Yesterday, we heard about a rumour that Warner Brothers may have picked one, if not the, villain for their Justice League film, scheduled for release date in 2015. And while many fans are excited about the leak, others are torn, thinking that the choice of Darkseid is a blatant rip by the studio to cash in on the impending destruction of Thanos, who appeared at the end of rival Marvel Studios’
The Avengers and is rumored to be the big baddie in
Guardians of the Galaxy, one of Marvel’s next outings led by James Gunn.
So, why is this a bad move? Well, for starters, it further perpetuates the idea that Warner Brothers is doing everything they can to match up a superhero film for the big bucks. And from a studio perspective, that’s understandable. However, they’re also shelving other prospective films in order to get a hold of the final product. Instead of green-lighting are nabbing up filmmakers for the likes of solo Wonder Woman, Flash, and Aquaman films (many would settle with a Green Lantern reboot or sequel), it appears as though WB is trying to skip the practice runs (aside from
Man of Steel) and go straight for the finish line. Execs saw the payoff of Marvel’s endgame and are now making a dash for a mirrored success.
In doing so, they’ve grabbed the same premise of famous superheroes coming together to form a pact to fight evil, the same release year as Avengers 2, and even the same type of god-like antagonist, who is often fan-drawn to go head-to-head with Marvel’s Thanos. Want me to further prove my point? Go to Google and type in “Darkseid vs” and watch the first entry that pops up. It’s not the Justice League. It’s not Superman. It’s not Batman. It’s Thanos.
There’s also fears of rushed production because of the way Warner Brothers has made attempts to cash in on The Avengers’ success. And, once again it should be noted, that as a studio, it’s a smart move. Marvel Studios is going to be making superhero movies. That’s what the studio was created
for. But WB is a studio with hundreds of other non-superhero prospects. If they play it safe, they’ll fall into a game of easy success and minimal risk, unlike Marvel. WB has just been handed the blueprint, but they seem more interested in the final skyscraper. While you recover from that awful analogy, think about it this way: Warner Brothers can afford a major loss in Justice League, but at this point, Marvel can’t really handle a misstep. A bad Marvel film has greater potential to soil the whole lot. They continue to take risks. But a bad Justice League film from Warner Brothers doesn’t alienate their other movies. Fanboys are going to be upset, and maybe they’ll steer clear of Warner Brothers superhero movies. But they won’t be shaking their head to all the other WB movies that are coming out.
And speaking of the general audience, they’re about to be confused why Batman can’t be in the Avengers, but the Justice League and Avengers have the “same” villain. Now, there are plenty out there who understand the difference between the two companies, but there are also a large chunk that don’t. There will be a little bit of confusion.
What do you think? Is this "for the fans" or "for the money?"