I would hold strong with Ryan Reynolds,
he gave us a likeable and layered character to follow, undoubtedly doing the
best with a muddied and sequel bait heavy script.
Another advantage of this, is that it saves WB from having
to introduce this character again, his origin is out there for the people who
want to find it and may even help to shift some of those DVD’S and Blu Rays
they have stashed away as well as reintroduce one of their greatest characters
to the mainstream.
The Justice League does feature more than this, but for me,
these five would probably be a good place for the first film to start, have
these as your core characters, in much the same way that The Avengers did (with Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Captain America, then
Hawkeye and Black Widow as two equally placed second tier characters). But there is always the chance of more,
the first person would to come off the bench would have to be Aquaman, a
character whose story takes place largely under the sea, arguably a character
who very much needs a film of his own to get this unique world and setting
across, much like Thor did. I only know the very basics of his mythology, so I
can only talk in broad strokes. He would be a hard character to make work,
specifically as his powers are somewhat limited to the ocean, with varying
degrees of telepathy and mind control, but this varies on interpretation.
As for casting, you wouldn’t far wrong with Armie Hammer
(although I’m sure he would rather hold for the Batman role that is always
talked about). Failing like a prominent TV actor such as Nicolas Coster-Waldau
(Game of Thrones) would give the
character screen time, but without the pressure of having to make him a top
tier player in the film.
The final founding member, is the Martian Manhunter, a
character who has currently fallen out of the core seven since the reboot last
year. As his form is not that of a human, although his basic form is humanoid,
the role would largely be prosthetic based in appearance, although with the
ability to shape shift quite a few different, yet consistently maintained
performances would be required. When it comes to this kind of performance, Doug
Jones (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth) is
the one that most people cite as his career has the most example of it.
The last character, who is a personal favourite, is Green
Arrow, aka Oliver Queen, the character is getting his own television show,
which will have just started. So if all goes well, WB could have a character
with roughly three seasons of history, development and a pretty healthy
following to bring to this, as with Green Lantern, it would allow the character
to into the film with his history already established, ready to go. It would be
a risk to the show more than the film if it develops the following I am sure
they hope it will.
Some of these characters may, in the grander scheme of
things not warrant roles in the film, some of which is understandable, but there
are others, who are crucial to it’s marketability and it’s loyalty to the
material. The success of not just this film, but the spin off films will depend
on their portrayal and casting. The pressure is certainly on.
Picking a director for WB is going to be hard, as it will
almost instantly signal their intent for the film, tonally and thematically as
we study their back catalogue. It will also be a big step in either winning
over the fans, or losing them. Some of the names rumoured so far have been
interesting, Ben Affleck (although I think he would be better suited to the
next Batman), The Wachowski’s or even Zack Snyder, continuing on from Man of Steel. All of them are a step in
the right direction for the film, but still apart from Snyder, none of them
really seem to fit the role.
If Warner Bros really mean to have this done for summer
2015, these and many other roles will be cast and questions answered within the
next year. But till then we will still have time to get angry and speculate.
