Joss Whedon Explains Why DC Heroes Lack Movie Appeal & How He’d Do A Batman Film

[ultimatefan]

I suggest to Whedom read more of the post-crisis Superman (also the pre-crisis Alan Moore ones) and Wonder Woman stories, Geoff Johns´ run on GL, watch the DCAU, and see the first two Supes movies. He should also pay more attention to his show Dollhouse, that not a lot of people are watching...

 

[REDophile]

I think Whedon is mainly referring to WW in this interview. The Flash isn't a mythical character, he (Barry, Wally, etc.) has human personality traits in the same regard as Spider-Man. GL is a complete fantasy, sci-fi property, but Hal, Guy and John have real-life personalities.

 

[TheVileOne]

Hal Jordan lost his dad in a plane crash.

 

[The Guard]

If he's only referring to Wonder Woman, he's STILL wrong. Wonder Woman is probably, thanks to Greg Rucka and others before him, one of the MOST human and relatable characters DC has.

BTW, is SERENITY any good?

 

[cerealkiller182]

i like serenity

 

[ultimatefan]

Don´t get me wrong, Whedom has a lot of talent as a writer, but I never felt WW was for his sensibilities. He always tends to write towards dark and somewhat cynical, and that´s not WW. He was a better suit for X-Men anyway.

 

[rainingcrow]

agreed

 

[NotFadeAway]

The sad thing is, Dido and co. over at DC want to prove Whedon right by taking the DC characters back in time to the 50's and the 60's. It's like my signature says, Didio and co. want to be Coca-Cola to Marvel's Pepsi.

 

[Heretic]

Image is Tab

 

[Jake Cassidy]

What's Dark Horse? Dr. Pepper?

 

[Octoberist]

Dark Horse is RC Cola.

I love Tab.

 

[Jake Cassidy]

What's Tab?

 

[Octoberist]

the greatest drink ever

 

[Spider-Vader]

Bullcrap, if Superman didn't work well on-screen anymore he wouldn't be in the top 3 most popular/iconic super heroes (along with Bats & Spidey).

I think GL & Flash could also translate on to the big screen easily too. Not to sure about WW though.

 

[NotFadeAway]

Dark Horse is RC Cola.

I love Tab.

Between Pepsi, Coke, and RC.......I love RC Cola!

 

[Red Mask]

Until this guy actually makes a DC or Marvel film, I don't have to believe in anything he said.

 

[DAJB]

Sounds like sour grapes to me. But I must admit I never understood all the excitement about Whedon being assigned to WW in the first place.

Buffy the TV series had good moments but the movie was dreadful. Angel fluctuated wildly from sitcom to Greek tragedy. Firefly/Serenity was good solid B-Movie stuff but, honestly, nothing more. Despite his reputation, there's nothing in the back catalogue to suggest Whedon could write a decent WW movie.

Much is made of his ability to write "strong women". Hmmm - Buffy was a whiny teen who spent as much time in angst as in combat. Dawn was worse. Both Fred and Cordelia were stereotypes (basket case and ditz, respectively) who became less interesting the farther removed from those roles they moved. Zoe, like most of the Firefly characters was simply bland. Only Kaylee and River Tam stand out as really successful and interesting characters and both are a world away from WW.

I'm as frustrated as anyone that WB seem to be stalling on this and I can easily believe Whedon is correct when he says that they don't even know what they want. But I'm not sorry to see Whedon off the project.

 

[The Major]

I think GL & Flash could also translate on to the big screen easily too. Not to sure about WW though.

WW wouldn't be easy to translate to film, it could still be successful, though. Like all movie adaptions it just depends whether the film makers are up to the task.

 

[The Guard]

It always amuses me when people say Whedon writes "strong women". How our standards have fallen.

 

[AnorexicBatman]

And I OFFICIALLY dislike Joss Whedon right now...
It boils down to DC SUCKS! I guess he's bitter because he was rejected from Wonder Woman. DC and MARVEL have equally large and relate able characters and mythologies...

 

[Panthro]

This is my take on Whedon - when he's good he's good, and when he's not, well, he's just not. I enjoyed Firefly and wished it hadn't been discontinued, but never really latched on to his other work. And, as a few others have said, I really don't think his sensibilities as a writer would have suited Wonder Woman.

 

[Red Mask]

From Xena to Buffy to what we have now. I'm sure in the 2010's we'll have a different view of superheroines.

 

[DarkSuperman]

Joss put his foot in his mouth the second he referenced Superman in connection with a 'removal from humanity'. Those comments are ridiculously oversimplified and inaccurate in numerous respects.

Pretty much, ditto. All they need is GOOD/FAITHFUL SCRIPTS and GOOD DIRECTORS. Like Iron Man and Spidey and all of their characters could be just as successful. I read that GL script and it is amazing...I like it even better than TDK, but thats just me.

I LOVE Joss, but most of that interview made me wants to punch him in the face for insulting my DC Icons. He sounds bitter cuz they didn't make his WW or Bats scripts. Green is not a good color on you Joss...just saying...

 

[REDophile]

Yeah he really went too far with what he said. I'm sure he was really talking about WW, speaking from experience. Its such BS to say that no DC character other than Batman has human qualities than translate to the big screen.

Seriously, whether its Jay, Barry or Wally, the Flash is an everyday guy, not a mythical being. It should be easy to do a Flash movie in the same vein and tone as Spider-Man, Fantastic Four or Iron Man.

Hal Jordan is a test pilot, Guy Gardner is a former college football player, John Stewart is an architect. All of those guys are members of the GL corps. Joss is ridiculous to say that any of those guys are too old-fashioned or fantasy-based.

 

[baerrtt]

One has to openly question why it seems (Batman aside) no other creative talent hired to write and direct DC's other big-screen properties seems to be bothering to look at all aspects of the source material closely.

From Bryan Singer ignoring the last 20 years worth of Superman comics to form a new interpretation just so he could film a continuation to the Donner films to Whedon claiming that he had no idea how to write an allegedly 'godly' character in WW.

As fans we know what good/great stories there've been for our favourite characters and yet I'm getting the feeling that an unfortunate consequence of Batman's rejuvenation in the 80s is that, in the public eye, it fully benefitted Batman as there are stories from that period (THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS, THE KILLING JOKE) which have been namechecked as inspirations by the likes of Burton and Nolan (20 years) that even people who haven't read them identify Batman as a 'quality' character.

Whether it be sales(for certain characters) or a complete lack of publicity(ditto like WW) the rest of the DC pantheon haven't had the benefit of that kind of exposure(where the modern tales of Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Green Arrow etc are seen as equally worthy of being adapted onto the big-screen as Batman's) and in Superman's case the one story EVERYONE seems to know (THE DEATH OF..) is purely sensationalistic.

Whedon is talented but (with IRON MAN being a better example) methinks WB really try and find (or hope) that there are talented proffessionals who don't, once they're aboard, dismiss any source material simply because they haven't read or heard of any of it.