EDITORIAL: What WB NEEDS To Do With Their DC Cinematic Universe

As we know, Man of Steel is the launching point of a larger DC Cinematic Universe. While it seems like WB’s/DC is taking this one film at a time, we know its sequel will introduce Batman and be a Superman/Batman team up. We don’t know much after that film but fans want to know more. Fans have criticized WB’s about how they’ve treated and went about DC films. Most fans want answers but have too many questions. While personally I’m excited for Superman/Batman, I too would like to know more about WB’s plan for the DC Cinematic Universe. Personally I believe that WB’s needs to do some stuff. Most fans have listed wants they have. Wants including making The Dark Knight Trilogy canon. There are many other wants but we need to look at needs. What does WB’s need to do right now for DC films? I have a list of 5 things I believe WB’s needs to do for DC at this moment and here they are.

Find A Godfather For The DC Cinematic Universe

As of right now, who is in charge of the DC Cinematic Universe? Not a studios but a person. There isn’t one. The first thing WB’s needs to do is get someone to Godfather the DC Cinematic Universe. This someone CANNOT BE Christopher Nolan, David S Goyer, or Zack Snyder. WB’s has relied too much on Christopher Nolan with DC films. Love Nolan but you didn’t see Jon Favreau get the Avengers job even after the success of his Iron Man films. Let’s look at some of the studios that make comic book movies. Sony has the Spider-Man franchise. Now because they only own Spider-Man and his universe, we don’t really need a Godfather for it. Spider-Man doesn’t truly have any allies that one can make spin-off movies of unless we are talking Spider-Man’s from different universes like the Noir or 2099 for example. Now let’s look at Fox. Fox currently own the X-Men & Fantastic Four universes and characters. Last year Fox announced that they will make a Cinematic Universe like Marvel Studios using the characters they own. Fox hired comic book writer, Mark Miller, to Godfather this universe. Miller has said that The Wolverine will be Fox’s Iron Man in terms of starting the universe. Fox is currently producing X-Men: Days of Future Past which will be directed by Bryan Singer, Fantastic Four which will be directed by Josh Trask, and X-Force which will be directed by Jeff Wadlow. There are also plans to combine X-Men & the Fantastic Four in one film. Now lastly let’s look at Marvel Studios led by Kevin Feige who has said that they have plans for Marvel Studios films up until 2021. Marvel Studios owns everything Marvel except Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and X-Men. Also Joss Whedon has been brought onboard as a Godfather for the Phrase 2 films after his the success he has had with The Avengers.

Now let’s go back to WB’s. The only thing we know of is that Man of Steel is the start of a DC Cinematic Universe and the next film is a Superman/Batman team up. While this is good, the one thing WB’s lacks is a Godfather. Hell even if you dislike Mark Miller and Fox, they at least took a hint and hired a Godfather and they are working on a Cinematic Universe. Most people say WB’s needs to give DC their own studios but Fox & Sony didn’t give their Marvel owned films a studio solely for their films and yet they put out quality comic book movies. What WB’s needs to do is give DC a Godfather and there are only 2 men for the job: Bruce Timm & Geoff Johns. These 2 men eat, breath, live, and sleep DC. The other thing about these men are where one has a weakness in an area, the other has that weakness as strength. Geoff Johns’s weakness is his Batman, Martian Manhunter and John Stewart and Bruce Timm’s weakness is his Cyborg, Flash, and Hal Jordan. I will say both men do know and understand the character of Superman well. The only real big problem with Johns and Timm is neither one’s Wonder Woman is really great. They understand the character and her background but their Wonder Woman isn’t great you know? If I had to bring in someone purely to Godfather Wonder Woman, I would pick Gail Simone to be the consulter for a Wonder Woman film. Either way these 2 men both know and understand DC like the back of their hand. It’s best to have them both be the Godfathers of the DC Cinematic Universe.

Green light A WONDER WOMAN Film & Del Toro’s JUSTICE LEAGE DARK

Honestly, I’m not a huge Wonder Woman fan. Do I know and understand the character and her background? Yes but I’m not a huge fan of her. Not saying I’m not a fan but not a big one. Would I see a movie with her? Yes I would. There were news and rumors saying that a new Wonder Woman series title Amazon was being looked at that could be canon to the TV show Arrow. With the announcement of Barry Allen coming to Arrow and getting a Flash spin-off show, I think it’s fair to say Amazon isn’t coming and that’s a good thing. If you are making a Justice League movie, the only real 3 characters you need to make films of to lead up to a Justice League film are Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman. We have Superman film; we are getting a Superman/Batman team up film, now all you really need is a Wonder Woman film. Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are the Trinity. They are the 3 flagship character of DC Comics. It’s important you introduce them. Now we need a Wonder Woman film. Most people don’t think Wonder Woman can work do to her being a woman and all. It’s fair to say no one doubts the mythology behind Wonder Woman wouldn’t work due to the fact it’s the same or similar mythology in such films as Thor, Clash of the Titans, Wrath of the Titans, Thor: The Dark World, and many other films. To say a female lead series can’t work is completely false. Look at Angelina Jolie’s Salt. She kicks as much ass in that film as Matt Damon in the Bourne films, Liam Neeson in the Taken films, Bruce Willis in the Die Hard series. You get where I’m going with this right? But if you look at the history of female comic book movies, it’s not a big list: Supergirl, Catwoman, and Eleckra. Those films do suck but at the same time they weren’t taken seriously or had much effort put in. Also neither one of those female superheroes has a background or history as deep or enriching as Wonder Woman does. If you think about it, no female in comics has a history like Wonder Woman. While we do have characters like Hit-Girl, Storm, Black Widow, Rouge, and others no one is on the same level as Wonder Woman. Even if Marvel Studios announced an Ms Marvel film, no one would say she is a bigger character than Wonder Woman. A Wonder Woman film could work it’s just a matter of do you have the balls to do it. If you ask me, I think a Wonder Woman film should be directed by a female. That would make the film in a more serious direction. And please if you crack a joke about female directors, just remember a female directed Punisher: War Zone and while the film wasn’t great it doesn’t hold back on the violence. If you ask me the director I would seriously consider for Wonder Woman would be Kathryn Bigelow. Bigelow is the director behind The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. She also was going to be a producer for her ex-husband’s, James Cameron, Spider-Man movie and she was asked to direct The Amazing Spider-Man. That’s just my pick.

Now everyone knows I’m a big fan of Guillermo del Toro. Love his Hellboy series, Pacific Rim, Blade 2, Pan’s Labyrinth, and many more. Recently, del Toro has showed interest and desire into adapting the Justice League: Dark which includes characters like Swamp Thing, Deadman, Zatanna, and many more. Besides Snyder with his Superman series, this is really the only other DC related movie we ever hear news about. Del Toro has said he has the body of the story now done and he’s working on the screenplay with a very high profile writer he’s been keeping a secret about the identity. WB’s has no choice but to green light it. Let’s be honest, how many directors do you hear saying they would like to direct Wonder Woman? Flash? Martian Manhunter? Aquaman? None. We mostly hear about directors interested in Batman but with del Toro, he’s interested in Justice League: Dark. He has said he’s a big fan of these characters. Del Toro is no stranger to comic book movies. He directed Blade 2, Hellboy, and Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. With Fox doing X-Men, X-Men First Class, X-Force, and Fantastic Four films and Marvel Studios doing the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy, DC needs another team film to add with Justice League. Bottom line: WB’s needs to do DC films, you have a high profile successful director wanting to do a DC film; you let him do the film.

Requel GREEN LANTERN; Have Hal Jordan & John Stewart Lead The Film

Now when I said requel in the title, I mean reboot it but make it a sequel. Look at Hulk and The Incredible Hulk for example. The way Hulk ended had Bruce Banner in South America. We start off with The Incredible Hulk with Bruce in South America. They aren't canon but could be seen as canon. Look at Batman Returns and Batman Forever. Batman Forever is an obvious sequel to Batman Returns but look again. We have a new Batman, new Batmoblie, new Batcave, new Batsuit, new Harvey Dent (unless the dude had the said problem Michael Jackson has ;D), new look for Gotham, just about everything looked different. Both films look completely different yet are canon. This is the way the next Green Lantern film should go. He last saw Hal out in space so let's keep him in space. No Earth got it?

Let’s be honest here, 2011’s Green Lantern sucked big time. The whole film was a mess. The script sucked, the producers hired a director who really doesn’t have an experience with films using a lot of CGI, the lead and some of the cast sucked. The only good things about Green Lantern was Mark Strong’s Sinestro, Michael Clarke Duncan’s Kilowag, Geoffrey Rush’s Tomar-Re, and the training scenes on Oa with Kilowag and Sinestro. Now let me ask you this. When you break your leg or are bleeding badly, what do you do? Do you stay there with your broken leg or let it keep bleeding or do you go to the hospital to see a doctor about the broken leg or stop the bleeding? I say this because are you guys just going to keep Green Lantern in the corner bleeding or are you going to repair this franchise? You sooner you can repair or reboot something, the better. How can you repair Green Lantern? How can you reboot Green Lantern? Well it’s simple.

First off, the next Green Lantern film shouldn’t retell Hal Jordan’s origin. Even The Incredible Hulk didn’t retell Hulk’s origin. The reason why Batman Begins was alright was because Batman never discussed Batman’s origin. It didn’t tell it really until the end. For Man of Steel to retell Superman’s origin was fine considering the last time it was told was 35 years before hand. The Amazing Spider-Man was under some criticism for retelling it’s origin story mostly because it was last told 10 years prior and some of what was in The Amazing Spider-Man was done in Spider-Man.

Second off, add John Stewart. I have also said and will say that it would have been smarter to have John Stewart be the first Green Lantern on screen than Hal. If you looked at the media and what the general audience saw, nothing Green Lantern related had Hal Jordan. Justice League: The Animated Series had John Stewart as their main Lantern. Then in the video game Justice League Heroes, John was again the main Lantern for that. I’ve said it before, people don’t read comics. A world of 7-8 billion people and only 8 million comics are sold monthly. This isn’t opinion, this is fact. Most people reply and state that John Stewart lacks a interesting history to be put on screen but at the same time that didn’t stop Bruce Timm, Paul Dini and co from making the John Stewart in Justice League: The Animated Series an interesting and great character. Even Geoff Johns took nods from Bruce Timm and in his book Green Lantern: Secret Origin, he had John as a Marine. This was first introduced and added on to John in Justice League: The Animated Series. Now many fans on here don’t want to see John as the Lantern. Let’s look at some fact here. A couple months ago, IGN had an article stating why John Stewart should be the main Lantern. Here is some excepts from that article:

If you consider the average viewer of Justice League at the time it premiered in 2001 was 8-12 (I was 16, but you know, whatever), those kids are now enjoying the misery of their early 20s and are able to pay for their own movie tickets. Coincidentally, these folks also fall in one of the target Hollywood demographics: the 18-24s. If WB is going to build a Justice League universe as they claim, taking advantage of this demographic by using John Stewart to wipe the memories of the 2011 Green Lantern is the way to go.

I love all of the Green Lanterns for different reasons – and Kyle remains my Green Lantern -- but I think John is the clear choice to help distinguish the Green Lantern of the cinematic universe as something new, different, and hopefully, better.

Now a poll was on the IGN article and these are the results:

The site, Comic Book Resources also has a poll on their forums that says this:

Look we all know I love John more than Hal. I grew up on Justice League: The Animated Series and John is and will always be MY Lantern. The best way to tackle and approach this is to have a Green Lantern films starring Hal Jordan AND John Stewart. Don’t make Hal and John like Batman & Robin but instead like Luke & Han. They are equals. Personally I’ve always found the Green Lantern Corps as DC’s X-Men. The Green Lanterns are a team, not one man. If you were to do a Green Lantern film starring Hal, John, and Kilowag that wouldn’t be bad. Another reason for John is the race factor. We haven’t really had many great African American superheroes. Steel sucked and so did Spawn. War Machine is a sidekick to Iron Man, not a main guy. Falcon is a sidekick to Captain America, not a main guy. Nick Fury is not a superhero, he’s role is similar to Jim Gordon. The only real African American superhero that’s been on the big screen I can think is Storm from X-Men. One can also add on Bishop as he will be in Days of Future Past. Marvel Studios have yet to do a Black Panther movie and they have often complained about doing it. Last we heard, they were thinking of making a Black Panther short. Have a Green Lantern series led by both Hal Jordan and John Stewart is the way to go.

Lastly, get director who uses CGI. I don’t blame Martin Campbell for Green Lantern’s failure. If you look at his films, he doesn’t really do CGI. He has done the Zorro movies, a couple of Bond movies. Get someone who has experience in CGI.

Both Hal and John are the 2 most popular Green Lanterns and the 2 that people want to see most on life. Just do films right in the middle of their Green Lantern careers and everything is fine. People are getting tired of the origin stories.

Have ARROW And The FLASH Show Canon

I don’t think many members here will agree with me on this. Good because personally I prefer it. As we know, Arrow has been a success. Most doubted the show but it has become one of the best and most watched shows on TV. They are now introducing Barry Allen/Flash to Arrow and will spin-off Flash into his own show. Now there is really only one reason I have to state why these shows should be canon to films like Man of Steel. To make it easy for people. If there was a Green Arrow film announced that wasn’t canon to Arrow it would confuse people. One of the reason Justice League: Mortal was canceled is because the film was canon to Christopher Nolan’s Batman series and he didn’t want it to be canon. You shouldn’t have a film series going on at the same time of a TV series of the same characters. Let’s think for a second also. Flash & Green Arrow are too important characters to DC.

Let’s also look at Marvel for a second. Their next film is Thor: The Dark World which comes out in November. Next they have Captain America: The Winter Soldier for April, Guardians of the Galaxy for August, and Avengers: Age of Ultron doesn’t come until May of 2015. I’m sure Marvel fans would love to see a Daredevil or Hawkeye show during their 9 month wait for Avenger: Age of Ultron after Guardians of the Galaxy comes out. Having a Flash show and Green Arrow show during the fall, winter, and spring would make the wait for the next summer released DC film a bit easier. This way we have the universe going on year round instead of 2 films a year during the summer. It’s a smart and good idea to do.

Stop Relying On Christopher Nolan To Save You

Let’s be honest here, WB’s relies too much on Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer. Stop relying on them. You’re WB’s. You’re one of the best film studios in the business. You guys put out the best movie of the year last year that won the Oscar for best movie in Argo. You guys don’t always have to rely on Nolan and Goyer. The Watchowski siblings are under your wing. Visually their films are awesome and they are huge comic book fans. Give them a good Flash script; they will give you a great looking Flash movie. Look at Speed Racer and tell me visually they wouldn’t be perfect for Flash. The director of Looper, Rian Johnson, has expressed interest in doing a Batman film. I’m sure no one would complain if Ben Affeck would direct a comic book movie. The screenwriter behind The Dark Knight Returns Part 1 & 2, Bob Goodman has said he would love to write a live action DC film. Point is you need to trust people and grow some balls. I’m sure there are directors out there that want to do direct films with DC characters, they just don’t say it because you guys don’t seem interested in adapting other DC characters. Take a risk. Yes Green Lantern was a risk but may I ask you, were you guys 100% serious about it? Did you guys treat Hal Jordan like you would Batman or Superman? No you guys didn’t. If you treat other characters like you do with Batman and Superman, then of course you guys will do well. I like Nolan. I'm a fan. Doesn't mean I'm a Nolanite. Batman has also been my favorite superhero and Nolan showed the world Batman is badass and gave him a great Trilogy. With that in mind, I would like to see another vision for Batman.

So there we have it. These are the 5 things WB’s needs to do for DC. If you notice, most of my points are for everybody. I have said I want John Stewart in a Green Lantern film more than Hal but I’m saying it’s better to have a Green Lantern film starring John and Hal. I’ve often spoken highly of Bruce Timm and criticized Geoff Johns a bit but at the same time, the both of them combined would be the best. Basically this is a 5 point plan every DC fan would agree on with no second thoughts. Sure some many disagree but personally it works out for the best for everyone. What are your thoughts on this? Comment below. Peace and remember…