Building up to Justice League with smaller team-up movies

[Jordacar]

So apparently Warner Bros. has no concrete plans for what to do after TDKR and MOS, especially since Nolan is pretty much done with DC movies after MOS. Even though they've said they want to do Justice League, it's still pretty tenuous. Meanwhile, Marvel is kicking their butts so bad they don't know which way is up.

Well, WB execs, if you're reading this (and I know you're not), it just so happens that I have a plan.

So you've got Man of Steel, and you want to make Justice League. We know that much for sure. And somewhere along the way you maybe wanna reboot Batman and Green Lantern. Maybe you could launch all those solo movies with Justice League, but that means no DC movies until 2015. And that's a lot of pressure to put on one hella-expensive movie.

Instead, here's several scenarios for which you could produce 1, 2, 3, or 4 DC superhero movies between MOS and JL.

1. Wonder Woman. No question, WW is overdue, and if there's only one movie before JL, it should be this one. If you're worried about how the public will respond to a big-time female hero (even one that's already as well-known as WW), just think of it as your answer to Marvel's Thor and let the filmmakers worry about the rest. She's got more in common with Thor than she does with any of Marvel's most prominent ladies. While we're on the subject of Thor, I think Patty Jenkins would make a good candidate for director. WW obviously doesn't need a woman to direct, but you could do a hell of a lot worse than the director of Monster who was briefly in the running for Thor 2. Just make the damn thing and stop worrying about it.

2a. World's Finest. So you wanna reboot Batman so he can appear in Justice League? Just team him up with Superman. That way you don't have to reinvent he Batman movie template in the wake of the Dark Knight trilogy, instead just cut right to something we've definitely never seen before but always wanted to. Or...

2b. The Flash. C'mon, this one would be easy. Get a good script, find a director with a nice visual style, get a pretty face in the costume. It doesn't have to be an origin, and it wouldn't even need to be that expensive. Or...

2c. Brave and the Bold. Team up Flash and Green Lantern. Just like rebooting Batman with "World's Finest", you can reboot GL with this. You wouldn't even need a Flash movie to set it up, since he's not a hard concept to sell. And even though GL was a disappointment, it made people aware of the character. And hell, some people kinda liked that movie. Besides, this whole idea of team-up movies isn't something Marvel is doing right now.

3. Wonder Woman and two choices from option 2.

4. Trinity. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman. It'd be great to see these three working together and kicking butt. This one's no good after JL, so if you're gonna make it, don't wait.

Myself, I'd go with Wonder Woman, Batman/Superman, Brave and the Bold, and Trinity. What do all of you think?

 

[ЯɘvlveR]

I was on board for a world's finest and a trinity but, the more i think about it, i think that's just a waste of time. IMO what should follow MoS is a wonder woman vs aquaman film with a supes cameo.


For JL, i want cavill's supes to find bale's bats for some detectivey type of help, then **** really hits the fan and bale's bats returns in a JL film. i think that's where Hal should gets reintroduced as well. perhaps the threat that the inspires the justice league is the one hal is trying to fight. the way the green lantern corp let hal go on his own to earth to fight parallax, would have been a great way to introduce the team as the JL (just not in that film)

don't want a batman reboot anytime soon. if they want something in the bats vein, stick JGL character in a nightwing/terry role where he handles more terrestrial threats in gotham.

the team for JL would consist of supes, wondy, aquaman, GL, Bats and nightwing.

the flash should get his own thing, after all of that.

so basically

TDKR 2012
MoS 2013
WW Vs Aquaman (with a supes cameo) 201?
JL (where bats returns, anda new GL shows up after getting the hulk treatment)201?
the flash
GL
batman/Nightwing/batman beyond whatever 201?

 

[Aztec]

Look World's Finest is always what it's been about in DC. Batman and Superman have an outstanding dynamic and it'd be great to see them play off one another one film. However I think it would behoove WB/DC to include Wonder Woman and make it a Trinity film. If they just make it World's Finest I don't believe there will be a desire to see the team expanded upon. The introduction of Wonder Woman creates some outside interest in a potential larger team.

 

[combocaz]

Aquaman before Namor hits the big screen.

 

[TheWatcher]

I would be ok with this. I would love to see Brave and the Bold or Worlds Finest/Trinity.

 

[Bruce Malone]

How much is WB gonna risk on these properties after the GL debacle? The problem is to get these solo/team-up films going wb needed it's own Iron Man to open the doors to success.

If Iron Man bombed the whole MCU would have probably never gotten off the ground. GL was supposed to be their Iron Man but it didn't work out.

 

[Shawkur]

I think having full-blown crossovers before the Justice League movie might take away from the special appeal of a JLA movie. Would Avengers have been as successful if they put out Cap/Iron Man and a Thor/Hulk movie beforehand? I think it would have seemed like old hat to a lot of the audience. I'd just have a good amount of references and cameos until the JLA movie.

 

[66 Face]

I'm hoping for a Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman movie. Then maybe a Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Superman movie.

DC has a chance to do something very unique and put those movies out at the same time while tying them together. IMO a great bonding theme would be Luthor as pres, a Thanagar attack or even Aquaman. I like things like that... thinking outside the box.

DC and the WB should learn from Marvels mistakes. Every character doesn't need an origin film.

 

[metaphysician]

I'm hoping for a Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman movie. Then maybe a Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Superman movie.

DC has a chance to do something very unique and put those movies out at the same time while tying them together. IMO a great bonding theme would be Luthor as pres, a Thanagar attack or even Aquaman. I like things like that... thinking outside the box.

DC and the WB should learn from Marvels mistakes. Every character doesn't need an origin film.

And which character was that, Marvel providing an unneeded origin film?

 

[DrCosmic]

I've thought this way as well. I also think it would be smart to pitch these team up movies as the sequels, of sorts.

World's Finest works as both NuBatman 2 and Man of Steel3
Brave and the Bold works as Flash 3 and Green Lantern 3
"War of Atlantis" (or similar) works as Wonder Woman 2 and Aquaman's Intro
Then pull them together in a Justice League movie that introduces Martian Manhunter
Then split them back up into single properties, use those to intro more DCU characters
Then bring them all together for JL2
Then split back into teams, in stories that directly correspond to the end of JL2
Include new teams for the new characters ie Teen Titans, Outsiders, JLI, etc
Then bring everyone back for a big giant three hour Justice League 3 conclusion.

 

[DrMylesOBoogie]

Worlds Finest, Flash and then a JL film. No need for any others.

 

[66 Face]

And which character was that, Marvel providing an unneeded origin film?

Any of the Avengers hero's. Ironman worked and then had a lame sequal but Thor, Cap, Hulk could have been in the Avengers without a movie and have their back story just talked about.

IMO characters like WW or even Aquaman should be great and gain popularity in JLA first. Then go do thier movies. IMO WW's origin should only be hinted at until her character is established. I hate to say it but its a sappy origin story like Thor. The character is cool but that backstory is badly outdated. Unless someone can come along and really gets it right just leave it alone for now. Talk about her past, see her powers but just make a movie about her being a warrior princess and kicking butt. Even a character like GA doesn't need a lengthy back story.

IMO the only origin movies that would be cool, or at least should've been cool, are GL, The Flash and Hawkman/ Hawkgirl. I think DC is really missing the boat with Hawkman. There is such an awesome story there that I think if its handled right could be close to Avatar.

 

[Airwings]

The only smaller team-up film with Green Lantern, should be with Green Arrow as the other hero. Without a doubt.
But two heroes calling themselves green? Shouldn't be a problem, as we're dealing with fictive worlds here.

 

[Thundercrack85]

I keep saying this, but the average moviegoing audience needs to care about these characters before you throw them into team-ups, or a Justice League movie.

And the fact that they can't make these characters work in solo movies, with the exception of Batman, isn't very reassuring.

Good luck selling a Green Lantern / Green Arrow crossover, after the last crappy Green Lantern movie.

 

[Zionite1]

WB should not be rushing out a Justice Lague without proper build up and I dont think they can do that beore 2015.Their best choice to concentrate on a smaller teamup-The Trinity.The only movie they need to release to buildup is MOS and Wonderwoman and introduce the rebooted Batman in it the Trinity movie.The Trinity movie can serve as a prequel to the Justice League and can actually stand on its own as a great teamup movie as it contains the 3 most Iconic heroes in the world.

 

[Lord]

This is my plan, but most is probably just wishful thinking

2013 - The Man of Steel
2015 - Batman Reboot
2016 - The Man of Steel 2/ Wonder Woman
2017 - World's Finest
2018 - The Man of Steel 3/ Batman 2
2019 - Wonder Woman 2/ The Flash
2020 - Trinity
2021 - Aquaman/ possible superman or batman movie
2022 - Wonder Woman 3/ Green Lantern Reboot
2023 - Waiting time?
2024 - Justice League

It's basically wishful thinking with a lot of the reality of production time, but i would understand if fans didn't want to wait this long, i mean, it's basically releasing Justice League 11 years after the release of The Man of Steel. However, this would reflet the DC comics where the character enjoyed some years in their oun adventures before the team up, while Marvel was almost envisioned as a shared universe from the begining.

 

[Thundercrack85]

A Batman reboot in 3 years? It took 3 years just to get a sequel.

I suppose they could reboot Batman in 3 years, if they started immediately. I'd say realistically, at least 5 years, but probably no more than 10. People have become fairly accepting of Batman being a changing role, so it shouldn't be too problematic.

Though I can't say much else until we see Man of Steel, and how it does.

 

[RoughNTumble]

world's finest>trinity>JL would be sick

 

[Jplaya2023]

Here's the template WB needs to follow before justice league

2012 - Superman Movie (easter egg a scene where superman senses a darker evil and have a green light shine in his direction)

2014 - Flash Movie (Easter egg a scene where flash is laying almost dead and wakes up on an island of all women and makes a joke about it)

2015 - Wonder Woman movie (Easter egg a scene where diana is laying unconscious and wakes up in a mysterious cave surrounded by bats)

2016 - Green Lantern reboot. This one uses John Stewart (Easter egg, sinestro is defeated only to be woken up with his ring surrounded by grundy, brainiac, and metallo)

2016 - Aquaman movie (Easter egg to the end where aqaua man saves atlantis and is greeted by a familiar group of super heroes saying the world is in grave danger and they need his help)

2017 - Justice league movie (all original 7 members, Batman, Superman, WW, GL (john stewart), Martian Manhunter, Flash, Aqua Man). They take on the hall of doom led by luthor (robot), brainiac, sinestro, grundy,******ed superman and others. (Easter egg - They defeated the hall of doom, and all of a sudden a time dimension split happens and we hear and see the voice of captain america saying the entire multiverse is in help and we need your help.

2019 - Justice League Avenger movie (Justice league and avengers team up to stop darkside and thanos from taking over the world, but they recruited some strong rogues along the way...) This will be a 3 part movie series released every 3 years.

2022 - Justice League Avengers 2

2025 - Justice League Avengers 3

 

[az824]

I agree with a lot of these ideas except for the worlds finest thing. If you go to the "best non batman dc film" it's a bunch of of superman films. With so many batman and superman films, a WF would be soooo tiresome and frustrating, even if it is the two together. It would be more refreshing to have a trinity movie imho

 

[ЯɘvlveR]

I agree with a lot of these ideas except for the worlds finest thing. If you go to the "best non batman dc film" it's a bunch of of superman films. With so many batman and superman films, a WF would be soooo tiresome and frustrating, even if it is the two together. It would be more refreshing to have a trinity movie imho

how? when all you're doing is adding wonder woman to what you're arguing in this post?

i do prefer it going from a world's finest (after having established wondy) to a trinity, to a jl in one film. i'd like it to slowly build up.

 

[kylevorbach]

I feel like rebooting Batman right now would just be redundant. We literally just saw his origin story. I'm all for just throwing Henry Cavill and a new Batman together, but keep the more serious tone of Man of Steel. Otherwise, you'd just be imitating Marvel. And we can't have that.

 

[Tristantulanka]

Okay, so if I had complete control of WB's creation in this, this would be my go at it:

2013: MOS (which is supposed to have some REALLY cool easter eggs in it. I'd LOVE a scene of clark flying over the ocean with a "whoa. an underground city. i'll have to look into this again" or something like that? Maybe have it fit in with Themyscaria instead? something like this would work I think)

2014: Fast track (no pun I swear) a Flash movie. A great 90 minute popcorn late summer movie flick, with a strong cast, using Barry Allen as a nerd scientist cop who gets super powers. Use a suit akin to the 90s TV show one, but on a slimmer body, with lenses, awesome boots, and a texture since they love that.

2015: HOLY CRAPSHOOT in a complete WTF move, WB makes a deal with a "Premium Cable" provider and does a Batman tv show. 12 episode Season of an established batman, (Whole season including: Ventriloquist, Mad Hatter, Man-Bat, Clayface, ending with the Joker and the introduction of dick grayson. TONS of easter eggs about other heroes like previously seen Superman, and "Flash")

Wonder Woman movie. (Origin movie, big tentpole movie with tons of explosions and mythological monsters. Possibly introduce Aquaman? not titled as aquaman at first of course)


2016: Justice League. Superman. Batman. Wonderwoman. Flash. Green Lantern (John Stewart) Aqua-Man (Not called this at ALL in previous easter eggs, but the Flash makes a joke and it sticks). Martian Manhunter (Introduced in this for the first time as well) You COULD upstage the Avengers, and instead of making the "Aliens" attack just New York city it would be the WORLD. Use Darkseid and the minions of Apokalips, OR Do something that would be completely ballsy and use Starro. Perfect match-up of "heroes vs heroes" and have the ACTUAL formation of the team at the end? (Now that I'm thinking about it Starro would be so cool. Its paying homage to the first JLA comic, whilst updating it with a 'Clash of the Gods' type scenario.

 

[Vanquisher]

I think the fast track to getting an established Justice League movie in the big screen would be to establish Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, & Green Lantern on the smaller screen...aka TV. Think Star Trek-TNG, X-Files, (upcoming) 24 movie.

Going with the TV idea....

Because of the recent Batman-Nolan movies & the Smallville series, I like the idea of the World's Finest television series, that can span a 2 season series from the Fall of 2013 to Spring of 2015...or even beyond. The episodes would not have to contain the both of them at the same time. Half would Batman-centric and the other half would be Superman-centric.

As for Wonder Woman....

In the summer of 2014, Warner Bros. can start a half Wonder Woman series set in the early 90's with Hyppolita as the original leading us to Diana as the iconic superheroine. It would continue with a 2nd season starting in the Fall of 2014 with the Diana as the main character and it will ultimately crossover to the World's Finest Series, which will ultimately lead to a Trinity Series. The Trinity series will ultimately lead to a Justice League live action television series (like 24), which will ultimately morph into a Justice League movie franchise (like Star Trek). The rest would be history and you can do away with the TV series.

The key would, of course, be casting and scripting.

IMO, if the script of these series mirrors or stays as close to the actual comic-book story, nothing can go wrong. If it strays (i.e. David E. Kelley's Wonder Woman), you risk failure.

As for the casting goes, it would be important to cast actors who are relatively unknowns or moderately known. IMO, it would be better to have a cast full of fresh faces then recycled old ones like Robert Downey Jr., etc....

 

[Eddie Brock]

I find a Trinity movie to be a waste of time. If you're already going to have the Big Three together, just throw in 2 or 3 more and make JL.