It hasn’t been a secret that Warner Bros. has been looking at putting multiple DC superheros in single films to help jumpstart multiple franchises. We almost got a Batman vs Superman film a few years ago. Separate films featuring those two characters would obviously go ahead instead.
Now they’re apparently scrambling to put together a Justice League film to start filming early next year. Nothing wrong with the Justice League. The animated series was excellent, but two or three major problems jump out when a live-action film is proposed.
1) It’s live-action. It’s easy to make Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash and Aquaman come alive in animation. The nature of that medium makes it simple to bring those characters into a consistent world. Live-action is another story. What are the chances WB dumps enough cash into this to bring all six of those characters to life without it looking like a cheesy mess? They had to spend a fortune just to get Superman right, let alone throwing in four other characters with powers into the mix.
2) There are existing Batman and Superman film series, and the two universes created do not mesh. Any of those other Justice League characters couldn’t drop into Christopher Nolan’s Batman universe. It would be absolutely preposterous. Superpowers don’t work with that Batman. And a Batman that tackles inner city politics and crime doesn’t gel with Bryan Singer’s idealized and rather carefree Superman. Batman Begins (and 2008’s The Dark Knight) and Superman Returns have extremely divergent styles, tones and internal philosophies. They’re not meant to mix. You can’t possibly watch both of those films and believe they take place on the same planet. Force them together and you risk pissing off the audiences of both.
3) An extension of the above. Don’t push this forward and simultaneously screw up Nolan’s excellent Batman trilogy by either screwing up their plans or by using up or pissing off Christian Bale by strong-arming him into a Justice League movie. The man’s one of the most talented actors of his generation. He’s already not overly fond of the long shoots for Batman, don’t make him spend half a year working on a special effects-laden superhero tag-team movie with, let’s face it, a cast that probably won’t match his talent (unless you’re really going to pile the money on for not only a Justice League movie but the individual franchise films you hope to inspire).
This is just a trainwreck in waiting, especially if it’s connected to the current Batman and Superman movies. There’s no way you get that Batman to make a lick of sense on screen with any of those other superheros. At the very least, write him out. He is, after all, the one guy without powers. But really, scrap the whole thing. Active Batman and Superman franchises are already worth something like $1 billion a year each for you. Let Nolan deliver his fantastic Batman trilogy without any hiccups and let Brandon Routh start Singer’s The Man of Steel, which reportedly has a much stronger script than the first one. Don’t jeopardize both franchises and their respective film series with some silly team-up movie. It may sound nice on paper, but it’ll be a mess in execution.
Here Here, my good man.