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Crafting a shared DC "filmic" universe

How are the DC character rights for movies anyway? Are they all under the same umbrella?
 
But I'm sure a Justice league movie with Superman,Green Lantern, Flash and Wonder Woman with maybe Huntress is probably the best possibility
I'll go you one further. How about a Justice League without Batman OR Superman? Especially if you let Wonder Woman fly, that's a plenty high-powered team right there. With Superman, there's always the invincibility problem, not to mention the dilution of concept damage to the character itself.
Wasn't that kind of like how Justice League: Mortal (George Miller's aborted JLA movie) would have been? IIRC, the movie would have begun shortly after the death of Superman, and center on the surviving members of the Justice League trying to carry on without him. But I could be wrong.
How are the DC character rights for movies anyway? Are they all under the same umbrella?
Yep. Warner Bros. owns DC completely.
 
I'll go you one further. How about a Justice League without Batman OR Superman? Especially if you let Wonder Woman fly, that's a plenty high-powered team right there. With Superman, there's always the invincibility problem, not to mention the dilution of concept damage to the character itself.

Works for me. Heck, if Superman were there, he'd probably just end up getting taken out with ridiculous ease so that the other heroes would have something to do.

Besides, let's face it, J'onn J'onnz can do just about everything Superman can, plus read minds, turn invisible and intangible, and shapeshift. He's even got the same last-of-his-species vibe going, although he's more of an outsider since he wasn't raised here.

Though personally I'd be happy to see a Justice League led by Wonder Woman. She's way overdue for cinematic exposure, so let her be the lead instead of just an ensemble member.
 
Maybe it's the fact that, AFAIK, none of the DC heroes apart from Bats and Supes have as much personality as the Marvel heroes. Maybe I'm too interested in the Marvel crossovers to care about DC's. And the fictional cities thing probably plays a big part.

.
Ha! Green Arrow is nothing but personality! All they have to do is find a "hook" like they did with Tony Stark in Iron Man. Trust me, the Tony in the comics has had a few ups and downs over the years but I don't think he's ever been like the way RDJ plays it in the films.
But I'm sure a Justice league movie with Superman,Green Lantern, Flash and Wonder Woman with maybe Huntress is probably the best possibility
I'll go you one further. How about a Justice League without Batman OR Superman? Especially if you let Wonder Woman fly, that's a plenty high-powered team right there. With Superman, there's always the invincibility problem, not to mention the dilution of concept damage to the character itself.

As for Batman, he obviously doesn't belong, imo. TPTB stick him in because they can, regardless of whether they should.
When the JLA book first started, Batman and Superman didn't appear all the much. They were "busy" on other cases. So name drop Supes and Bats as a tease for a sequel and go with the: Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, J'Onn J'onzz and Wonder Woman line up. Maybe have Green Arrow and Black Canary show up too.
 
I would see a JLA with J'onn, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, with maybe Green Arrow and Black Canary if DC ENT didn't want to use Superman and Batman if the story was good and a decent director was attached. I was one of the few who was excited about Justice League: Mortal the George Miller film that was abandoned. Looking back on it now I would have hate to have had that be a disaster.
 
The thing that differentiates DC from Marvel is that the only thing really stopping DC/WB from creating a shared filmic universe using all of their characters is that, in some cases, certain characters who would be a perfect fit in a shared filmic universe have already become/been the focal point of franchises which were crafted in a way that wouldnt' allow them to be utilized as part of a shared filmic universe.

With that said, DC's comic properties are much more reliant on the concept of a multiverse than Marvel's (although Marvel has started to establish a multiverse in recent years), which means that, theoretically, there's nothing really stopping them and WB from putting out multiple movie franchises centered around a particular character or characters - using different versions of said character(s) - simultaneously. It's not really something that fans seem to be ready to accept, though, and therefore isn't something that I think DC/WB will do, but there really isn't anything truly stopping them from doing it if they really wanted to.
 
DCs been playing in a single universe for over 25 years and have only recently reintroduced the multiverse. All their current DCU books take place in "Universe/Earth 0" and a generation of fans have grown up with that as the status quo.

The fans are the least of Warner's concerns. The bigger question is will the general public, who knows squat about the concept of the DC multiverse, accept two or three different actors playing Batman or Superman on the big screen at the same time?
 
The current universe is known as "New Earth". There is a new Earth-One apparently that will contain JMS and Shane Davis's Superman Earth One and Geoff Johns and Gary Frank's Batman Earth One. Again a shared DCFU seems inevitable...it will just take a number of years and DC ENT wants to release solo films before they unleash the Justice League movie upon us all similar to what Marvel Studios has been doing over the last few years starting with "Iron Man". It's not a question of if any more but when.
 
I could live with that. I don't think that the current cinema Batman would suit a JLA movie for reasons already articulated. And I'd hate to see Batman 3 or the next Superman become a glorified prequel to the JLA movie, the way that Iron Man 2 was basically Avengers: The Backstory.

As has been said, Batman and Superman will overshadow everyone else in the movie and a movie without them will allow all of the less known heroes their moment in the spotlight.
 
Fine with me. The idea of a JL organized by J'onn and headed up by him, Diana, and Hal makes perfect sense to me. They're all extremly powerful heroes in their own right. And having five main heroes works better than seven, given the finite timeframe of a movie -- particularly if you have to cram an origin story into it as well.

Of course, this is just a rumor, so I'm speaking conjecturally here.
 
That's probably the best solution. WB still gets their Justice League movie to compete with The Avengers, but they can still keep Batman and Superman separate franchises.

I still think they should wait until Green Lantern, The Flash, and at least Wonder Woman are established on-screen before segueing into a Justice League movie. Similar to how Marvel is at least introducing the members of the Avengers on-screen before doing the film.
 
^ I'm fine with there not being Superman and Batman as I stated in an earlier post...and I think that is what DC Ent is going to do. Shoehorn in their solo films first introducing their characters then unleash the Justice League movie upon us all.
 
JL movie is a misstep at this point...they'd be better of with Teen Titans live action flick less of a budget than a JL movie would need and sees what sticks.
 
Why would a Teen Titans film have a lesser budget than a JLA film? I assume they'd want to attract rop talent and that would cost money.
 
A Teen Titans movie would cost like half of a JL movie...and they would only go with top talent for JLers that might appear...most of the Teen Titans would be unknowns or talent known only to The CW crowd.
 
DCs been playing in a single universe for over 25 years and have only recently reintroduced the multiverse. All their current DCU books take place in "Universe/Earth 0" and a generation of fans have grown up with that as the status quo.

The fans are the least of Warner's concerns. The bigger question is will the general public, who knows squat about the concept of the DC multiverse, accept two or three different actors playing Batman or Superman on the big screen at the same time?


I submit the general public never did know squat about the multiverse, and no one really expected consistency between the comics and the movies -- or the movies and other movies.

I think both DC and Marvel are taking a grave risk - Marvel especially - by having crossovers between movies. A little in-joke a la Coming to America/Trading Places is one thing, but I don't think moviegoers want to have to be versed in five different movie series in order to see and appreciate something like The Avengers. One of the complaints I've heard about the X-Men franchise of films - one I'm in no position to evaluate - was that they were inaccessible to the uninitiated.

My opinion about the current state of comics and the overdue return of the multiverse is a topic for another thread.
 
A Teen Titans movie would cost like half of a JL movie...and they would only go with top talent for JLers that might appear...most of the Teen Titans would be unknowns or talent known only to The CW crowd.
Possibly or they might get Justin Beiber to play Beast Boy and Ke$ha as Starfire.
 
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