And dude, touche, you annoy me just as much if not more so.
Ok...
See, I assume you're talking to me, but I wouldn't know that for sure, because you responded right after someone else's post, and because you call everyone "Dude".
Here's how to quote:
[write the word quote]
[/write the word quote]
and put the quote in between the brackets.
I don't know Flash, I do know AQUAMAN for example. As said on previous boards, that's the hero I'd love to tackle. Flash was just a random name, if you weren't able to catch up on that by now - thought I'd use lamen terms finally - so I wouldn't go anywhere near him since I couldn't do him justice.
If you don't know Flash, maybe you shouldn't be obsessing over how his character development could affect JLA. Look, the same issue that you stated could apply to Flash, also applies to Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, or Martian Manhunter, or any other solo character. How are ANY of them going to develop in a JLA film, in the context of the JLA, that would negatively affect continuity of their solo films? That's what I'm asking you to tell me, and for examples of.
AQUAMAN 1: Arthur isn't too fond of his origins thinking he was merely abandoned and left to die, but returns and finds out that what he thought he knew was wrong and sets out to reclaim his birth right. By the end he isn't king of Atlantis in his being purely just in title alone, but he accepts it.
AQUAMAN 2: Arthur is hesitant about the responsibilities he now has a king. How will he unite his life on the land with his life in the sea? It's where he steps up to truly become a hero. By the end he is close to being the Aquaman we all know, but not yet. He's still finding his way.
AQUAMAN 3: Everything has led up to this moment. Arthur has to accept him and take on the full meaning of being ruler of the seven seas. At the end he is finally the Aquaman we all know and love at the top of his game. He's no longer a boy, but a strong king.
That's a pretty decent basic idea. But none of what you wrote shows me how this gradual development could affect his portrayal in a JL film, or how a JL film could not be fit in between the Aquaman movies that doesn't contradict it. Here. I'll show you how this won't affect a JLA franchise.
AQUAMAN 1: Arthur isn't too fond of his origins thinking he was merely abandoned and left to die, but returns and finds out that what he thought he knew was wrong and sets out to reclaim his birth right. By the end he isn't king of Atlantis in his being purely just in title alone, but he accepts it.
THE JUSTICE LEAGUE
Aquaman doesn't discuss his issues about being king in Atlantis in detail with the league members, partially because he doesn't trust him entirely, partially because he's a private person, and because it's not important or relevant to whats going on with the JLA itself. He hints that he has some issues of his own as he gets to know the others better and trust them more, which gives him commonality with say, Diana, but if he does mention his kingly issues, he does so in a manner vague or broad enough that it doesn't prevent the idea of his issues with his king duties being explored further or in a different manner in his own solo franchise. Aquaman, having been involved in the JLA for a while, starts to work on becoming part of a team with the JLA instead of just doing things his way, and tries to accept leaving his kingdom, where he has sworn to protects Atlanteans as his birthright and duty, and tries to accept protecting the human beings with the JLA, instead of expressing bias and fear against them based on his previous experiences with them, again, which can be somewhat ambiguous, or tied to what happens in the JLA film itself.
AQUAMAN 2: Arthur is hesitant about the responsibilities he now has a king. How will he unite his life on the land with his life in the sea? It's where he steps up to truly become a hero. By the end he is close to being the Aquaman we all know, but not yet. He's still finding his way.
THE JUSTICE LEAGUE 2
Aquaman is, as a member of a team now, still finding his way as a member of The Justice League, dealing with his existing biases a little better, and now recognizing that he has great duties to the people of Atlantis, based on whatever has happened in the time he was last away from the league, the details of which are irrelevant. Also, based on the events from the previous JL movie, he now feels he has a duty to the league and humanity, is becoming better friends and teammates with the people he originally distrusted, and is developing new types of teamwork and communication skills, not just giving orders, as a king or future king would do, but as part of an alliance of heroes.
AQUAMAN 3: Everything has led up to this moment. Arthur has to accept him and take on the full meaning of being ruler of the seven seas. At the end he is finally the Aquaman we all know and love at the top of his game. He's no longer a boy, but a strong king.
THE JUSTICE LEAGUE 3
Everything has led up to this moment. Aquaman is now becoming a key cog in the Justice League, and a great leader in their ranks, who is learning to balance his responsibilies to Atlantis with his duties toward land dwellers as a member of the League. He becomes the balanced Aquaman we know and love, a great king and hero of Atlantis, and a key member of the Justice League, and a beloved hero of humanity.
And through all this, he quite simply doesn't get killed off (unless he comes back to life in the same film) unless his solo film creators communicate with the JL and filmmakers and go "Hey, can we kill off Aquaman?", or vice vera.
And this is bare bones, just a few sentences, and Aquaman is about the seventh most familiar character to me in the JLA, and I came up with it in two or three minutes. This can be extrapolated into a larger, somewhat more detailed arc. But you get the idea. There are ways, if it is handled with some logic, to develop a character, and to explore a characters key themes, without treading on what the other franchise/solo films are doing and without knowing what the other films are doing.
Its a little unfair, because I knew what you were doing with Aquaman. Let's try it again, with a different character, and the only stipulations being that we don't kill them off in either franchise.
I'll come with their JLA arcs, and you come up with their solo film arc, and we'll compare, and see if there would be major issues.
Or just look at THOR which I'm guessing will have a similar arc in mind.
Iron Man definitely seems to, especially with 'Extremis' looking to be IRON MAN 3 having everything come full circle.
Or Captain America with the 'MAN OUT OF TIME' arc being his central core in 'The Avengers' leaving him at place with CAP 2 is bound to pick back up.
In order to pull off that kind of continuity everyone needs to be on the same page. It'd be beyond difficult to be working on AQUAMAN and having no idea what the JUSTICE LEAGUE team is doing.
Yes. In order to do THAT, everyone would need to be on the same page. But DC/WB may not neccessarily be doing that. And I've never said they will, or that they should.
It shouldn't be beyond difficult to write an Aquaman movie and not know what is going on in a JLA movie, especially if, as I've suggested, a studo mandates it so that Aquaman's tory in his solo films isnt written in a way so as to impede the JLA films portrayal of the JLA.
Because it's still an Aquaman film. You still have to service the character, and develop him, and honor his mythology. And if you're concerned about what's going in a Justice Leagfue movie (and what, reasonably WOULD be regarding Aquaman? He's a supporting character to most people), you shouldn't be writing an Aquaman film, period.
Throwing 'Justice League' somewhere in the middle, you would obviously need to be careful with what came before and what comes after.
Well yeah, you would need to be careful. You always need to be careful in writing, to approach it with some sensitivity. You would either need to know what was going on, or if you didn't, then you would need to write your script in a way that doesn't affect the JLA continuity, period. Which is what I am advocating.
This means that if you, as a writer, are aware, or unsure if your idea will affect a future JL film, you shouldn't use JLA centric elements in an Aquaman film. You shouldn't use specifics about Aquaman's personal life in a JLA movie.
And this is where communication comes into play. As a writer it would be beyond difficult keeping everything in line if say someone jumps into the middle with Aquaman and makes him full on king of the seven seas after the first film when the first solo film doesn't show him at that point yet.
Here's a crazy idea. Maybe JLA takes place AFTER Aquaman becomes Aquaman. Since he's, you know, Aquaman and known to the world and the other heroes are around. Seems pretty logical to me.
And while that is going on, I'd be working on Aquaman 2. Creating one step forward and two steps back.
Which steps?
It would be a continuity mess. Why? Because I wouldn't be given information on what the JLA team is doing because of the current set-up over at WB.
What continuity elements would you be working on in an Aquaman 2 film that would affect ewhat happens to him in JL2?
And yeah, you'll probably say I'm annoying you, well guess what dude - as said in the beginning - touche. As a creative guy on AQUAMAN and to do the best job possible? I'd need information on the JLA which at this present juncture - if I was already that high up - would not be provided to me because of how things are currently working.
If you can't write an Aquaman story that doesn't screw up the idea of Aquaman being in the JLA at some point in the future, then you just shouldn't be working on the Aquaman project. Because you would lack focus.
As said, know little about Flash to come up with any notion, but my mind already has a semi-blueprint of what Aquaman's first film should be and a slight notion of what would come after (although unsure on what minor details to do with the character, events to come into play, just what his overall arc should be based on where I'd start him off in the first film).
And as I've shown, it doesn't neccessarily affect much of anything about JLA.
ALSO if you say part of the job is to do as the company tells me, yes, but still to do the best at my job that I can do I'd still need to know where they plan on taking the character in JLA so I can do my best to lead into it and lead out of it in the sequel.
No you wouldn't. Because if you didn't know what JLA was going to be, you could STILL do your best at just the character of Aquaman with the informaiton you have.
There's absolutely no rule that WB's superhero films must "lead into a JLA film", or that JLA's movies must be directly connected to or lead into further solo hero films. The comic books have gotten along fine this way for decades, with vague connections to the solo stories in JLA, and vague connections to JLA's events in solo stories.
Not having that knowledge would be like them telling me "we need you to hit a bullseye on this target - now, we're going to blind-fold you."
If the target you speak of is writing Aquaman's origin story, then you should damn well be able to try to hit a bullsye on that without knowing how JLA is going to use him. Because JLA should be irrelevant to that.
Over at MARVEL the team behind the solo films AREN'T blind-folded.
Teams on television series aren't blind-folded. Here, at present working conditions, I would be. I need to be able to see to hit that bullseye on the mark for them and the audience.
And that's an advantage they have over WB's superhero concepts. So what? You can still do your best, and still write a great movie that honors the character and his mythos.
This need to know what is going on with a future/concurrent JLA film is your obsession, and does not need to be a limitation for your solo series. If WB cares about connecting them, they will establish a line of communication somehow.
And if WB comes to me and says "Hey, we're going to greenlight a Batman reboot film, and we want it to be an origin story, and don't worry about what happens in the JLA movie and how they're connected", I'm still writing the hell out of that story if they approve the basic pitch. Worrying about how it connects to JLA is not an issue at that point. It's not my job to connect the solo franchises to JLA, unless they make it clear that it is, and give me the resources to do so. It's my job to make sure there aren't issues between solo and JLA films. Its their job to faciliate connections.
Doing what studio heads want on a studio level screenplay is the easy part, trust me - I've done it before - no one having a clue where that bullseye needs to land because of lack of information on all sides sounds beyond a challenge and like a major handicap. One DC currently has and MARVEL doesn't.
That's true. How about that? What DC does have is fantastic characters whose potential isn't limited by not being able to directly reference a future of existing JLA franchise.
