Justice League May Have Found Director

John Campea 36 Comments

Justice-League-22People have been talking a lot about a possible “Justice League” movie. For those of you who never had a childhood, the Justice League is the team of all the main DC comics superheroes that get together to sip cappuccinos and fight crime. The team had all the big guns: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman, ect. ect. ect.

I’ve said from the start that I don’t really think a movie like this will actually happen. But according to some reports, Warner Bros. may actually be looking at really doing a LIVE ACTION Justice League film BEFORE the next Superman movie… and on top of that, they may have found their director for it. According to the good folks over at Coming Soon:

Happy Feet director George Miller is the frontrunner to direct Warner Bros. Pictures’ Justice League of America. The latter site adds: The next thing I’ve heard is which Superheroes might be in the running for the first big budget team-up movie. They would be Superman, Batman, The Flash, Wonder Woman and the Green Lantern. I’ve also heard from sources that the “Justice League” film is more of a priority for WB than the sequel to “Superman,” so don’t be surprised if you see Brandon Routh in “Justice League” before any new “Superman” film.

Now that is HUGE if it’s true. But I still highly doubt something like this will happen for a few reasons:

1) Too many MAIN characters. It’s fine for Batman Begins to have bunch of characters that have little to no screen time or development. But what do you do with The Justice League? 5 major lead hero characters, not to mention the villains. Seems like a tall order.

2) Budget. I don’t even want to think about how much this would cost.

3) Bale and Routh. You can’t have 2 different batmen and supermen running around in screen franchises at the same time. I’m totally ok with switching actors for a role… but not at the same time. You can’t have a Batman franchise running with Christian Bale as the Dark Knight, AND have another guys playing Batman at the same time in a Justice League franchise. That would just be stupid. And if you DO get Routh and Bale on board… which of the characters gets the most screen time? Who does the story focus on? I’m not saying this problem isn’t overcomable… just that it’s a problem.

4) Reeks of desperation. Let’s face it, when it comes to over all strength, Marvel has a much better suited roster for movie adaptations than DC properties do. After Superman and Batman, what other viable superhero movies do you really have? None. (To all you DC fans… please note I didn’t say there are no other DC stories worth telling… just that they’re not VIABLE in the sense that they just wouldn’t have a large enough movie going audience).

In regards to point #4, IF Warner Bros. do indeed move forward and make this film, one of the main reasons will be to promote the non Superman/Batman characters to hopfully launch their own film franchises. It’ll be like Blade Trinity all over again… the movie is called “Blade”, but really it was just an attempt at a launching pad for a new franchise around Ryan Reynolds and Jessica Biel. Any Justice League movie at this point will probably just be an attempt by Warner to increase the popularity of Wonder Woman or Green Lantern or The Flash enough to get their individual projects off the ground.

Not to mention… I didn’t even like “Happy Feet” all that much. The only thing he’s done in the last 20 years really is Happy Feet and “Babe: Pig in the City”. Is this REALLY the right guy to take on a live action Justice League movie? I don’t think so. But who knows?

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36 thoughts on “Justice League May Have Found Director”

  1. I think a Justice League movie would be a great idea here is what I think should be the line-up:

    Superman: Brandon Routh (Clark Kent)
    Batman: Christian Bale (Bruce Wayne)
    Wonder Woman: Ann Hathaway (Diana)
    The Flash: Cory Morr (Wally West)
    Green Lantern: Samual L. Jackson (John Steward)
    Martian Manhunter: Vin Diesel (Jonn-Jozz)
    Hawkgirl: Mila Jovich (Shyera)

  2. My cast wish list:
    Superman- Patrick Warburton
    Batman- Colin Farrell
    Wonder Woman- Jennifer Love Hewitt or Jennifer Lopez
    Green Lantern- Dwayne Johnson
    Flash- Seann William Scott
    Hawkman- Taye Diggs
    Martian Manhunter- Eric Balfour
    Aquaman- Justin Timberlake

  4. I don’t think this is gonna happen. When I first read the Latino Review report, I definitely did. It actually made sense. Plus, they’re a legit film-news website that reports all news/rumors. CHUD flat out didn’t report Robert Burnett Meyer confirming THE MAN OF STEEL’s 2008 start-date back in the Spring or IESB’s own inside sources debunking THE MAYOR OF CASTRO STREET delaying the SUPERMAN sequel. On the contrary, anything negative gets immediately posted over there.

    But…this JLA story just isn’t gelling together. There’s simply too much against it than for it imo. WB executives aren’t idiots to miss said points. Yes, I know these rumors are coming from credible sources. But even reliable people can and have been wrong. And…yes this would definitely take away from the perspective SUPERMAN and BATMAN franchises. As I recall (someone correct me if I’m wrong), but isn’t this supposed to be a Batman trilogy?

    Also this just doesn’t make sense based on WB’s comments/concerns. WB expects THE DARK KNIGHT to do $500 million box-office based on the built-in audience from BATMAN BEGINS. How does going ahead with JLA help matters with a possible BATMAN III (which Bale is signed up for 3 films!) Which do they go with? Bale for BATMAN III or JLA?

    Not to mention, the issue of cost; WB wants THE MAN OF STEEL to have a more-conservative budget (i.e. $140-175 million!) Fair enough, but how does making a JLA help that either? Christ knows it’d cost $350 million+ to do properly.

    If this does made, I’d bet dollars to donuts, Superman and Batman won’t be there…simply as to not fuck up their perspective franchises (which WB spent years trying to get re-launched!)

  5. Yeah, but it WORKED in X Men. They still established Storm as a teacher and a powerful woman and Cyclops as Jean grey’s love interest and Logan’s rival. It’s not like he just popped up and said “Hi, I’m Cycops” and disappeared for 2 hours.

    If done RIGHT, it can be done. It’s not an impossible task. Sadly, i tend to agree that the film could just be a marketing ploy. But I’m one who thinks both Wolverine and Magneto will suck major ass.

    I think Justice Leage has great potential. Hopefully the guys at WB will get a clue and actualy make a good movie.

  6. Hey MKFreak,

    The problem is this… imagine if the first X-Men film focues most of its attention on Bobby (ice man) and Toad while relegating Wolverine and Magneto to smaller supporting roles. How do you think that would have gone over?

    I absolutely guarantee you that if Warner Bros. does this movie, their main purpose in doing so will be to promote and push the “smaller” (popularity and recognition wise) characters so that they can increase their potential number of franchises. In essence, Superman and Batman will be used as supporting tools to pump up Green Lantern and Wonder Woman.

    It’s exactly what happened with Blade Trinity. Blade was nothing more than a tool in an attempt to start new franchise with Biel and Reynolds.

    You can NOT give adequate time or development to 5 or 6 main characters. You’ll have to sacrifice a few of them (like storm and cyclops in the first X-Men) from getting any real attention and relegate them to smaller supporting roles.

  7. Hey John, do you remember a few movies revolving around a team of 5+ superheroes that came out in recent years…oh, yeah, X-Men!

    I think you can have a movie with multiple characters revolving around a few key characters with the others still having a significant part to play. Wolverine, Rogue, Jean Grey, Professor X and Magneto all got pretty good screen time in the first film, and even characters like Iceman, Mystique, Toad, Storm, and Sabretooth get fit in without much trouble. You don’t have to have this huge elaborate backstory, especially when the history of Superman and Batman are already taken care of. Maybe Bryan Singer is just an absolutely amazing director?

    You can have Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman and a villain like Darksied or Braniac be the key characters and still manage to have GL, Flash, and minor characters to have screen time and play a part. Movies like Lord of the Rings manage to pull off having multiple characters be the lead as well.

    Granted, both X men, Lord of the Rings, and Oceans 11 were trilogies, but the first films in the series did exactly what i said as stand alone films. Of course, this institutes a 2 1/2 to 3 hour timespan…

  9. honestly cannot picture Bale & Routh inhabiting the same screen in character together (maybe unless they clashed ala Dark Knight Returns). the worlds of Superman Returns & Batman Begins have completely different feels to them.

  10. I’m all for a JLA movie, and it must have Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. I, for one, would love it if Bale and Routh did not star in JLA. In comics, you have different artists drawing thier own interpretaions of the heroes. Getting different actors would be the live action equivalent of that. I’d like to see Colin Farrell, Ian Somerhalden or Mark Walberg play Batman. I want to see Jennifer Love Hewitt or Jennifer Lopez play Wonder Woman. For Batman’s character, I hope they use the Keith Giffen-JM DeMatties version from the 1980s JL. He was still dark, but had a wicked sense of humor. That would be alot more family friendly than the overly adult-oriented take in the Nolan movies, and JLA should be family friendly. The film should have one villain….Darkseid.

  11. It would be a horrible idea to have Batman and Superman in a JLA film. It’s a great choice, but in spite of the stuff Miller did 20 years ago (Witches Of Eastwick; the Mad Max films) I just don’t think it will happen. It will, in fact, I predict be a lot like Wolfgang Petersen’s project a few years back, “Batman vs Superman’ (aka Worlds Finest) which came *this* close* to being greenlit.

    Look, it was FINE as a saturday kids morning of yore; in live action, tight now, it simply won’t work. Besides, once again, all the “”””Fanboys”””” seem to forget one small, yet important detail.

    Robin.

    Now, there is a way around it, but if they do it, the “”””fanboys””” will scream and whine and accusations will fly. Boos at next comic con, the works. What is that alternate route? There are two.

    Here it comes. You better have a seat.

    1) JLA takes place in the Burton-Shumacher film universe. Not that Chris O’ Donnell will return or anything. Ok, that’s a bad idea.

    OR

    2) Have Grayson not be Robin, but Nightwing and have any/all connections to Bruce Wayne/Batman severed, aside from losing thier parents to violent crime.

    See? I just pissed a gazillion people off just to suggest it.

    And Green Lantern belongs in the GL corps.

  14. Thank you for explaining what the Justice League is to me. But why don’t you go into that detail with all of your posts? “For all of you who have never lived on earth, we have these things called movies which depict stories through moving images and sound.”

  15. Your comment about the viability of Marvel vs. DC properties seems to be affected by hindsight. Aside from X-Men, Spider-man, and maybe the Hulk, there wouldn’t appear to be a significantly larger audience for other Marvel characters as compared to their DC counterparts.

    Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Fantastic Four, and Blade have had different degrees of success as movies, but it would be hard to argue that they were more popular with the general public than Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, Flash, or even Aquaman before their movies came out.

    In fact, a character like Blade hardly showed any significant following before his first film premiered.

  19. Beckinsale could never pull off Wonder Woman,Mark. and i believe you meant Nathan Fillion. but heck i like the rest of your cast. Fishburne as Martian Manhunter. HA! i love it!

  20. a jla movie could work if they get the people involved with the cartoon involved they seemed to know how to write very good stories involving numerous characters. jl-unlimited was one of the best shows out there and it covered heros beyond the ones listed for this project. that’s my opion

  22. Wow. Good Luck guys. Either you’re going to make a kick ass movie or you’re not. Miller as director seems like a good choice. I love the action scenes in Mad Max 2. If he makes this movie’s action scenes anything like mad max 2 then I’m in.

  23. It could work..Okay it’s simple have super man and batman meet up. Then have the other characters show up like they already exist in the same universe. This will give a chance for other projects to come about based on the DC superheroes. Superman, Batman, Wonderman, Green Lantern, Flash

    Then add others later on but not too many. Don’t go justice league unlimited on us or anything but just enough to make it good and they can and they will.

    Routh as Superman

    Bale as Batman

    Kate Backinsale as Wonder Woman

    Nate Dillion (captain from Firefly) as (Hal Jordan )Green Lantern

    Ryan Reynolds as The Flash.

    Then if they really wanted to…

    Lawrence Fishburne as Martian Manhunter..

    That right there is enough to make me want to see it. This of course is an opinion and I’m sure there will be objectors to this but hey by all means let the objecting begin.

  25. I would want Aquaman in a Justice League movie but seen as how they’re totally screwing it over I have changed my mind and have become thankful he wasn’t in it.
    I agre with some posts on hear, it makes sense to make this movie for the reason of gathering some fans for the less known of whether Green Lantern, Wonder Woman, or Flash. But the fact reamains this project needed to be handled WAY more delicatley than what they have been doing; to have this appear before The Man of Steel, having Routh and Bale in the SAME movie when they already have seperate franchises that will remain seperate, and the screentime problem with who gets the most. Oh yeah and I forgot the director, a guy who has directed movies about ambitious Penguins and Pigs does not deserve to direct a movie that some fans drool to sleep about!

    But boy, that picture you posted with the post is SO cool! Aquaman looks so proud in that picture, Martian Manhunter looks sweet too!

  26. Nothing is worse than a World Finest movie EXCEPT for maybe a JLA film. I’m a total nerd and this is just a trainwreck waiting to happen. I’m talking Roger Corman Fantastic Four kind of trainwreck. Batman vs Superman is never going to work, Joe-sixpack is going to see that commercial and be totally confused, ‘well heck-fire, I thought those were good guys’. I don’t want to see Bale and Routh together on the screen. Lets focus on good solo movies before we go try to Monster Squad the guys. X-men worked because we knew them as a group, but the average movie goer could have a good time with these new faces. JLA is too much to ask for. It’s like putting that Ol’ 96 Steak from the Great Outdoors on a sandwich. You just can’t eat it.

    Fuck, I’m retarded.

  27. If they really want this movie to work, one of the options is to focus on the conflict between Superman and Batman. They may respect each other, but boy do they ever hate each other sometimes.

  29. I would agree with Kevin C. Xmen managed to focus on Wolverine and Jean Grey mostly, but still have plenty of development with the many other heroes. Did anyone feel that there were too many heroes in Xmen?

    But Waaa! Xmen stories were purposefully written to include a large cast. They are an exception.

    Yeah, and JL stories were written with a large cast too. What do you mean, who gets the most screen time? Who got the most in Xmen? Wolverine or Jean Grey. Personally, I don’t know who got more. I thought they were both very prominent without being overdone. Maybe they give just as much focus to Bats and Supes. Maybe, they even use this JL movie to catapult into a Bats Vs Supes movie.

  30. I would be completely fine with a non-Bale Batman, but you could not get away with not using Routh. For a JLA movie, Batman would never be Bruce Wayne so who cares who wears the cape. I would imagine the movie would be lighter than the Batman Begins/Dark Knight feel anyway, so you wouldn’t want Mr. Bale to be too creepy. It would be much harder to disguise the lack of Routh seeing as how Superman’s costume obviously doesn’t cover his face.

  31. I love the idea for a Justice League movie, but this seems way too quick. This is the one film they shouldn’t just rush out. They should plan it as they develope and release another Superman, and first films for Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Flash. We should see bits and pieces coming together during those films that connect them and lead to this film that has to be epic in scale.

    Rushing it like this will only make it disjointed and will force half of the movie to establish multiple heroes that don’t have films yet, when otherwise the “movie” public would already know them.

    “Justice League movie at this point will probably just be an attempt by Warner to increase the popularity of Wonder Woman or Green Lantern or The Flash enough to get their individual projects off the ground.”

    You see, I think the film would water down each of the properties, so much so that it will be hard for them to make solo films with these guys.

    George Miller seems like a really weird choice for this. Almost as wrong as Tim Story for Fantastic Four. They really need to put the money down to get a director that knows BIG ACTION and movies with a ton of characters.

  33. the only other way I can see them doing this is waiting a few years after the current franchises have run out of steam, then develop JL as a trilogy where they introduce the team over the course of three movies. they could do a really epic story that way that celebrates and respects the characters.

  34. @Kevin C

    That’s a pretty good idea, but fans of the other characters will be pissy that their hero didn’t get enough screentime, but when you’ve got that many people onscreen, you don’t have a choice!

  35. What about making it like an “Oceans 11” type story. But without the robbery. Have this group of Superheroes each with a little backstory and character development, and introduce a common enemy that forces them to band together to resolve the issue. Obviously Batman and Supes are the “Danny” and “Rusty” and the rest of the guys get some decent screen time split between them.

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