Can WB still use Brainiac in Justice League: Part One after Avengers: Age of Ultron?
On
May 01, 2015, a maniacal robot threatens the Earth and only
The Avengers can stop him....On November 17, 2017, a maniacal robot threatens the Earth and only the
Justice League can stop him.
The Warriors and T
he Wanderers (1979).
Volcano and
Dante's Peak (1997).
Olympus Has Fallen and
White House Down (2013) - Hollywood's list of "Twin Films" is actually quite extensive. Almost every year, it seems that there's a race between two different studios to release films with similar plots. While not quite "twins", with Marvel Studios releasing
Avengers: Age of Ultron later this year (May 1, 2015) does that mean
Justice League: Part One (November 17, 2017) would be better off not using Brainiac?
Bigger threat? Ultron's drone army or Brainiac's planet destroying ship?
If Marvel uses a maniacal, mechanical menace for it's superhero team-up film, can Warner Bros. do the same? The answer may rely on the similarities and differences between each villain. Both Ultron and Brainiac are tech based. Both want to destroy all of humanity. And both are prone to downloading themselves into a backup robot body when on the verge of being destroyed/defeated. However, the end game for each villain is vastly different. Where Ultron wants to wipe out humanity, Brainiac wants to destroy the planet. The methodology of each villain is also different. Recent depictions of Ultron have the robot relying on a massive drone army. Brainiac typically uses his spaceship or other weapons of mass destruction to threaten the planet. It's an issue of force vs intellect that could be an argument that both supervillains are different enough that the general audience won't think WB is merely copying Marvel.
It pays to be first...
If WB does indeed go with Brainiac as the villain for
Justice League: Part One, many comic book fans will claim that the film is merely copying
Avengers: Age of Ultron. This is the type of negative spin that movie studios generally seek to avoid. Marvel has the history of using comic book fans to spread knowledge of the characters to the greater percentage of the audience that know nothing about the genre. Case in point, Kevin Feige and other members of the Marvel Studios brain trust have publicly stated that they were counting on fans in the audience to explain to non comic book fans who was that "purple guy" at the end of
The Avengers. WB and to a larger extent, Time Warner shareholders do not want these fans whispering to non comic book fans at the end of
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that WB is copying Marvel by introducing Brainiac. Even more damaging would be the non comic book reading populace looking at trailers and TV spots and recognizing similarities between Ultron and Brainiac. In today's oversaturated superhero film slate, studios must look to new and innovative characters and concepts to hook ticket purchasers that are becoming increasingly jaded with the genre.
Will the Justice League movie use Brainiac? More rumors have surfaced, claiming the big bad will be Darkseid or even Doomsday. The more appropriate question now, is whether the Justice League movie CAN use Brainiac? Has Marvel already bought up all the evil robot landscape? Or are the differences between Ultron and Brainiac great enough that the general audience won't be confused or have a sense of deja vu? Sound off below with your own theories and ideas, maybe someone at WB is watching and listening...