if you have NOT seen Man of Steel yet, you might want to pass on reading this because I do talk about a few major SPOILERS from the movie.
http://www.superherohype.com/featur...es-a-dc-movie-universe-more-difficult?start=3
by Edward Douglas
1. Man of Steel Was WAY TOO BIG - Where Do You Go From Here?
This was almost literally my first thought after walking out of Man of Steel, because Zack Snyder and the other filmmakers have made a huge movie with massive amounts of destruction on par with the biggest of Michael Bay's "Transformers" movies. It was actually shocking to me that there was this much destruction (and even a bit of world-building) in the very first Superman movie since normally this level of action might be saved for a sequel. This is a serious issue that Warner Bros. (and especially David Goyer) has right now because they made such a big movie that to create a sequel, they'd would have to go just as big or bigger. One obvious answer would be to bring in Brainiac, but Zod's crafts look so much like what Braniac would be showing up on Earth with, many moviegoers would just assume they're repeating themselves. Having Superman fight Luthor in a sequel would probably seem almost like a let-down since what could Luthor do that would seem like as big a danger to Earth compared to Zod literally destroying Earth and rebuilding it as Krypton. Like I said, Man of Steel is a big BIG movie and it would be hard to make a bigger follow-up other than doing a Justice League movie where they take on Darkseid and his minions of Apokolips.
2. Casting Around Henry Cavill and the New Batman - Whomever That Might Be
One of the biggest positives that can't be denied or argued about Man of Steel is that Henry Cavill makes a great Superman. It does take some time for him to grow on you, but once he's in that costume, he's truly convincing as Superman, and that ending introduction where we see him in the glasses at the Daily Planet makes us want to see more of him as the Clark Kent that's familiar to us. I can only imagine he's going to be as good or better as a Clark Kent in the next movie as well. So how do you cast around that?
Let's face it, at least 90% of moviegoers and comic fans, if not more, would love to see that Clark Kent/Superman in the same room as Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne/Batman. Who knows if that will happen, but getting Bale back would be one way to guarantee success for a Justice League movie. (And unfortunately it won't happen since Bale himself has already nixed the idea.) If you can't get him back, well it's just going to make it harder because suddenly you have to cast a bunch of DC superheroes from scratch that can appeal both to the fans of the comics that have collected over the past five to 70 years but also give moviegoers a reason to go to theaters.
3. If You Do "Man of Steel 2" in 2015 or 2016, Won't That Make It Even Harder to Introduce Other Characters?
Nothing's been announced as of yet, but the success of Man of Steel and the fact there's already a screenplay for a sequel in the works would make one think that Warner Bros. would go forward with that sequel before trying to do Justice League. If that's the case and we can figure that it's going to take a good two years to make that movie, this means that it will be at least three to four years before we see another DC Universe character, whether it's a solo movie or in Justice League? It's pretty clear that there are no solo movies with a screenplay in shape to start shooting any time soon, but maybe now that Warner Bros. can see what works with the "Dark Knight" movies and Man of Steel, it will be easier to find a direction for the solo characters that can appeal to mass audiences.
4.How Do You Introduce Flash, Wonder Woman, Etc. in Standalone Movies Without Ripping Off Dark Knight/Man of Steel?
The easy answer might be to say that "you can't" because there have been scripts and development on movies about The Flash and Wonder Woman (and Captain Marvel/Shazam!) for years that don't necessarily take into account what's happened in the "Dark Knight" movies or Man of Steel. Right now, that is the world that's been created for the DC Movie Universe and that's where moviegoers expect to be when these other characters are introduced. They already had some good ideas for a "Flash" movie that's derived from what's been done in the comics, but can that be done in a separate movie or will Barry Allen have to be introduced in a Justice League movie? That's the real question.
5. Justice League Can't Be All About Superman/Batman If You Need To Introduce Other Characters
The other really obvious problem right now is that every single person on the planet knows who Superman and Batman are - either from their respective movie blockbusters or one of the dozens of iterations before then. Others characters may not be as well known to the public at large as much as they're starting to get more known thanks to various cartoons and such. If a Justice League movie is really going to work and get audiences excited about the group dynamic, it can't just be a movie that focuses entirely on Batman and Superman. They have to make Green Lantern, The Flash, Wonder Woman and others just as strong and interesting so that the audience doesn't get bored when Batman and Superman aren't on screen, which may in fact be the toughest challenge for a mainstream Justice League movie, because it will be trying to appeal to millions of moviegoers who may know little to nothing about those other characters.
6. How Many Characters Will Be Enough for a Justice League Movie That Satisfies Comic Book Fans?
It would be so much easier to just include the Big 5 in a Justice League movie—Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Flash—and there were rumors earlier this year that would be the case. But what about Aquaman, who really is the fifth member of the original Justice League, as much as he gets flack for having lame powers compared to the others? Or Hawkman and Martian Manhunter and Green Arrow, all important characters to the Justice League mythos? They may not matter to moviegoers, but certainly the comic book fans driving the first wave of excitement for the idea of a Justice League movie will want more than just the Big 5 or 6. You can't inundate fans with a lot of new characters in the first movie, but you also have to create a threat big enough that having more heroes to face it will allow for a movie as big or bigger than Man of Steel as well.
7. Are We Even READY for a Justice League Movie Yet?
There's been so much talk about this Justice League movie ever since rumors circulated that Warner Bros. wants to have one ready for 2015, although nothing's really moved forward on that and the success of Man of Steel ultimately makes it wiser to make a sequel to that movie first. The reason why Marvel's The Avengers worked so well is that they had four other movies leading up to it introducing Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man and then introducing the likes of Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Chris Evans as Captain America. If those two non-Iron Man movies weren't made, would audiences have appreciated the chemistry when they all finally came together? Probably not. Right now we have Henry Cavill as Superman and potentially Ryan Reynolds (see below) and that's it. As mentioned above, that means that a Justice League movie would have to introduce everyone else and while there have been screenplays in development, it certainly doesn't seem like there's one ready to go and in shooting shape just yet.
Even Henry Cavill seems to think that holding off on a Justice League movie might be a good idea and he's probably right.
8. Warner Bros and DC Entertainment REALLY Need to Get Moving on Some Decisions
Let's face it. Both companies have really been dragging their feet on making decisions and announcements. The 2015 Justice League wasn't even a solid commitment because nothing was ever confirmed and Warner Bros. never jumped on a date, and now they're looking to follow highly-anticipated sequels and big movies like The Avengers 2 and Star Wars: Episode VII and possibly even Jurassic Park 4 if they try to get Man of Steel 2 ready for 2015.
As some of you might remember, after the success of Iron Man, Marvel Studios made an announcement on the following Monday of opening weekend to shareholders basically laying out the next three years leading up to The Avengers. Those were the days. In recent years, they've been enigmatically proactive about grabbing release dates even before they were ready to announce the movies as we saw recently when they grabbed the coveted kick-off weekends both for 2016 and 2017 following their 2015 summer kick-off for Avengers 2. Sony is now doing the same thing for their Spider-Man movies without even having screenplays or directors in place.
9. There's Still That Awful Green Lantern Movie Out There… Do You Bring Ryan Reynolds Back or Does He Join Eric Bana and Edward Norton in the Superhero Unemployment Line?
This is probably one of the questions that Warner Bros. is going to have to ponder before they move forward with Justice League, because as a company, they may still be smarting from how poorly received their attempt at a Green Lantern movie was. Personally, I don't see them replacing Reynolds as quickly and wantonly as Marvel replaced Terrence Howard in Iron Man 2, nor do I think that's a role that necessarily needs to change actors as frequently as the Batman franchise did pre-Bale.
One Solution: Bite the bullet and bring back Ryan Reynolds. His casting wasn't the biggest problem with the Green Lantern movie and he's actually a good actor who could bring some much-needed chemistry and comic timing to a group dynamic. Let Reynolds know he's wanted and make an announcement so that when Reynolds is doing press for his next few movies he can keep fan excitement going rather than just using all his interview time to talk about Deadpool, another Marvel character.
Anyway, those are my personal thoughts on what Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment have to face ahead. I have a feeling that plenty of brighter minds at both companies have thought of many of these very things and hopefully they'll look at what Marvel Studios has been doing and start to commit and make some announcements so that the fans aren't kept in the dark for too long. Keeping fans and moviegoers excited is paramount to having a hit as we saw with Man of Steel, but having a successful Wonder Woman or Flash or Justice League movie is a tougher uphill battle that they should address sooner rather than later to avoid another Green Lantern movie.
http://www.superherohype.com/featur...es-a-dc-movie-universe-more-difficult?start=3
by Edward Douglas
yeah, ok.
