A few weeks ago Warner Brothers announced they were going to forge ahead with a Justice League movie. The geek universe hasn't been the same. Debates have come out if this is a right move, if the proposed reboot of a franchise like Batman to fit into the Justice League movie will be good or bad.

It would be easy to dismiss this as fandom going crazy, and honestly my personal take on a Justice League movie, at the moment, would be similar to reasoning that came out about a year ago by a DC executive. He stated he doubted the possibility of a Justice League movie because when you stacked up the Avengers to Justice League, there was no comparison. The Avengers, for the most part, were human and they could fight alien invasions with the real possibility of getting killed. You have the makings of something you could put to the screen with an expensive but, in the terms of Hollywood, realistic budget. In the Justice League, you had in sense gods, or if you like icons. With Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman you have three characters who single handily could probably take care of any alien invasion. Add to that mix Green Lantern, The Martian Manhunter, The Flash and probably Aquaman and you have a team so powerful you would need something god-like in scope to even bring them together, which would cost a fortune.

Putting aside my geek hat for a moment, it makes sense for Warner Brothers to attempt a movie. The animated Justice League is well regarded, showing it is possible to bring the characters together. While many have questioned Marvel's gamble at making event films that will bleed into a larger event film with the Avengers, the gamble seems to have paid off. There might have been groans and some questionable looks at the film strategy, since the strategy is better suited for the comic book format than film, the excitement in the fan world as well as the mainstream world is growing.

As one article I read on the subject accurately pointed out, Marvel has had four years to built up the Avenger movie, with hints sprinkled throughout the Iron Man series and probably expanded a lot in the Thor and Captain America films. As the executive for Warners had to painfully explain, for the Justice League movie, Batman has to be rebooted so it can fit into the Justice League universe. Batman has been the money maker of late for DC comics characters in live action but the universe they constructed was definitely more realistic than one including Flash, Wonder Woman or Superman.

Justice League has a lot of catching up in casting. Marvel was lucky in getting actors hungry enough and willing to commit to this endeavor without seeing the full implications of the final stratagem. Sure, fans were a bit disappointed that Edward Norton wasn't playing the Hulk, but the same fans were disappointed when Norton got the role over Bana in the reboot. They still are getting solid actors for all of the parts and as complicated as the formula seemed to be four years ago, the gamble looks like it will pay off big by having guaranteed hit movies for a number of summers.

Any actor Warners negotiates with will know the potential of their particular franchise and will demand a lot of money. Further, the gamble Warners is making hinges on Green Lantern, not so much on Batman now that there is reboot talk. If Green Lantern turns out to be a success, then the Superman movie has to hit it out of the park for even the hope of Justice League working. The big thing in favor of the Justice League movie are the fans. If they turn, the project will be an expensive mess, but fans, despite our tendencies of overplaying our hand, are willing to embrace something if it taps into the elusive it. IT is the feeling you get when you see the things on screen you connect to as a geek because the people behind the scenes understand the geek. Treating Batman as a real world character is an it factor. You could have people complain about Joker not being the Joker of the comics, but seeing Heath Ledger's performance you knew they got what the Joker was all about.

So, with my producer's hat I think the JL movie will be risky but the potential for making a lot of money is too tempting not to try. As a fan, already leery of people who claim to be comic fans and obviously not, my heart aches for the possible mess to unfold the next few years.

 

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The JL Movie is On Again - April 04, 2011
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