Comic book fans can be such . . . fans sometimes it can be a shame to comment about it because you can find yourself deep in the geek woods, but a little debate has been brewing because of a recent statement. As some of you may know, Marvel and DC comics are the big boys of the comic book world, and both of these companies are owned by major players in the branding . . . oh I’m sorry, in the entertainment industry. Marvel is owned by Disney and DC is owned by Warner Brothers. It seems both companies are trying to reform their comic book companies under the same model. Both DC and Marvel have divisions with their top creative talent that are tasked with finding avenues for branding their line, be it in movies, TV, print or merchandise.

The big jewel in the crown in film and this battle has always been a back and forth between the companies even before the acquisition by the major companies. While DC has had success of late with a revamped Batman, Marvel has an ambitious project in the making. Starting with Iron Man, which was a huge hit for the company, the next string of films for the company will interlock and when done will end with The Avengers movie, which will bring together Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Captain America and other characters. Each film will have some element relating to the mega movie Avengers. Earlier, DC has hoped to bring its own superhero team, the JLA, to the screen. That has not met with big success since only Batman has been an unqualified hit and the recent reboot of Superman was less than satisfying. With the soon to be released Green Lantern and the announcement that Superman would return to the screen again under the direction of Zach Snyder, speculation has run high in the fan community that the long dreamed of JLA movie would appear.

Geoff Johns, DC’s chief creative officer, was speaking to a crowd at the recent NY City Comic-Con and gave a double punch of reality to the fans, which has caused the current fan debate. Not only did he rule out the possibility of a live action JLA movie but he stated the reasoning as follows:

"I'm going to speak frankly: I think our characters are bigger than Marvel's," said Johns, adding that the company had chosen to spend its time building each character rather than "smashing them together."

The fan sites have has a field day and fingers have been pounding away at keyboards either justifying or denouncing the comment. While I can understand the frustration some fans may have about the statement, the comment is right on so many levels. As a fan I would love to see a huge movie like the JLA, but if you consider the core group of the JLA, which is Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, and the Martian Manhunter you are looking at a film that would have to cost close to AVATAR numbers if not more.

Here’s the breakdown, take the Avengers line up with Captain America, Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, Hawkeye and Black Widow, you have a very down to earth team. Yes, Thor and Hulk would be the big gun super strong heroes, ensuring much destruction and mayhem, but to be honest I could see that team going up against the old GI Joe foes COBRA. The Avengers can go up against international terrorist with super weapons maybe against an alien invasion they could go toe to toe but that would be it on the conflict scene. That, for a film producer, is a cost life saver.

Look at it another way; SMALLVILLE is introduction arguably one of Superman’s greatest foes in Darkseid. Is Darkseid the ruler of a planet with billions in his army to call forth? Is Darkseid the massive mountain of rock with malevolent eyes? No, because it is on a TV budget, Darkseid is a cloud that possesses people. It reminds me of the second Fantastic Four movie when Galactus, the devourer of worlds, was reduced to a cloud. Darkseid has had a field day in animation, and the battles turned up there with the JLA have been epic. That is something that would cost possibly billions if you tried to make it live action.

So Johns, even with an arrogance in his voice, was correct when you look at the roster of the JLA against the roster of The Avengers. The powers, abilities and foes are vastly different for the teams and an Avengers movie will have more down to earth crisis that what you would have in a JLA movie, just because of the nature of the powers of the characters.

 

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Avengers VS JLA - October 11, 2010
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