The Dark Knight Rises Reasons why a JLA movie is bad! (for Batman and others)

[GregComicFan]

Hi,

Supposedly Christian Bale is signed and contractually obligated to three Batman films, one of which could be a team-up movie of some sort.

So....

Assuming Bale only appears as Batman 3 times (and never renegotiates a new contract to continue playing the role)....

Which would you rather have? Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and a third Nolan/Batman film (to complete the Nolan trilogy)...OR Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and JLA (including Batman)?

I would rather have three Nolan/Bale Batman films and a completed Batman trilogy. Batman is more important to me than a JLA film. Each DC character is more interesting in their own respective worlds than when put together as a team on the Justice League.

I'm also one of the people who thinks a JLA movie is a poor movie by Warner Bros at this point. For two reasons:

1) a JLA movie NOW tells us the WB doesn't think any DC character besides Superman and Batman are interesting enough to carry their own solo film. But look at Marvel. Marvel is taking B-rated characters like Ghost Rider and giving them their own film. Regardless of whether you thought Ghost Rider was a good film or not, you have to give Marvel props for BELIEVING in the strength of even their lesser known characters. They have faith in their characters. a JLA movie now says the WB doesn't have ANY faith in Wonder Woman, the Flash, any of the Green Lanterns, and so on. They even apparatently don't have faith in Superman either anymore, since the proposed Superman Returns sequel is now going to be Superman in the JLA movie.

2) Nolan's vision is going to be lost. Seriously. Do you honestly think the screenwriters (the JLA movie is being written by the Mr. and Mrs. Smith writing team) and the director (whoever that ends up being) is going to try to translate Nolan's "realistic"-take on Batman to a JLA film? No. The Christian Bale/Batman we see in a JLA movie is going to be radically different from the one Nolan creates, and honestly I rather see Nolan's.


what do you think?
Greg

 

[Matt.S99]

3 bat flicks

 

[odiin]

Not to sound rude or anything, but who cares about Nolan's vision when it comes to this film? This ISN'T a Batman film, it's a Justice League film, and the focus will be on the team as a whole, not the individual heroes.

I mean you could say the same thing about absolutely any of the characters: "They won't stay true to Nolan's vision of Superman!" "They won't stay true to Shawn Levy's vision of the Flash!" and so on and so forth, but the thing is, that's fine, because it's not their movie, what's important is it stays true to whoever the director will be's vision of the Justice League, and it's because of this fact that if the movie for whatever reason DOES flop, that it WON'T ruin the characters' individual franchises, because they'll be able to go right back to Singer's Superman, and Nolan's Batman and still be successful, because whatever may have sucked about the JLA movie won't seep in to the regular movies.

As for the contract thing, well that worries me, but only very slightly. Unlike a lot of actors, Bale seems to generally love playing Batman, and I truly believe he will want to stay at least until the end of Nolan's trilogy, not just out of contractual obligation, but because he WANTS to, plus Batman is a big source of income for him that I doubt he would want to just walk away from. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind that he would come back for Begins 3 even if he didn't have to.

In fact I think it works better this way: Bale is probably more likely to sign on to a third Batman film after being forced to do the JLA film, then he would be to sign on for the JLA film after finishing his three batman movies.

 

[Buttman]

I'm just really worried this will cost a ridiclious ammount (more than SR) then flop. I just can't see how they can give all these larger than life characters fair screen time, and still keep it a 2 hour Summer blockbuster. (We all know it's what they're going for.)

I'd rather see Batman Begins 4 than Justice League, I think most would. Batman movies can relatively, be made on the cheap, it's not a huge loss if it doesn't make up it's budget (which we all know it would -- heck, B&R made good profit despite many people ranking it one of the worst films of all time. Batman brings it home, every time.) Alot of people don't know who Justice League are. Heck, alot of people don't even know who Wonder Woman is. Let's run up say, the Justice League unlimited, or whoever we think would be in it.

Superman - Of course my friends know who this is. I think you have to be pretty out of touch with culture to not know who Superman is.

Batman - Again, everyone knows who he is. He's DC's most bankable star, it's not remotely suprising they want to put him in this movie, even if the fans are against it. He sells the most comics, and he's been on film/television twice the ammount of times as any other DC character.

Wonder Woman - I'm not too sure. I think most of the girls know who she is, and most of the guys probably do. Yeah, she's definately "famous enough" to be in a JL movie, but I'm not sure she could support her own movie.

Flash - Most know who he is, but not everyone. Alot of my friends consider him "Lame."

Green Lantern - Not alot of people know who he/they are. I had a few friends over a while back playing the Justice League game for the PS2, and they all kept asking who "the green guy" was.

Green Arrow, Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Atom, Hawkman, Black Canary, Captain Marvel and Plastic Man - None of my friends know who these guys/girls are.

I honestly think DC should play it safe, and stick with multiple Batman franchises, instead of blowing it all on the "everything or nothing" JL picture. We all know this movie will cost a pretty penny, probably more than SR did, and I still doubt whether it'd make up it's budget or not. If they can make it on the cheap, go for it.

 

[Ceb-Man]

Bale should finish the Nolan movies.
A new actor for Batman should be in JLA.

 

[FlawlessVictory]

I want at least 3 Nolan Batman movies. You got that WB?! AT LEAST 3 NOLAN BATMAN MOVIES!!! Don't let this JLA movie F with the continuity of the Nolan series. You ruined one set of Batman movies, don't let it happen again! Get all your ducks in a row first(Nolan trilogy, Singer trilogy) then move on to these team up projects. Don't F this up WB! You've been warned.

 

[Johnny DC]

If they want a Justice League movie, why not just do Kingdom Come? It's set in the future, so it wouldn't hurt any present or upcoming DC film franchises.

 

[dude stannis]

I'd like to see 3 Nolan Batman movies, 3 Singer Superman movies,a JL movie (Where Batman becomes unpopular with the Superhero community, Tower of Babel, OMAC Project), TDKR as a finale.

 

[FlawlessVictory]

If they want a Justice League movie, why not just do Kingdom Come? It's set in the future, so it wouldn't hurt any present or upcoming DC film franchises.

It's funny that you mention that because I thought this sentence in the press release for the JLA movie was interesting:

To a large degree, casting will depend upon the story arc for the JLA feature and at what point in the superheroes' lives the plot takes place.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117960018.html?categoryid=1238&cs=1&query=justice+league

Don't know how much to read into that but I thought it was worth mentioning.

 

[odiin]

I think people are way too paranoid about this. Christian Bale is in pretty much every movie Christopher Nolan has ever made anyway, I highly highly HIGHLY doubt he'd back out of the third Batman movie regardless of the fact that he wasn't contractually obligated to do it. In fact, the only way I can see him NOT doing the movie would be if something happened and Christopher Nolan himself back out of it.

As for the messing up continuity thing, you guys can't tell me you really believe that, do you? The only series' to be directly affected by the justice league movie would be any characters that are spun-off from that film, like Wonder Woman or The Flash. The Batman series will just go back to being Batman as usual. It's not like you'll see Superman flying around in Gotham in Begins 3 and reminiscing about the events of the Justice League movie.


People are being so freaking paranoid that they seem to want to tear all the enjoyment from out of this movie. They complain and say that neither Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman should be in this movie, and then they say. Okay, Batman can be in it but only if he's played by a different actor, and only if it's a tiny cameo.

EFF THAT! If at all possible all 3 should be in the movie, AND played by the actual actors from their individual franchises. It's incredibly stupid to take away from the excitement of seeing all these heroes come together with Christian Bale, Brandon Routh, Ryan Reynolds or whoever they eventually get and everyone else all teaming up. You all know that for all you're whining and complaining, that's something everyone here really would love to see, and they're actually planning on GIVING THAT TO US! Yeah, things might end up not working completely that way, but why destroy that hope so soon when we have no real reason to? Nobody from WB has come out and said yet that the original actors wouldn't be able to come back, so why assume? Why waste your time moaning and complaining and talking about what could go wrong, instead of focusing on the sheer awesomeness of this.

The Justice League... together.... ON FILM! Why doesn't everyone just take a minute to sit back and take in how amazing that is.

Jesus Christ... it's as if no one knows how to take good news so they complain and complain, and won't be truly happy until the worst possible situation comes true.

 

[FaT_tONle]

Good points man ^^^... ya I am game for a JLA movie eventually... I don't think it would effect the solo franchises much at all... as you said... even if they do a JLA before Nolan or Singer's third you can always extend the contract for maybe one more movie... and as mentioned before you can spring new solos off the JLA movie if its a hit...

However, doing a JLA with the same actors from their franchises will just have an enormous budget. They couldn't possibly extend Bale and Routhe's contract for and extra 2/3 flicks, but if they can extend them for one movie then it will work... even if the bugdet is too big and WB backs out I don't have much doubt we will see a JLA series in 2015-2020 with recasted actors much like the Xmen series...

 

[odiin]

With something like the JLA, I think one movie is plenty. If, after the first one is done, everyone involved is interested in coming back, that's cool. But ultimately they should take it one step at a time.

but also the beauty of something like this is if they INSISTED on making a sequel and some people weren't interested in coming back, they could just replace them with new characters, explaining it as being a line-up change, just like what happens in the comics all the time, but like I said before, I see this being a single movie, rather than a franchise. Batman is it's own independent franchise, same with Superman, this will just be a single movie that takes the characters from their own franchises and puts them together.

As for the budget thing, I hear a lot of people saying that it's going to cost way too much to have all these actors, but I just don't see that being the case. Christian Bale is a famous actor, but he's not one of those "$25 million a film!" actors, and truth be told, Brandon Routh doesn't have much of a film career outside of Superman, Ryan Reynolds (if they do indeed go with him) won't cost too much, they'll probably end up going with an unknown for Wonder Woman, and the rest I don't know... but the point is, We'll end up with what, maybe 4-5 really well known famous actors? Can anyone honestly tell me that that would cost them anything really out of the ordinary for a film like this? Hell, Batman Begins already has that beat, easily.

 

[Katsuro]

I just think Flash, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern need their own flicks before they're thrown into the ensemble. Or at least, i'd much, much prefer them to have their own flicks. I mean, the Justice League movie itself would do fine without introducing them earlier, but it'd be harder to then give them solo movies afterwards, as opposed to doing the solo films first, then throwing them into JLA.

 

[odiin]

I just think Flash, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern need their own flicks before they're thrown into the ensemble. Or at least, i'd much, much prefer them to have their own flicks. I mean, the Justice League movie itself would do fine without introducing them earlier, but it'd be harder to then give them solo movies afterwards, as opposed to doing the solo films first, then throwing them into JLA.

I know what you mean, I'd like to see at least a couple more heroes get their own individual movies first, but I'm not really complaining since we don't really know when any of this stuff is coming out. I think it kind of works both ways though. On one hand the JLA movie would be more successful using previously established film characters, that people already know and are excited for, but on the other they would also be excited for individual franchises for characters they liked from the JLA movie that they wouldn't necessarily know or care about beforehand. Like Flash and Wonder Woman I can definitely see carrying their own franchises as is, but for Aquaman and Martian Manhunter I think they would be better off debuting in JLA. For J'onn because no one knows who he is, and for Aquaman because everyone thinks they character is stupid and would be skeptical of him in his own movie, but if he was in JLA first people would be sort of "forced" into seeing him and they could see that he can actually be pretty cool, and hopefully break the 30+ year cure that Superfriends bestowed upon him.

 

[Robin]

I really don't think WB should make a Justice League film set in the same continuum as Batman Begins. Nolan has tried hard to make Batman realistic and if you partner him with a group of guys dressed in brightly coloured tights... it’s uhh, gonna’ mess things up.

~Robin

 

[venom892]

If you ask me Individual charaters should have solo movies first before a huge Justice League movie.Something like this

2008-The Dark Knight with The Joker
2009-Man of Steel with Brainiac, The Flash with either Mirror Master or Captain Cold or both
2010-Super Max with Green Arrow and Wonder Woman
2011- Third Nolan Batman Film with Joker and Two face,Green Lantern with Hal Jordan and Sinestro
2012-Third Singer Superman film
2013-JLA movie with debut of Martian Manhunter and White Martian invasion

Thats why I'd like to see in the next couple years.It's very unlikely but it still be very cool.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Bale should finish the Nolan movies.
A new actor for Batman should be in JLA.

I agree. We dont need to see Batman without his cowl on in a JLA movie, so really, they can hire an unknown actor to fill the role, and save on their budget.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

It's funny that you mention that because I thought this sentence in the press release for the JLA movie was interesting:



Don't know how much to read into that but I thought it was worth mentioning.

That article also says they may "opt to feature second tier characters", so im not getting my hopes up on seeing the big 7 on screen together anytime soon...

 

[javi1024]

I want at least 3 Nolan Batman movies. You got that WB?! AT LEAST 3 NOLAN BATMAN MOVIES!!! Don't let this JLA movie F with the continuity of the Nolan series. You ruined one set of Batman movies, don't let it happen again! Get all your ducks in a row first(Nolan trilogy, Singer trilogy) then move on to these team up projects. Don't F this up WB! You've been warned.

as slim a chance it is WB will read this let alone listen to your suggestion, im gonna back you there.

right now WB has a good thing going with BB/TDK and SR. ive recently been more interested in Wonder Woman so i welcome her own film (especially if the listen to Whedon and include her greek mythology). maybe they should take baby steps: World's Finest, then the DC Trinity, then if those go well: JUSTICE LEAGUE. but LONG after the individual series are complete.

 

[FaT_tONle]

Flawless needs to chill... taking those Goyer comments out of contexts still... WB isn't that stupid.... Nolan WILL GET A THIRD... bottom line... SR IS getting a sequel... and if its good... it WILL get a third as well... a JLA in the 2020's is the only time I can see it... with new actors and all... let it be its own thing separate from Nolan/Singer trilogies... what I DO want to see though is a World's Finest (with Bale, Routh, and Spacey or forget about it) summer of 2014... thats the only cross over with potential right now... thats just a fact

Lets face it guys.... WW, Flash, Green Lantern will flop...
not saying they don't deserve solos... but do them after Bat/Supes franshices when WB has built some profits with the previous films.... that way they won't have to rush the production of these solos to jam them in by 09, 10 when they can't even get them into development anyway... then that can culminate into a JLA series 2015-2021 ish... thats the smart move... not campy cross overs and solos intermingling things no one wants to see... a JLA should be its separate thing

 

[metkalfe]

This is sooo bad an idea even maybe Im in the minority. Stick to the cartoons on the CW kids or Cartoon network.

 

[Mr. Socko]

I doubt a JL nor a Supes vs Bats film will ever be made. I'll believe it once I hear they've entered principal photography.

 

[TwilightPro101]

Let's hope to god not.

 

[Sun_Down]

I really don't understand why people think a JLA movie would "mess up" any characters continuities. There's no reason that, say, Singer's Superman and Nolan's Batman can't exist in the same world. No reason whatsoever.

That said, I would not want a JLA movie to serve as a replacement for, say, a Superman sequel or Green Lantern solo movie.

If you ask me Individual charaters should have solo movies first before a huge Justice League movie.Something like this

2008-The Dark Knight with The Joker
2009-Man of Steel with Brainiac, The Flash with either Mirror Master or Captain Cold or both
2010-Super Max with Green Arrow and Wonder Woman
2011- Third Nolan Batman Film with Joker and Two face,Green Lantern with Hal Jordan and Sinestro
2012-Third Singer Superman film
2013-JLA movie with debut of Martian Manhunter and White Martian invasion

Thats why I'd like to see in the next couple years.It's very unlikely but it still be very cool.

I completely agree, this would be amazing. It's a pipe dream, but I'd love it.

 

[Bhoward]

Couldn't the WB go the route of the Lord of the Rings trilogy with the JLA, and make them truly epic films. I don't know if comic books writers, stories are in the same league as JR Tolkein, but these characters have been around for a very long time and deserve literary respect when considering them for a movie. I would definitely go big and long with this series. It will give a chance to introduce new heroes and villians along the way and give a backstory or origin to the characters who haven't had their own movie so far, such as GL, Flash, WW, and MM. If the WB decides to have a big spectacle like the LOTR trilogy, you would have to have Batman and Superman joining the league by the second or third films. I would make all three films a minimum of 3hours each and film and release them just as the LOTR trilogy and the Matrix 2nd and 3rd films.