One of the reported reasons that Warner Bros. has thrown its corporate weight behind Justice League the way that it has is because the studio feels like it serves as the perfect means to introduce audiences to characters beyond Superman and Batman, so that they can star in their own films. For projects such as long-gestating Wonder Woman and The Flash, this could be good news. Most interesting of all is that it seems Warners isn't even waiting for Justice League to go into production, let alone reach theatres, before putting individual hero projects into development.
Rossflashmythology_4005b15dEarlier today, MTV announced movement on The Flash, with Wedding Crashers and Fred Claus director David Dobkin coming aboard. "Dobkin’s film won’t be the character’s first appearance in cinemas, of course, with the Flash a major part of the upcoming Justice League of America film," notes MTV. "But while fans wait for JLA story and casting announcements with bated breath, Dobkin can’t help but hold his – confirming that his movie will exist in the same universe as the upcoming flick as a direct spin-off. Which made his next comment all the more revelatory: Asked which version of the Flash would be the hero of his flick, Dobkin didn’t hesitate. 'Wally West,' he said." Which, of course, confirms the notion that Barry Allen's Flash will die in JL, and be replaced by Wally West. Added MTV, "Asked about his vision for the Flash, Dobkin teased us with a somewhat melancholy tagline: 'You can’t outrun yourself.'"
Greenlantern This evening, the news got even more interesting with Variety's announcement that Green Lantern has gone into development. Noted the trade, "Warner Bros. has set Greg Berlanti to direct Green Lantern, a live-action take on the DC Comics superhero. Berlanti will write the script with Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green. Donald De Line will produce; Andrew Haas is exec producer. Berlanti hopes to make the jump to big-budget fantasy fare after serving as writer and exec producer on character-driven TV series Dirty Sexy Money, Brothers & Sisters, Everwood, Jack & Bobby and Dawson's Creek. He previously directed 2000 feature The Broken Hearts Club... Warner Bros. and DC Comics assigned the project to De Line, who is currently in Morocco shooting Body of Lies, the Ridley Scott-directed WB drama that stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe. Guggenheim, who works with Berlanti as a writer-producer on Brothers & Sisters, wrote the Marvel comicbooks Amazing Spider-Man, Wolverine and Blade. Green, the Heroes co-exec producer who worked with Berlanti on Everwood and Jack & Bobby, wrote the DC Comics title Superman/Batman and was a writer-producer on Smallville."
The real question is whether or not this film will focus on Hal Jordan or, as reportedly is the case in Justice League, John Stewart (rumored to be played by the rapper Common). One early rumor was that Jordan would appear in the film to pass the ring on to Stewart. If true, it means the Green Lantern film could be a prequel that tells Jordan's story. Then again, there are several Green Lanterns on earth at the same time in the comics, so why couldn't there be two GLs in the movies? To pull it off logically, there would probably have to be a cameo by the actor playing John Stewart in Justice League.
The story for a Wonder Woman film isn't quite so positive. While promoting Fred Claus, producer Joel Silver acknowledged that his production of Wonder Woman was put on the back burner. "They're going to make the Justice League movie, and we're kind of pausing on Wonder Woman now," he said. "Let them go ahead and do that picture [first]. And if that comes together, Wonder Woman will be a part of that story. And then we'll see where we go from there. But we struggled with it for a while. I hope that we can solve it and make it one day."