But Seriously...

Thoughts On the DC Film Universe

I was actually writing up a post on a wish list for the cast of a future Justice League film, but then I realized that I had some general wishes for the any of the future DC films. Here are some of those random thoughts.

• Do not attempt an Avengers. Marvel had an endgame in place when Iron Man first debuted. DC has demonstrated that they have a little harder time coordinating like that, and I doubt they have something in place currently for Man of Steel. But cross-film continuity is not necessary right now. Everyone knows these characters, we don’t need a reboot and origin story each time. DC’s animated division is making great movies from single, contained storylines and I think films could work like that as well, kind of like the James Bond series.

  When the Justice League movie happens, don’t get greedy with characters.  Marvel had already put in place backstories for four of the six main characters, and a semi backstory for Black Widow. And even then, there are few people besides Whedon who can handle an ensemble storyline like that. I would limit a Justice League film to four or five main heroes  To me, there are six main players: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Flash. In my opinion, the only one that needs to be in it is Superman, arguments can be made for any of the others to be left out.

• Leave Batman alone for a while. Nothing anyone makes in the near future will get even close to Christopher Nolan’s trilogy, don’t taint that. I’m okay with Batman having a role in a Justice League film as long as he isn’t the main focus.

• Use Kyle Rayner for Green Lantern. Everyone who is at least familiar with DC Comics and/or the Justice League knows Hal Jordan. Jon Stewart had many seasons worth of the animated series, and I don’t think is even that interesting of a character in general. The only other Earth Lantern is Guy Gardner and he’s just a dick and no one likes him. Rayner’s Lantern is much more interesting because he needs to figure out the power on his own without a corps to back him up. Also, there is no need to waste time establishing the rest of the corps and Oa.

• Be careful with Wonder Woman. Personally, I would just wait until Joss Whedon is done with his Marvel responsibilities and let him do what he originally wanted to. All of the articles about Justice League casts I read just went straight to a hot actress that had been in previous action films a la Gina Carano, but this is the absolute wrong way to go. Anyone else remember Catwoman? A female superhero needs to be written and performed smartly to be successful. Scarlett Johansson in Iron Man 2 vs. The Avengers is a perfect example. We first see her as eye candy, but she becomes a compelling character with someone better behind the script.

• Pay attention to the fans. I don’t feel like DC has paid any attention to their key demographic when it comes to making decisions and it has been to their detriment, besides Nolan’s Batman (he can do what he wants at this point because he had previously established that he knows what he’s doing).

  Again, I will use Marvel as the example. These are the ones I thought of off the top of my head:

  • They put in references to other comics constantly, even when it doesn’t specifically tie in to one of their concurrent films.
  • Samuel L. Jackson as Nick fury.
  • And the ultimate… Joss Whedon. If we had it our way, he would be behind every comic book film ever and Marvel gave him the chance everyone was waiting for.