I think we can all agree that a
Justice League movie is one that absolutely
has to be made. As we know, such a film came close to reality a few short years ago in the form of
Justice League: Mortal, but eventually died off after the Writer's Strike. As of right now, whether or not WB will go ahead with a new project has yet to be determined. A few months ago, it was reported that
Warner Bros. would release a Justice League film in 2013, when
Man Of Steel was still slated for late 2012. But with that film being pushed to summer of 2013, there's no way a
Justice League movie would be released at the same time. Also, with
Green Lantern recently bombing at the box office (barely making its budget), it seemed unlikely that WB would put out a DC property other than Superman or Batman. Then we got the rumor that
Warner Bros. would release a Justice League film in 2015/2016, after sequels to Green Lantern and Man Of Steel. That has yet to be confirmed or denied, but if that's the way they're doing the film then I'm all for it (more on that later). Personally, I think that a
Justice League film could be truly mind-blowing if done right, and has enough potential to blow even Marvel's
The Avengers out of the water. below are a few things I want to see done in a possible
JLA film...
Set the film in a shared universe.
One of the things that people want to see the most in a
Justice League film is the crossing over of previously established characters in previous films (similar to what Marvel's doing with
The Avengers).
JL: Mortal didn't go that route, and was planning on putting out spinoffs starring
Wonder Woman and
The Flash. Hopefully that most recent rumor about Henry Cavill and Ryan Reynolds being in the same film are true. Granted, Nolan's Batman will be too difficult to fit into a fantasy-filled film such as
Justice League, so a Batman reboot a couple years later is just fine. However, there's no reason Cavill and Reynolds can't come back. Cavill looks to be our best Superman to date, and I really admire the effort he's putting into knowing the character as well as he could. And say what you will about the
Green Lantern film, but I personally think Reynolds wasn't a problem at all. He can play serious characters well (see
Buried), and Hal Jordan was written as not being very serious one too many times. Reynolds was good with what he was given, and has potential to improve with a better script. With that said, he and Cavill should definitely reprise their respective roles should a
JLA film be set in a shared universe.
Establish other characters beforehand.
I don't mind if they release films for
Aquaman,
Green Arrow or
Captain Marvel after the first
JLA, and Martian Manhunter's origin can work into
Justice League, but a couple characters need to get screen time first.
The Flash has been a project that's been off-and-on for a few years now, and it seems like WB is ready to release it (hopefully) in a couple years or so. (Then again, with
Green Lantern bombing, it could've pushed
The Flash back a few short years) Also,
Wonder Woman is a character who should've been adapted into film a long time ago. It's interesting to see Marvel release films for
Punisher,
Ghost Rider,
Blade and
Thor before DC can release something for one of its biggest characters (and the biggest female comic character ever). Hopefully DC will release a
Wonder Woman film in a few years.
Keep the original lineup.
With Geoff Johns reportedly writing a
Justice League treatment, I hope it doesn't mean we can't get the original lineup of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter. I don't mind cameos from Hawkman, Green Arrow and/or Hawkgirl in a first
JLA movie, but I don't want to see Cyborg or a while. He's not a bad character by any means, but as a part of the main Justice League lineup? Hell no. What I'd imagine for a JL trilogy is first film, start out with the main lineup; second film/third film, bring in other characters aforementioned.
Bring in a good director, good writers, etc.
As said before, in the recent rumor of
Justice League arriving by 2015/2016, Geoff Johns was writing a treatment for the film. That's what happened with
Green Lantern, and we all know how mediocre the script was. But Johns didn't write the script; the script has 3-4 different writers. Not only is that writing team been hired to pen a
Green Lantern sequel, they were also hired to write
The Flash. I would be worried of the team doing the
Justice League film, but the rumor stated that David S. Goyer was being pursued to pen the screenplay. With his excellent work on Nolan's
Batman trilogy, he proved to be a good writer when he isn't directing as well (cough
Blade: Trinity cough). I also don't mind Johns writing the treatment. I'm thoroughly enjoying his current run on
Justice League (despite the occasional hit-and-miss dialogue), and with a seasoned writer like Goyer doing the screenplay, it should be good then.
As for directors, it's kind of tough to choose one personally. Christopher Nolan's out of the question, otherwise Christian Bale could possibly reprise his Batman. Zack Snyder probably won't do it, and no way in hell should Martin Campbell do it. I'd love to see someone like JJ Abrams (
Star Trek), Peter Jackson (
Lord Of The Rings), Matt Reeves (
Cloverfield) or Guillermo del Toro (
Hellboy) directing a
Justice League film. I'd add Joss Whedon to the list, but since he's directing
The Avengers...yeah, it would be awkward.
Well, that's it for right now. With
The Avengers almost certainly being a smash, I can see Warner Bros. wanting to put out a
Justice League movie in the same vein sometime afterwards. 2015/2016 may be a bit early to release it (considering their having to put out a couple of characters on film beforehand), but I'd be happy if it can be released by the end of the decade. As said before, I think such a film would be truly amazing if done right, and let's hope WB puts a good one out sooner than later.