Justice League The Thanos Problem

[Axl Van Sixx]

With the appearance of Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy and his likely presence as the focus of Avengers 3 in 2018, it seems that Thanos is ready to hit the big time. But given his similarity to Darkseid, the question remains -- by the time Darkseid finally appears (presumably in a Justice League movie), will audiences at that point see him as a mere ripoff of Thanos?

Obviously such a fate would be extremely ironic given that the character of Thanos in the comics was heavily influenced by Darkseid.

 

[Sexy Magician]

With the appearance of Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy and his likely presence as the focus of Avengers 3 in 2018, it seems that Thanos is ready to hit the big time. But given his similarity to Darkseid, the question remains -- by the time Darkseid finally appears (presumably in a Justice League movie), will audiences at that point see him as a mere ripoff of Thanos?

Obviously such a fate would be extremely ironic given that the character of Thanos in the comics was heavily influenced by Darkseid.

Yeah I often think this as well, I still think like it could be done but how to do it without appearing to rip off Thanos I don't know. Like you said as well, Darkseid came first, the guy who created Thanos originally had him thinner and he had a look of Metron, he was told of you're gonna rip off a New God at least rip off Darkseid, the really good one.

 

[Lantern Venom]

With the appearance of Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy and his likely presence as the focus of Avengers 3 in 2018, it seems that Thanos is ready to hit the big time. But given his similarity to Darkseid, the question remains -- by the time Darkseid finally appears (presumably in a Justice League movie), will audiences at that point see him as a mere ripoff of Thanos?

Obviously such a fate would be extremely ironic given that the character of Thanos in the comics was heavily influenced by Darkseid.

WB can't worry about the opinions of people who are too lazy to do a 20-second web search. Darkseid came first and his place in DC's history is well-established. The last thing WB should worry about is what Marvel Studios is doing because the likelihood of replicating their string of success is almost zero. Stay true to the source material and hope for the best.

 

[Guard82]

I don't think this should be a problem. Darkseid is a good villain and would make a great antagonist in a Justice League movie no matter what. Most moviegoers likely will not care about similarities between villains of two different franchises; they just want to see some exciting villains on the big screen for our heroes to battle. As long as Darkseid is presented as an interesting, exciting villain for the Justice League, that's all that the audience will care about.

Besides, just because Darkseid and Thanos are similar doesn't make them exactly the same. Depending on how Darkseid is written, the writers can easily think up ways to make him distinctive as his own person. Few if any people will find anything wrong with similarities between him and Thanos as long as Darkseid is written well.

 

[Batmannerism]

Given the appearance of Thanos in GOTG ( i.e. the way he looks) I think Darkseid will have a radically different look. Also, Thanos smiles in GOTG,
whereas Darkseid just glowers and looks pissed off.

I'm sure whichever director is entrusted with bringing Darkseid to life on the big screen will make his characterization and appearance significantly different from Thanos. Well, let's hope.

Personally, I found Thanos with all his gold bling to be a bit too shiny to be really scary.

 

[Donut]

Disney doing Thanos first & correctly for the most part is not a problem if you ask me. They are showing other studios that CGI bad guys can be done correctly. Not turned into clouds or blue guys that look like blue chicks

 

[Rorschach2012]

Given the appearance of Thanos in GOTG ( i.e. the way he looks) I think Darkseid will have a radically different look. Also, Thanos smiles in GOTG,
whereas Darkseid just glowers and looks pissed off.

I'm sure whichever director is entrusted with bringing Darkseid to life on the big screen will make his characterization and appearance significantly different from Thanos. Well, let's hope.

Personally, I found Thanos with all his gold bling to be a bit too shiny to be really scary.

agreed. Thanos isn't very scary or threatening at all, like all of the MCU's villains. Whereas DC in the past has had Nolan's Joker, Two Face, Scarecrow and Bane... I hope Darkseid is as scary and threatening as Nolan's villains, and i hope he's completely different from Thanos. Darkseid doesn't have to be family friendly, make him terrifying.

 

[Lantern Venom]

Given the appearance of Thanos in GOTG ( i.e. the way he looks) I think Darkseid will have a radically different look. .

Marvel made some changes in his look between Avengers and GotG. He looked more human; Darkseid should look more like a monstrous statue.

 

[PaulRom]

I don't think it would be much of a problem as long as Darkseid is portrayed very differently from Thanos. He could easily be a darker, more frightening villain. And he can have a radically different array of powers.

 

[Boom]

One looks like this:

The other looks like this:

One is the unquestioned dictator of his own planet, Apokolips.
One resides on the outskirts of the cosmos on a little meteorite.

One wants to control all life in the universe with the Anti-Life Equation.
One wants to end all life in the universe with the Infinity Gauntlet.


Where exactly is the confusion?

 

[Guard82]

I don't think it would be much of a problem as long as Darkseid is portrayed very differently from Thanos. He could easily be a darker, more frightening villain. And he can have a radically different array of powers.

That's right. As I mentioned in my previous post, there's any number ways that the writers can make Darkseid unique in terms of his personality, power set, appearance, backstory, etc. There is a lot of room for creativity in how he is introduced to the audience.

Also, as I said before, similarities between Darkseid and Thanos should not deter the Justice League writers from using Darkseid to his greatest potential. Look at the filmmakers behind the next X-Men movie. Apocalypse is also similar to Thanos in many ways, but that's not stopping the filmmakers from using Apocalypse as the villain in the next X-Men film. And there's no reason not to use Darkseid in a movie either.

 

[Iceman]

Between the JL, Avengers and X-Men there are many similar and equivalent characters. I think they should still go with Darkseid at some point, just see what we get with Thanos and choose a different direction and look for Darkseid. The fact that we have 2 Quicksilvers on film should not mean we don't get a Flash in JL for eg.

 

[michael1975]

agreed. Thanos isn't very scary or threatening at all, like all of the MCU's villains. Whereas DC in the past has had Nolan's Joker, Two Face, Scarecrow and Bane... I hope Darkseid is as scary and threatening as Nolan's villains, and i hope he's completely different from Thanos. Darkseid doesn't have to be family friendly, make him terrifying.

Ok first off other then Joker I never once even remotely found any of the villians in Nolan films to be scary. The Scarecrow was a Joke and was down played in the film. Bane was even worse then Scarecrow. That got his personality right but he was pathetically small and his costume sucked.

Also you're stuck on Nolan. These arn't Nolan films. In no way shape form or fashion are they connected to the Nolan films. So just get off that bandwagon now.

WB has a lot to prove at this point. So don't count you're chickens before they hatch.

 

[Aejej]

Marvel made some changes in his look between Avengers and GotG. He looked more human; Darkseid should look more like a monstrous statue.

I can't confirm this, but I've heard before that the final look of Molasar in The Keep may have been inspired by Darkseid. The film came out in 1983, so imagine what they could do now.

 

[titansupes]

^ That actually looks really cool.

 

[The Guard]

It kind of reminds me of Ram-Man from MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE.

 

[The_Yellow_King]

Thinking about this, I had a crazy idea: at the end of BvS or the JLA movie, they should just rip-off The Avengers' after-credits scene with Thanos but using Desaad and Darkseid in Apokolips instead of Thanos and the cloaked alien in the meteors.

Shot by shot rip-off, Desaad informing to Darkseid about whatever happened during the movie and then Darkseid turns and smiles, exactly the same scene, then in the next movie the JLA and the Green Lantern Corps would fight against Darkseid while in the MCU The Avengers and TGOTG fight against Thanos, both movies being released the same year.

 

[Steamteck]

Darkseid sould be portrayed as the ruler of his world and interacting with it as opposed to mr hermit Thanos.

 

[The Guard]

Also, Darkseid should actually do things.

 

[JOE]

You have BVS, SS and WW to hint at Darksied. Disney may own the rights to a lot of things, but post-credit scenes are not one of them. So what if Marvel did it first, does that mean it can never be done again without "ripping the MCU off"? Marvel may be known for it, but I don't see it as their staple. Personally, I think they should save Darkseid for JL2 anyways. Have Luthor do something to assemble the team together. Oops, don't want to use the word assemble either, might be "ripping off the MCU."

 

[Aejej]

You have BVS, SS and WW to hint at Darksied. Disney may own the rights to a lot of things, but post-credit scenes are not one of them. So what if Marvel did it first, does that mean it can never be done again without "ripping the MCU off"? Marvel may be known for it, but I don't see it as their staple. Personally, I think they should save Darkseid for JL2 anyways. Have Luthor do something to assemble the team together. Oops, don't want to use the word assemble either, might be "ripping off the MCU."

It's not like Marvel didn't borrow the Doom Patrol to make X-Men, or Batman to make Iron Man, or (again) from Batman to make Moon Knight, etc. Post-credits scenes go back decades. I recall The Name of the Rose had a scene that ran all the way through the credits.

 

[Naked Shia]

Darkseid will be frightening as hell, unlike Thanos. Thanos will make jokes with the hulk, while darkseid will destroy Superman in a one on one fight.

They should make a Dc Versus Marvel movie.

 

[michael1975]

Darkseid will be frightening as hell, unlike Thanos. Thanos will make jokes with the hulk, while darkseid will destroy Superman in a one on one fight.

They should make a Dc Versus Marvel movie.

What makes you think Thanos won't be frighting? Better question is how do you even know they will get a Justice League made?

Darksied could make for an awesome villain. He could be the Darth Vader of DC Universe. However till we see what they actually do you can't know for sure if he will be scary or not.

As for Marvel they are doing exactly what they want to do. Everything they been doing has been a warm up act. The villains are going to be more frighting. Say what you will about Marvel there villains have been more spot on with how they in the comics then DC have.

Also I'd love to see JL/Avengers movie if done right.

 

[the last son]

Have you seen marvel movies? Too much comedy. I hate to come off like a fanboy, but I want things to betaken serious, with serious issues at stake. MOS you felt like the world was rreally at stake. Avengers felt like guys in costumes having a good time. Darkseid has a chance to humiliate Thanos, by being intimidating, menacing and monstrous.

 

[Naked Shia]

What makes you think Thanos won't be frighting? Better question is how do you even know they will get a Justice League made?

Darksied could make for an awesome villain. He could be the Darth Vader of DC Universe. However till we see what they actually do you can't know for sure if he will be scary or not.

As for Marvel they are doing exactly what they want to do. Everything they been doing has been a warm up act. The villains are going to be more frighting. Say what you will about Marvel there villains have been more spot on with how they in the comics then DC have.

Also I'd love to see JL/Avengers movie if done right.

I know they will get a justice league made, because WB officially announced they would two weeks ago.

Also, it was obvious I was joking in my comment