Justice League 1 had previously been announced as their 2015 picture, but Snyder and Henry Cavill have been quoted as saying it would be a bad idea to follow Man of Steel 1 with a team movie. Snyder even said it would be like making an Avengers movie immediately after Iron Man 1. If he's making that comparison, can we assume Warner Bros might just do the Marvel movie plan of individual solo movies followed by the team movie? They had said before that (with the exception of Man of Steel) their plan was to do a reverse Marvel and make Justice League: The Movie first, and then spin off into individual hero adventures. This is a dumb plan and I do hope this news of a fast-tracked Man of Steel: Part II is a sign that they're just gonna copy Marvel.
Being five years behind Marvel is not a bad thing-- it's a GREAT thing. They have a unique opportunity to learn from what Marvel does right as well as what they do wrong. Making independent hero titles before the big crossover event was a good idea. But teasing the living shit out of the shared universe for five movies over four years was a bad idea. Iron Man 2, a somewhat underwhelming fast-tracked sequel that was made in two years instead of three, felt like a prolongued Avengers trailer when it came out. If Warner Bros can avoid this pitfall, there's nothing stopping the DC movies from being even better than the Marvel movies.
Maybe Warner Bros is afraid of people saying they're just copycats of the Marvels. To this, I cannot emphatically enough say-- who gives a shit? It doesn't matter who does it first, only who does it best. You know how Stan Lee and Jack Kirby got the idea to combine all their heroes into an Avengers comic book? THEY COPIED ANOTHER SUCCESSFUL BOOK CALLED JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA.
I anticipate Christopher Nolan's involvement is going to get smaller and smaller, so I hope they don't forget his winning approach. And I don't mean make a Nolan ripoff movie like Skyfall. I mean keep it simple. Don't go from a movie where one man is struggling with the fact that he's the last son of Krypton to a sequel where he's friends with a Martian, a Themysceran, a Thanagarian, an Atlantean, a lightning man, and a man with magic space rings.
Take baby steps. The first Justice League movie doesn't even need to have a huge roster. There's only one character you need besides Superman, and that's Wonder Woman. That's it, and that's only because you need a strong female. Everyone else falls under the category of nice, but not essential. If there had to be three, the third most important is Batman (S, WW, and B are considered "the big three"), but I think Warner Bros wants to let Batman breathe for a sec, so his immediate participation is not even for sure.
I'll give you the rest schoolyard pick'em style.
After the big three, you would want J'onn J'onzz (aka Martian Manhunter) because he's always been the best guy to have in the Justice League. He has awesome powers (shapeshifting, invisibility/intangibility, superstrength, flight, and fucking telepathy), and he just hangs around the JL Watchtower all day because he's the last remaining Green Martian and he's sad about his dead family and stuff. Also, he has no context for Earth society, so he morphs into a human detective and tries really hard to assimilate, but he doesn't get a lot of stuff and so you have a lot of opportunities for comedy. After him, I would go for Flash because he's a human with speed powers, so he's the closest thing to Batman for keeping the roster as grounded in reality as possible.
After that, I guess I'd go with Hawkgirl, Supergirl, Power Girl, Stargirl, Batgirl, or Huntress (so you get more girls in there). Then I'd go for a Green Lantern. In past days, he would've been higher on my list, but he's still on penalty for that shitty movie. I guess the logical GL would be Hal Jordan, because he's the current comic book Lantern and they like to keep that shit consistent, but for the sake of diversity, they could always go with African-American Green Lantern John Stewart, who was always great on the cartoon. Oh, and speaking of diversity, we're probably gonna get Cyborg in there. I don't mean that as a threat, just a likely fact. They bumped him up to the Justice League from the Teen Titans in the New 52. Cyborg is a black teenager with robot parts, and I'm just saying this is probably a thing you're gonna have to deal with in less than ten years.
I also fear they'll try to give us Aquaman. I don't dislike him, but I don't need him. Let's lose the dead weight, okay? Especially in the founding roster. Also, no Plastic Man or Elongated Man. No one stretchy.
That's basically the regular players, but I wouldn't be opposed to calling up some characters from the minors, like they did with Cyborg. B-listers like Green Arrow, although the last thing I'd want is for him to become the "Hawkeye" of the Justice League. Like, the loser that everyone hates. I would say Blue Beetle, but they probably wouldn't use my favorite (Ted Kord) because they'd want to go for the new Latino Blue Beetle Jaime Reyes. And I don't shrink from him because he's Latino. I just really dig the whole Ted Kord thing.
There's a shit ton of great second stringers like that. I like Booster Gold, but his origin (time-travelling football player abusing future tech to make himself a beloved superhero) might be too much. If Warner Bros plays their cards right, they will never run out of cool characters to put in. I would be very happy with someone like Crimson Avenger or The Question. Like, just one guy in a trench coat, please.
So that's my thoughts on a universe of limitless DC superhero solo and teamup movies. I hope they take their time and keep it simple, because the universe is going to get bigger over time no matter what. If anything, Marvel is going too fast. They're not gonna have room for all their characters pretty soon. They're sprinting, and what DC needs to do is sashay. But, first things first.
I hope Man of Steel is good.
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