Dear Mr. Zack Snyder, David S Goyer, and the rest of the crew at DC/WB,
RE: DCCU rumors
A recent article was posted here at CBM (big credit to the ever talented RorMachine) that laid out some hefty Man of Steel 2 rumors. While, most likely, they were all skewed/re-written/untrue, they do provide a framework for a potential movie that doesn't sound all that far-fetched. As a loyal CBM'r, frequent movie watcher/casual amateur reviewer, former heavy comic reader, and big fan of Man of Steel, I'd like to comment on what is floating out there to give you an outsiders/comic nerds perspective.
The villains are Lex Luthor and Metallo
Sounds great.
Batman forms a UN type deal to stop Superman from destroying another city
First, I do love the idea of the government looking to contain the threat of Superman in some capacity. Clark facing repercussions will quiet all the people who didn't like the "destruction" of the first movie.
Second, I assume a "UN type deal" could mean anything depending on where this infomation came from; i.e. to someone not up to date on world affairs or comics, it could just mean some government affiliated organization, or even an NGO. I am hoping though that it leans less on the cheesy NATO/Presidential request passed on to Batman through Gordon side, and more on the it comes from Checkmate or Amanda Waller or somewhere awesome side, and that this is an older DCCU than we think it is. If Batman is older, this route makes sense. A direct government-to-Batman call sounds like something out of Adam West's era.
Aquaman is in it, but not called Aquaman. He’s there because the world engine in the ocean did something to the fish
There are a lot of hateful comments around here about this, but I assume this doesn't actually mean you will give him a different codename, but will reference to him as Arthur Curry or some royal Atlantean name. Maybe somewhere along the lines someone will jokingly call him Aquaman. I also doubt his name will even come up that much, since it's only 2 hours and it can't be a big role.
I do really like the idea of him coming up because of the world engine damaged the ocean in some way.
I must add that I would never normally hate casting before a movie was out, I let actors do their job, but I can't imagine the idea of Momoa as Aquaman. The director for Conan the Barbarian (2011 reboot) was at Momoa's audition for Game of Thrones, and he was casted for Conan based on that. He was then great in Game of Thrones - with no dialogue (just occasional subtitled made up language). Conan bombed. He might be a great side character, but he can't helm any big budget franchise. I'll leave it at that.
Wonder Woman poses as a Wayne Enterprises investor to retrieve an item that belongs to her people
This is terrible, and sounds like a rip-off of Black Widow's horrible introduction in Iron Man 2. Make Wonder Woman come out of Themiscyra because of the world engine, similar to Aquaman (except maybe have Aquaman take the violent-attack approach while WW takes the diplomatic route). Don't copy the cheesy, sexist, Black Widow posing as office eye-candy method. Make her a strong character, intelligent from the get go. I'd rather have Aquaman pose as the office lackey and Wonder Woman went the ambassador route. Let's leave secretaries out of this.
Lex Luthor is in the shadows a lot, a manipulator. Not much face time with Superman
This is great as long as he will be a recurring character in the DCCU, which I assume he will be.
Robin betrayed Batman at some point, leading to a falling out between them
"Betray" seems harsh. I'm not sure how Nightwing's origin was written back in the late 80s, but in the more recent Nightwing: Year One, it stems from Robin arriving late to Batman's aid because of his commitment with Teen Titans. As a result, Batman, in a bad mood perhaps, fires Dick. I prefer the idea of it being a small, almost trivial reason in which Robin wasn't up to Batman's strict standard in one particular bad-mood-moment. I also assume Nightwing isn't going to be a major focus, so as long as it's written well, whatever vague description you come up with will probably be fine.
The Batcave was super cool looking, and the mobile looked similar to Burton’s
I'm not one of those Batmobile guys, and I assume you have design experts on top of this stuff.
Lois is investigating Lex
This is almost a given, so make sure it is written well.
Metallo “kills” Clark
This is okay if it's written well, but will this hurt ever using the Doomsday/Death of Superman stuff because it will be in some way seem repetitive? Don't write yourself out of using any great material.
The Daily Planet is bought by Lex Luthor for PR purposes
This has great potential here and has been done in the comics, just don't waste the idea's potential because too much else is already going on. Written well though, sounds great.
At the end Superman is living in exile, and the Justice League is an government approved superhero team
Sounds good. I assume the JL movie would then continue that with a falling out of that government connection and the eventual acceptance of Superman to it's ranks.
On a final note, I love the tone of the Nolan Batmans and Man of Steel. Please, don't feel pressured by the industry into going the camp route, you might get lost in a sea of R.I.P.D.'s. Just keep blazing the trail on grounded and intelligent DC CBMs.
Thanks for your time and everything you've done for the genre!
Best Regards,
Nibs