Hey all,
For my latest fancast, I'm staying in the DC Universe, but I'm adding a twist. I'm also adding a plot outline for how I think a World's Finest Batman/Superman team-up film should go, and I've decided to add my ideas for its cast and crew. I plan on having it in continuity with Man Of Steel (which was recently confirmed to be the starting point for a new slew of DC films); I've said before that World's Finest should be the next DC movie, and that it should precede Justice League. For my editorial on that subject, click HERE.
I started working on this project when it was rumored that Christian Bale would be returning as Batman in Justice League, so I made it a parallel universe of sorts where Nolan's take on the Dark Knight was far more comic book accurate. However, that rumor has since been debunked, so I decided to go with what would probably be the best option and have a reinvented/rebooted take on the character in World's Finest. Below is my rather simple plot outline (I want to thank Jolt17 for his suggestions on where the story should go), followed by my dream cast and crew. As you may tell, my two main sources of inspiration were the "World's Finest" three-episode arc from Superman: The Animated Series and the "Batman/Superman Story" two-episode arc from The Batman.
BATMAN/SUPERMAN: THE WORLD'S FINEST
-Opening Scene: In Gotham City, Batman is on a chase after Catwoman, who had just stolen a valuable piece of jewelry from the city's museum. The Caped Crusader glides above the roofs, with Selina Kyle dodging anything that he'd throw at her. Suddenly, the femme fatale seemed to have disappeared. Before Batman knows it, he feels claws slashing his right thigh. Catwoman then delivers a solid kick to the face, and tries to slice Bats' face but kept being blocked. Both are highly trained, but in this round, Selina Kyle had the upper hand. She eventually defeated Batman and vanished in the dark. Frustrated, Batman uses his remote to summon the Batmobile and drives off to the Batcave.
-New Scene: Alfred is tending to Bruce Wayne's wounds in the Batcave, and advises that he make good use of a stronger suit that he recently made, but hadn't tried in battle yet. [Note: this costume is an amalgam of the Batman Begins and The Dark Knight suits, plus the classic yellow Bat symbol. Bruce also occasionally experiments with different suits and sometimes uses them interchangeably.] The butler then informs Bruce that he had received an invitation from fellow businessman Lex Luthor to meet in Metropolis. Aware that Metropolis was the home of Superman, Bruce decided to pack his Batman suit and gadgets just in case.
-New Scene: The following day sees the Metropolis bank was being robbed by three thugs. Just as they are putting the money in their truck, they're interrupted by Superman. Two of the robbers fired at his face multiple times, with each bullet bouncing off of his face and not leaving a scratch. He then uses his heat vision to melt their guns. Terrified, they hop into the truck, but before they can drive away, Superman smashes the engine. The police then came in and arrested all three crooks as they tried to escape, and a group of reporters swarmed Superman asking various questions. Suddenly, he sees his love, Lois Lane. Before anyone else knows it, the Man of Steel flies towards Lois, picks her up, and flies away to the top of the Metropolis building.
-New Scene: A plane lands in Metropolis, and Bruce Wayne steps out. He too is swarmed with reporters, and explains that he's there on a business trip. He stays in a hotel room, where he hid his Batman equipment.
-New Scene: Later that day, Bruce Wayne walks into the LexCorp building, where he is greeted warmly by Lex Luthor. Luthor then shows him some robots that the two of then were working on to use for space travel. One such robot received a type of glowing green rock called Kryptonite However, Luthor says that he wants to use them for the battlefield of war, which Wayne didn't approve of. [Luthor secretly also wanted to use them to destroy Superman, who he was extremely jealous of.] Bruce decides to drop the project, which left its future in doubt. Bruce then walks away, causing Lex to be annoyed.
-New Scene: Bruce settles down in his hotel room and turns on the news, and there's a report that Superman was receiving the key to Metropolis. Wayne decided to attend the ceremony to see what Superman was like.
-New Scene: Lex Luthor tries to think of other solutions to defeat Superman. He then decides to hire Metallo, who has a Kryptonite heart, to attack the Man of Steel at the ceremony that night. Luthor previously experimented on thief John Corben after a near-fatal accident while building his robot army. Corben's brain was transferred into an android body, and was powered by Kryptonite.
-New Scene: Many are in attendance of the ceremony, including Bruce Wayne, Lois Lane and Jenny Olsen. Bruce and Lois engage in conversation, and suddenly Superman is announced as coming shortly. When he landed on stage, the announcer presents the key of Metropolis to him, much to the audience's applause. Suddenly, a man jumps onto the stage and starts punching Superman. Surprised, Superman lands his fist into the guy's face, but he then opens up his chest and reveals his Kryptonite heart. This causes a surprised Superman to tremble, and the man (revealed to be Metallo) kicks him to the ground.
-New Scene: Of course, this causes the audience to go haywire, with many fleeing the building. Bruce rushes to his hotel room, and suits up as Batman. He secretly flies out the room's window with his grappling hook.
-New Scene: Metallo is battling Superman in the streets of Metropolis, clearly having the upper hand. He now has half of his artificial facial skin ripped off at this point. No matter how hard he tried, Superman couldn't properly fight back as long as the Kryptonite was exposed. Metallo was just about to deliver a powerful blow, when suddenly, a Batarang flew into his arm. It exploded, causing Metallo to fly backwards. Batman then appears, and helps Superman up. The Caped Crusader battles Metallo head on, but the robot/human hybrid delivered a strong blow to his back, bringing him down. Superman uses heat vision from a distance on Metallo's face, causing the robotic side to melt. Batman then kick drops him, and removes the Kryptonite. He places it in his belt after deducing that the substance was harmful to Superman. Metallo is carried away by the police and thrown into a special prison for such powerful villains.
-New Scene: Despite thanking him for helping, Superman criticizes Batman for holding onto the Kryptonite, fearing that it'll fall into the wrong hands. He has heard of Bats' work in Gotham, and he didn't trust vigilantes. The Dark Knight reassures him that it'll be secure. Supes then uses his x-ray vision to see through his mask, and says, "It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Wayne." before flying off. Little did he know that Batman had secretly placed a tracking device on him so that he can also find out his secret identity.
-New Scene: The next day, Bruce Wayne returns to Gotham and confirms the ending of his business partnership with Lex Luthor. He tells Alfred about what happened as they walk into the Batcave, and asks if his latest invention was ready. Alfred pressed a button, and from the ground of the Batcave came a special robotic Batsuit. This would help him fight more powerful beings.
-New Scene: Back in Metropolis, Lex Luthor is on a rage for his consistent failure in defeating Superman. He felt like the Man of Steel was stealing his spotlight, and overshadowing what Luthor considered to be his greatness. He then hatches a plan that he never thought of before. He developed a mind-controlling potion with Poison Ivy, but as it wouldn't work on Superman otherwise, Kryptonite dust was added. [He also saw from Metallo's clash with Superman that the rock was a weakness of the Man of Steel.] He formed an alliance with Batman's enemy Clayface to keep him busy for a while, and he also arranges Metallo's release from prison.
-New Scene: Lois Lane is walking away from Daily Planet the following night, and suddenly, a figure which appeared to be Superman came up to her. Pleasantly surprised, Lois went towards the figure, only to be horrified when it was really Clayface. He binds her, and places her in a car with Metallo. They all drove to a warehouse in Gotham, where Lois was held hostage.
-New Scene: Clark Kent is in the Daily Planet the next morning, and notices that Lois is missing. He asks the DP boss, Perry White, about her sudden disappearance, and says that he hasn't heard from her and won't answer his calls.
-New Scene: Clark is in a telephone booth trying to reach Lois, and the phone is answered by Metallo, which revealed their location. Clark then starts to open his shirt, revealing his Superman costume.
-New Scene: In Gotham, Batman is gliding in the sky keeping an eye out for trouble. Suddenly, Superman comes flying past him faster than a speeding bullet, knocking Bats out of balance and causing him to fall. Disgruntled, he latches onto a building with his grappling hook. Supes is scanning the city with his x-ray vision, and spots Lois in a warehouse all tied up. The Man of Steel flies into the building, and suddenly, a powerful blow knocks him unconscious. Metallo exposes his Kryptonite heart, and both he and Clayface beat him around.
-New Scene: Batman locates the warehouse, and comes flying in. He tackles Metallo, knocking him through a wall in the building. Superman took on Clayface, and Batman went back after Metallo. Finally, the two heroes emerged victorious as Superman blasted Metallo with his heat vision and Batman injected a dehydrator into Clayface to convert him into dust.
-New Scene: As Superman is comforting Lois, Batman interrogates Metallo asking why he kept disturbing him and Supes. After a while, he confessed that Lex Luthor hired them. Superman is furious to hear this.
-New Scene: Back in Metropolis, Superman flies through a window to Lex Luthor's office in LexCorp, demanding why he would orchestrate such a kidnapping. After a little speech, Luthor showed the potion that he made earlier, and threw it into Superman's face. Supes immediately fell to his knees, and after a moment, his eyes suddenly turned green. When he got up, Lex told him to find Batman and destroy him, and Superman simply nods.
-New Scene: Batman is sitting in front of his Batcomputer, researching Lex Luthor and other things. Suddenly, Superman comes crashing into the Batcave. He dives towards Batman, who barely dodged the blow. He then disappears in the darkness, and Superman couldn't find him. A larger, robotic Batsuit then emerged from the floor, and the two engage in an epic battle. Batman finds a secret tunnel that goes outside of the cave, and leads Superman from Wayne Manor. The Man Of Steel then grabbed him, throwing him into the middle of Gotham City.
-New Scene: The battle between Batman and Superman erupted in the streets of Gotham. Lex Luthor watches it on the news, smiling. The whole Daily Planet crew is watching as well. After a long, exhausting battle, Superman rips open the Batsuit, and then Batman hits him in the face with the piece of Kryptonite that he had. He then slices his chest, and finally knocks him unconscious. Batman injects Superman with a plant killing chemical called glyphosate, which dissolved the potion running in Supes. The Man of Steel awakens, and after finding out what happened, he thanked Batman again for helping. The two head to Metropolis to finish Luthor.
-New Scene: Meanwhile, Lex Luthor decided to unleash his robots even without Bruce Wayne's approval. He wanted to show Metropolis and the world what a genius he truly is, and that he is a force to be reckoned with. Ten large robots are sent into Metropolis, with Metallo (now in his full android form, rather than wearing artificial human skin) at the lead.
-New Scene: When the robots arrive, Batman and Superman engage in an epic battle with them. After four of them are destroyed and Metallo is defeated a third time in a row, Batman leaves to locate Luthor, who is trying to escape with his assistant Mercy.
-New Scene: Batman boards the plane that Lex and Mercy are on, and sneaks in. After seeing him and placing the plane on autopilot, Luthor decides to take on the Bat one-on-one. However, he proved to be no match for the Caped Crusader, who quickly defeated him and bound him alongside Mercy. Batman then lands the plane in the city.
-New Scene: Superman finally destroyed all of the robots, and he is praised for his actions along with Batman. Lex Luthor is imprisoned for his actions. The two heroes shake hands and go their separate ways. However, both Batman and Superman saw the benefit of how helpful fellow heroes can be against evil. Supes flies off into the sunset, while in Gotham, Batman leaps off a building and glides above the city. The End.
-Post-Credits Scene: Superman and a group of US soldiers are cleaning up the ruins from the robot battle earlier. As he looks on, he sees one in particular that caught his eye. Tall, muscular and a hint of green in his eyes, the soldier appeared to be tougher than the others. Superman asks him what his name is, and he says John Stewart. He also says that he's a member of the Marines. Superman then says that the two need to talk.
Fancast/Fan-Crew: Director: Zack Snyder - He's already bringing Superman back to the big screen this summer, and he looks to have done a bang up job judging from the trailers. I'd love to see Snyder have a hand in forming the DC Cinematic Universe beyond
Man Of Steel, and his directing
World's Finest would be rather ideal (as it can serve as both a direct sequel and a reboot of Batman).
Screenwriters: David S. Goyer & Jonathan Nolan - Both have done very well working with Chris Nolan on
The Dark Knight Trilogy, with Goyer having also penned
Man Of Steel. If that script is as great as expected, then having the two team up to bring DC's two biggest heroes in script form would be wonderful.
Composer: Patrick Doyle - I love Hans Zimmer as much as any film score fan, but I don't think he should score
every DC Comics adaptation now (though I'd love to see him do
Justice League). Patrick Doyle is another favorite of mine, having delivered epic scores for
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes and
Thor. I can see his style working well into a World's Finest film.
Producers: Zack Snyder, Deborah Snyder, Charles Roven, Christopher Nolan (I don't see it happening unfortunately), Emma Thomas
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, and produced along with Legendary Pictures and DC Entertainment
Bruce Wayne/Batman - Richard Armitage (
The Hobbit Trilogy, Captain America: The First Avenger)
Character Bio: Billionaire Bruce Wayne has been protecting Gotham City secretly as the vigilante Batman for years. At this point, he is extremely intelligent and able to hold his own against even the strongest enemies of Gotham. Armitage has recently become a more frequently suggested name to replace Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader, and after watching some of his work (I didn't even know that he was in
Captain America: The First Avenger until recently), I can see why. He has the look of Bruce Wayne down, and he's quite a good actor. If he can perfect an American accent, he'd be an ideal Batman. Plus, he has some blockbuster experience with Warner Bros. after his role as Thorin Oakenshield in
The Hobbit Trilogy, so I can see the studio being interested in bringing him in for a bigger character.
Clark Kent/Superman - Henry Cavill (
Man Of Steel, Immortals)
Character Bio: Since defeating General Zod four years ago, Superman has emerged as a symbol of truth and justice in the eyes of many, particularly those in Metropolis. However, he always makes time for his job as a reporter for the Daily Planet and his relationship with Lois Lane. As I plan on this
World's Finest film to be in continuity with
Man Of Steel, it'd be especially logical to bring back Henry Cavill as Superman. Not only that, but the actor seems to be the best choice to play the character; from what we've seen of
Man Of Steel, I can look at him and say without a doubt, "That's Superman."
Lex Luthor - Jon Hamm (
Mad Men, The Day The Earth Stood Still)
Character Bio: An arrogant, ambitious businessman, Luthor uses his company, LexCorp, to attempt to show just how much of a genius he is. However, he feels like Superman is getting in the way of his popularity, and decides to use his inventions to fight the Man of Steel. One day, when one of his robots was used for space travel and sent to Mars, it discovered a glowing green rock called Kryptonite. This will later be known as Superman's greatest physical weakness. I previously fancasted Hamm as Luthor before, and I stand by it. The
Mad Men star has plenty of experience playing a businessman on the hit AMC series, and he even played Luthor in a Funny Or Die parody video. Which was, of course, humorous, but it showed me just how well Hamm could fit into the character. Give him a more serious script, and he'll knock it out of the park.
John Corben/Metallo - Jai Courtney (
A Good Day To Die Hard, Jack Reacher)
Character Bio: John Corben was a regular thief in Metropolis, when one day, his entire body is set on fire in a near fatal accident. He is afterwards brought to Luthor, who was known for his work in robotics and decided to use his knowledge to build a new body for Corben. He then becomes Metallo, a frequent "employee" of Luthor. Courtney is a rising action star, having played John McClane's son in the latest
Die Hard movie and moving on to the anticipated young adult adaptation
Divergent. He's a decent actor from what I've seen, and I think he could fit into the role of Metallo if given the right script. Plus, I wanted to go with a different casting choice than the likes of Sam Worthington or Paul Walker.
Lois Lane - Amy Adams (
Man Of Steel, The Fighter)
Character Bio: A reporter for Daily Planet, Lane is the love interest of Superman, and has always been faithful and supportive of the hero. She's also one of the few people who knows his secret identity, Clark Kent. Again, this is a reprisal for continuity's sake. I had my doubts at first, but Adams will likely do a great job as Lois Lane in
Man Of Steel. She's a favorite actress of mine, and she looks to have good chemistry with Henry Cavill.
Alfred Pennyworth - Kenneth Branagh (
Jack Ryan, Valkyrie)
Character Bio: Alfred has raised Bruce Wayne as he would his own son ever since the night of his parents' murder. He continues to support him as Wayne dons the cowl of Batman. This is one casting choice that I'm not entirely certain of, but I think it
could work. Branagh may have directed a film for Marvel in
Thor, but that doesn't mean that he can't move over to DC in an acting role, seeing that he's excellent in both fields. I wanted to choose somebody different for Alfred, and I feel like Branagh fits the bill (especially for a slightly younger Alfred). The only major issue I have is that he's 52 as of this writing, while Richard Armitage is 41. Bit too close of an age gap, but perhaps makeup can help make this less noticeable.
Perry White - Laurence Fishburne (
Man Of Steel, The Matrix)
Character Bio: White has been the boss of Daily Planet for many years. Yet another reprisal from
Man Of Steel. Despite mixed reception upon the casting announcement, Fishburne looks to be a solid choice to play the boss at Daily Planet.
Poison Ivy - Bryce Dallas Howard (
Spider-Man 3, The Help)
Character Bio: One of Batman's many enemies, Ivy is known for her obsession with plants and has plant-influenced powers. After solid performances in
The Help and
50/50, I'd like to see Howard return to the CBM genre after her decent depiction of Gwen Stacy in
Spider-Man 3. It'd be great to see her tackle a villainous role (a la
The Help), and Poison Ivy would be a great choice. I never was a big fan of Ivy appearing on the big screen again, but with Howard playing her and the character used in a small role, I can easily get behind it.
Catwoman - Rachel McAdams (
Sherlock Holmes, Morning Glory)
Character Bio: Another of the Caped Crusader's numerous foes, Selina Kyle is also one of Batman's most cunning and intelligent, making her one of his more difficult adversaries. McAdams is a solid actress, and has action chops after appearing in WB's two
Sherlock Holmes films. In fact, her role as Irene Adler in those movies reminds me greatly of Selina Kyle. Witty, sexy, etc. I can definitely see her donning a catsuit for a go as Catwoman.
John Stewart - David Oyelowo (
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes,
Lincoln)
Character Bio: US Marine John Stewart was recently chosen to be the first human Green Lantern by the Guardians of Oa, and has been protecting the Earth and other portions of the galaxy since. As Hal Jordan may not be the Green Lantern of
Justice League, now would be the time to give John Stewart the spotlight he deserves. As a set up for the DC ensemble, an after credits cameo in a prior movie would be a great way to introduce him before a full blown appearance. Oyelowo is a very good actor, turning in a particularly arrogant performance in
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes which would be a good fit for Stewart.
Well, that's that. Note: I couldn't think of a realistic, great choice to play Clayface; any suggestions are welcome.