With the recent success of The Avengers and the end of the current Batman francise coming up it's only a matter of time before we see Warner Brothers decides to release DC's own superhero team up, the Justice League, to the big screen. This is a property that has been in the works for many years and only recently, thanks to Marvel, has there been major pressure from executives to getting this film underway. however despite fans desperately wanting to see this film the studio shouldn't rush this project. care will need to be taken and elements will need to be examined for this movie to work and stand appart from its Marvel counterpart. here are my ideas for how the film can work.
1) THE MEET UP
Of course before anything else the team behind this project will need to consider how this group of heroes will come together in the first place. This could be difficult since you have characters like Batman who only operate in one city and Aquaman who usually just sticks to the sea. The Avengers also had this issue but resolved it with the inclusion of Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D., but in order for DC to stand on it's own they will need to have their own twist on this unity. My theory is the use of the Martian Manhunter. The idea here is that the movie follows the Manhunter from him witnessing the destruction of his world by an unknown enemy (yes i know the alien angle has been done but here me out) causing him to flee and warn the heroes of earth to prepare for this coming threat. At this point the plot's established, we the audience understands the gravity of the situation, and there's also more focus established in the narrative by having a "main character". Now naturally the Manhunter won't be the only character of focus in the film which leads to my second point...
2) THE CONFLICT
Here I'm not talking about the main villain but about the heroes coming to terms with working with each other. This is something the Avengers movie got right since the heroes before this point were used to being lone wolves of sorts. Personally I feel that none of the heroes should have any interaction in this continuity prior to them meeting up in this film (so no World's Finest movie first). The reason for that is so we can see these characters interacting with each others and see that the league can act not only as the protagonists but also the sort of secondary antagonists since they are getting in the way of their own goals. So Superman should be getting into arguments with Batman because of differences in moral code, Wonder Woman should be in conflict with the Flash for signs of a lack of seriousness in the situation, and Manhunter should be at odds with the whole team as he tries to make them into the legendary Justice League. Now with the team functioning the way it does we can move on to my next point...
3) THE VILLAIN(S)
Now here's the point where my vision will differ from the Avengers. My main problem with the Chitauri in that movie was the fact that they didn't seem to be a major threat to the team. I mean Hawkeye was able to take them out while showing off that he didn't really even need to aim. Because of this the final fight seemed a bit more like busy work then an actual epic battle for our heroes (not saying it wasn't awesome though). The aliens here will be more threatening by doing something that will remind us of the necessity for our heroes to come together. They will defeat Superman. That's right the man of steel will be taken down a peg by these aliens a la New Frontier. Just imagine the looks on the faces of the audience when they see the most powerful hero of all time charging into battle only to fall to what seems like a watery grave. This will also be the moment that causes the heroes to get over their own differences to stand for what they all know is right. Of course it's not much of a story unless we have a villain to control this evil army but to me the face of this threat only matters for the kind of story the writers are trying to tell. it shouldn't be a villain that already applies to one hero like brainiac unless they try a Legion of Doom kind of thing. anyway on to my final point...
4) BATMAN
I know that Batman's going to be a difficult character to include in this film. Not saying that he's not interesting enough or skilled enough to be included in the team, but that the writers need to take care with how he's portrayed so he fits in with the team of heroes, contributes a good amount to the team, and is also in need of the team to stop the threat. because of Batman's popularity, writers forget that there are things he can't do and that he in fact has no powers so they just make him ridiculously powerful whether it makes sense or not. an example of this is in a segment of Young Justice I saw (keep in mind I don't watch the show that often and this is taken out of context). In this scene Clayface takes on this whole team of superheroes when Batman finally comes in and takes him out in one shot of a tazer like device. He doesn't use any kind of specific strategy to take him out or anything it's just shot of a tazer and Clayface is done. I've never seen him take out Clayface that quickly (heck he was the last boss in Arkham City for crying out loud) and the team of superheroes I mentioned included Superboy who naturally has the powers of Superman, Aqualad who has electric powers, and Robin who at least should have this tazer on him if this Batman cares at all about him surviving in his crimefighting adventures. My point is just that the studio should understand the value of Batman to the team lies in his technology and his genius mind. Take inspiration from Tower of Babel to see how Batman should be treated in the movie.
So this is how I feel a Justice League movie could work. please leave a comment below about what you think should be included in the movie. peace out.