How You Do a Justice League Movie

Because it's the sort of thing I think about when my wife is out of town, I was musing over the potential Justice League film that I've talked about some previously.  The project is almost entirely speculation, of course, even on the part of Warner Bros.  But given that they have about 1.4 billion reasons in favor, it's hard to imagine they won't give this a serious shot.  And, if it's going to happen, I'd prefer WB to not rush it for the sake of money.  If there's anything to be learned from what Marvel did--and what Christopher Nolan is currently doing for WB--it's that when you put time, heart, and soul into the work and focus on making the best, most entertaining film you can, the audiences will come.  And when you try to just put something out there for the sake of doing it, well... WB/DC Comics already know something about that. 

There was the TV pilot they did in the late '90s--you can watch the whole thing on YouTube.  Seriously, see how long you can make it.  It's hard to believe that this was just 3-4 years before X-Men and Spider-Man ignited the superhero movie era, after which time WB appeared ready to press their luck again, with an eventually-aborted venture titled Justice League: Mortal.  Never heard of Justice League: Mortal?  Lucky you.

But with Avengers steamrolling box office records, WB will gladly forget all that came before, and can hopefully learn from those missteps.  Of course, there will inevitably be accusations of copycatting Marvel, but a good result can and will overwhelm those criticisms (however valid they may be).  To combat the pitfalls of the kind of rank opportunism WB/DC could embrace, it needs to do a JL movie as organically as possible, with the same kind of care Marvel took, using its own formidable cast of characters (and in some ways, more formidable, the League featuring DC's finest, while Avengers left out the likes of Spider-Man and Wolverine, who were properties of other studios).  Those characters just need to be established and, in some cases, re-established.  So, at the risk of invoking the cruel wrath of the fan-fiction gods, here's how I would propose setting up a Justice League film (not that WB has ever asked me, regardless how many angry letters I write them): 

Next year's Man of Steel is the key.  Though director Zach Snyder and producer Christopher Nolan have said that this version of Superman exists on his own terms (Nolan has said similar about his Batman, but more on that later), WB won't let something as trivial as a couple of statements from the creative heads stop them--for better or worse and we're focusing on better here.  Unless MOS is an out-and-out failure at the box office, it will be the first step toward the larger movie universe and that's fine; unlike Batman, any version of Superman is perfectly compatible with the League--and any JL franchise would merely inherit the tone Snyder sets in MOS.  And so long as WB doesn't push Snyder to do things he's not comfortable doing, I don't predict any significant protest from him.  If the studio senses good hype from the set, they could recommend something like the post-credit scene in Iron Man (which would've led to nothing if that film had flopped).  A throwaway line about the discovery of an island of amazons back in the '40s, or a six-foot bat flying over Gotham is all you'd need and you can run with that later.  Supes has his own problems, of course; issues of relateability and relevance in a stranger, harsher, more complex world that seems to have passed by the Big Blue Boy Scout.  But that's Snyder's problem.  If he can't address those issues, it's back to the drawing board and JL itself could get lost in the redrawing.  But if Snyder can make the character relevant and make people want Superman again, we'll have an Iron Man effect, where a throwaway scene is seized upon and driven full speed to a new franchise, turning Henry Cavill into this universe's--this generation's--Superman. 

Wonder Woman has long always created problems for writers and fans alike.  From her creation as a psychologist's outlet for BDSM fantasies, to her days as a kung-fu expert, to heated discussions about leg-wear, she's never seemed to break out as she should.  As part of a group (ala Kingdom Come), she works fantastically, allowing writers to emphasize her fighting abilities and leadership skills, while downplaying her often wooden, unapproachable nature.  But as one of DC's Big Three, she deserves her own spotlight and, frankly, if they can't do her right, they shouldn't be bothering with the more problematic members of the League at all.  Something Joss Whedon ran into while working on his Wonder Woman script was that Diana simultaneously has too much mythology and too little.  A lot has to be done to set up Themyscira and the amazon race and all the little things that make up Wonder Woman (bracelets, lasso, lazy stabs at a token feminism, etc.), while separating her from a public awareness that's stagnated since the 70's TV show, and hasn't been allowed to stretch and grow much since.  And yet, how many Wonder Woman villains can you name?  Exactly.  Whedon's script, along with a couple of others, plopped her into WWII, pitting her against the Nazis.  An intriguing conceit, but Captain America: First Avenger kind of took that novelty for its own.  I recommend taking a cue from Brian Azzarello's current run on the Wonder Woman book and playing up her roots as part of Greek myth: illegitimate daughter of Zeus and straight-up demi-god.  The Greek pantheon is relatively accessible to most audiences and can still provide a draw of sorts.  And once Greek Gods are shown to be a thing, superheros seem pretty natural.  And vice versa.  Yes, Thor already covered some of this territory (one more reason DC should've been working on this years ago), but by making Diana interact with and protect denizens of Earth from her crueler cousins, she becomes a protector of Earth, refusing to join in the gods' gleeful tormenting of humankind or stand by indifferently, as the amazons often will.  That's what makes her a hero, every bit as much as (and sometimes more than) Superman's gentle-heartedness and Batman's money force of will.  And as a hero, she should get to wear pants. 

Green Lantern is likely out.  That is, Ryan Reynolds' Green Lantern is likely out.  In fact, Hal Jordan may be out altogether.  But, if some of that famous Film Studio Selective Memory can be harnessed for the power of good, we might get to have our cake and eat it too.  We can retain the mythology established by the Green Lantern film, because that was one of the few things the movie did reasonably well (that and Mark Strong's Sinestro, which we can also keep).  But now we'll have John Stewart as the Green Lantern of Earth, a changing of the guard that can be explained in a scene or two.  Stoic enough not to whine and moan about his responsibilities--as Reynolds' Jordan was wont to do--but with enough distrust of authority to give him an edge that most Lanterns lack, Stewart can deliver the intrigue and excitement of the space opera story that Green Lantern failed to give us.  Depending on how much time and money WB is willing to invest, they could even give Stewart a solo movie to establish his credentials, but given the current baggage of that franchise, it might be easier to let him establish his footing in JL first.  If Stewart takes off with audiences, he can even be reunited with Hal Jordan in a post-JL Green Lantern movie, hopefully with a better result. 

Perhaps even more than Green Lantern, the cool-factor of The Flash's powers is easily overshadowed by how hard they are to explain without sounding stupid.  For non-comics fans: he basically manipulates the laws of physics.  Using that, one can do a Dr. Manhattan-esque morality play, examining the life and psychological state of a man who can move fast enough to alter history and who's own powers sometimes threaten to obliterate him.  At least, that's the route I'd take.  Not all characters will require a solo movie first.  As with John Stewart, Barry Allen (I'm open to arguments for Wally West), may need to wait and see what kind of reaction he gets in JL.  If the reaction to Avengers' Hulk (featuring a new actor in the role, as a follow-up to a movie that relatively few people saw) is any indication, there's something to be said for not forcing too many of these characters down audiences' throats.  Some will need to be established on their own terms, but guys like Flash can wait for a testing-of-the-waters, so to speak.  If it works, then WB's stumbled into a new franchise. 

Martian Manhunter is out.  I know there are J'onn J'onzz fans out there, but in a cast already full of aliens and demi-gods, a green dude in a stupid costume (even by superhero standards) with powers all-too similar to Superman's might be a bit more than WB is willing to risk.  And I don't blame them (remember how well aliens worked for them in Green Lantern?).  Maybe for a sequel.  For now, there are other options...

Yes, Geoff Johns turned around common conceptions about Aquaman in a humorous way with the New 52 reboot.  And yes, Aquaman looks great when Alex Ross draws him like this.  But preaching to the fan-boy choir (made up of fans and people who want to be fans) and Alex Ross (who could paint a dry, pale booger hanging from someone's nose and it would be tempting to make a movie about said booger) aren't going to be enough to convince the everyday public that he's useful beyond the ocean and is anything other a joke who talks to fish.  The Super Friends created much turmoil and its legacy remains painful to many.  Those injustices will be healed in time.  However, as with J'onzz, let's not bite off more than we can chew.  He's out. 

Green Arrow's fate will depend on the reception of his new CW show.  Similar to Superman's situation in MOS, if Arrow doesn't catch on, we move on and forget all about Ollie Queen in this universe (for now).  But if it does become even a Smallville-level hit, then why waste an established and moderately popular character?  Of course, that's a lot of "ifs."  The guy playing Queen is Stephen Amell and I'm not familiar with anyone else involved either.  Not that that's a death sentence, but it's probably not best to rely on the success of someone who makes mainstream fans say: 1, "so, he's like Robin Hood?" (best case scenario), 2, "so, like Batman but not Batman?" (medium scenario) or 3, "so, like that guy in Avengers?" (worst case scenario).  He's probably out.

That leaves one last best choice.  When DC launched the New 52, they replaced J'onzz's role in the League with Cyborg, recently promoted from Teen Titans.  Cyborg's greatest advantages tie into his weaknesses: He's not very well-known, but he also doesn't come with the baggage that some of these characters do; he's almost a clean slate with which a writer/director could create banal crap, but could also write a new classic character.  Cyborg would also be a good in for the audience.  In a cast of gods and aliens, a relateable character--like a teenage-kid that's suffered a traumatic accident and come out of it a superhero--is a necessary and easily forgettable element.  Add to that what could be a unique look (there a thousand places this translation to screen could go wrong, but that caveat that applies to every paragraph in this post) and the League may have the grounding it often desperately needs.  Yes, grounding, from a character named "Cyborg"--moving on. 

What's that?  You say I've forgotten Batman?  Well, I haven't.  And fuck you for assuming I ever would.  The League needs Batman, both for in-story reasons (Bruce Wayne's finances, Batman's coordination skills) and to draw interest (people kinda like Batman).  However, he's sometimes had trouble proving that he fits into the League.  And Nolan's films haven't helped that image with their "de-powered" Dark Knight.  Someone who has that much trouble defeating Joker (and being forced to tarnish a part of himself in the process) probably shouldn't be going into battle against Darkseid.  But Nolan's franchise will be done after this summer, at which point WB will start anew.  And I have to think that they will do it with an eye toward JL.  While my reasoning on this will require a blog post unto itself (which I may well do after The Dark Knight Rises), I count this is as a good thing.  Nolan has given us a better series of films than Batman fans ever had a right to hope for.  Let's leave them be and try something different.  We survived Batman & Robin--we can survive anything.  Start the new franchise with Batman well-established in Gotham and confronting a slightly more fantastical plot (think the old Animated Series, which meshed gritty street drama with more than a few outlandish elements).  Suddenly it doesn't look quite so funny when Superman appears, floating above one of Batman's rooftop brooding sessions.  And with Batman League-ready, the sequel writes itself with a Tower of Babel story, demonstrating why he belongs in the group (albeit in the scariest way possible).

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  There's still the join-up story to consider...

Another time.