Warner bros announce superhero films through 2020
- Thread starter JoeZhang
- Start date
Yes, it's been substantially reworked for TV.
Superman Returns' problem was that Singer was making a tribute/sequel to the Reeve movies, which was lost on a certain segment of the audience--some never experiencing the earlier movies to have a frame of reference.
Iron Man was not A list character, but he has a long media history and merchandising familiar to a couple of generations. Add Robert Downey's star appeal, and Iron Man had a benefit even the Hulk did not.
Moreover, the Hulk, while one of the most famous comic characters, suffered from the terrible Ang Lee film, then a reboot. If there's a lesson in the handling of franchise characters is if the reboot happens too fast (in Hulk's case, 5 years), the audience rarely cares to the degree serving the purpose of a new version, as they have a "been there, done that" feeling about it.
I believe that was the reason the rebooted Hulk's 263 million barely coughed past Ang Lee's 245. Not much improvement.
Blade was a stand-alone film able to establish its own internal identity / continuity sans any reference to (or expectation from) the Marvel universe--superheroes in particular. There was nothing to compare the character to, or desire in the way of larger story lines and costumed guests. Operating on its own, it was judged as Blade...not Blade's place within a Marvel film universe, as Cyborg, Aquaman, and others will be judged against the larger DC films.
--and capitalize on Snipes, who was a popular actor at the time. I already mentioned Guardians, as we all know that film was more about what Easter eggs pointed to the next Avengers film than any strong interest in characters that never made an impression in their native format.
Cyborg is still an unknown to most, and the audience for the Teen Titans series has to be considered small--certainly not of any number a studio can count on for blockbuster numbers.
Regarding John Stewart, there's still an unfortunate part of the comic fan population who never accepted him in the so-called "Timmverse" Justice League cartoons, and squealed with delight when Hal Jordan was restored as the GL of the short-lived GL cartoon (2011), and the disappointing Ryan Reynolds film. On that note, if Stewart is the reboot GL, I expect the same resistance from the base. There's no telling how general audiences will react.
A Google search reveals that at the latest Blade met Spider-Man in Marvel Team-Up (vol.2) #7, 1994. The review says that Spider-Man "meets" Blade, but I don't know if that's definitive or not.
More recently, Blade and the "Superior" Spider-Man were team-mates in the Mighty Avengers book.
Blade also appeared on the 90s Spider-Man cartoon series.
Indeed, I've heard it said (sorry, can't recall where) that his appearances on the show played a role in creating interest for a Blade movie, so they were the first step in bringing the character to mainstream attention.
..but not on film. When Blade was released, there was no Marvel film universe, nor was the idea of other Marvel stars referred to. His continuity was independent of the mainstream Marvel universe.
Found an interesting link from Wikipedia to a 1992 Variety article linking LL Cool J to development on Blade. (And Wesley Snipes to Black Panther!)
http://variety.com/1992/film/news/marvel-characters-holding-attraction-for-filmmakers-101955/
I'm sure Leto would give a good performance but in casting a young heart-throb actor, they'd only magnify comparisons with Ledger. I would've thought they'd be better advised to cast someone very different from Heath, a little older and more rugged (especially if this is in the same continuity as Affleck's older Batman). Chris Eccleston maybe?
With Leto, Hardy and Eisenberg on board, this would certainly be the youngest and prettiest rogues' gallery around.
Actually Leto won't be 43 until the day after Christmas. But he is about 8 months older than Ben Affleck.
Wow, he really looks young for his age, even more so than the youthful Affleck.
I rounded up.
