Though news surfaced over the weekend that Ben Affleck would not be directing Justice League for Warner Bros, word on the street is that The Matrix directing duo Andy and lana Wachowski are also in the running for the job. Clearly the studio is serious about getting the DC Comics' superhero ensemble off the ground, but with the project as a priority, fans have been wondering how individual films for the team that would include Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Wonder Woman and more would play out beforehand or afterwards. Now we might have our answer, at least in the case of The Dark Knight.
Batman on Film has learned that a new Batman will be introduced in Justice League, and a stand alone film featuring the new Caped Crusader won't come until afterwards. That's in line with what we heard back in March of 2011 when Warner Bros. new president Jeff Robinov said that Batman would have to be rebooted for Justice League. Of course, at the time, it was also believed that Christopher Nolan and his wife and producing partner Emma Thomas would be involved, but that doesn't seem to be the case anymore. Honestly, if Justice League is happening this quickly, this seems like the only way it could be done.
However, it would be interesting to see if Warner Bros. would try to fit in the new Batman angle with Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Stop reading if you don't want *spoilers*, but I'm wondering if the studio has any plans to try and get Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who assumes the Batman mantle at the end of The Dark Knight Rises, to take on the role in Justice League. It's unlikely, but it's a fun thought. Either way, this talk of a Batman reboot should be taken with a grain of salt for now as we don't know what the studio plans on doing.
Anyway, the bigger question is how Warner Bros. thinks they can pull this off with the rest of the superhero team. First of all, we're not sure if Zack Snyder's Man of Steel is supposed to be linked to Justice League or not. In addition, there's been talk of whether or not Green Lantern needs to be rebooted, or if Ryan Reynolds version will stay active for the superhero team. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman, The Flash and whoever else gets included on the team don't have their own movies yet either. That's a lot of superheroes to bring to the big screen for the first time without having an audience already invested in them by way of Marvel's five-film lead-up to The Avengers.
Personally, I think this planning sounds hasty and a little too driven by greed. Marvel had their cinematic universe in the works for years before it actually came together, and Warner Bros and DC seem to think they can pull it off with less effort and time. We don't really know what's happening behind the scenes, but this all seems to be happening really quickly. Will audiences been keen on a new Batman so quickly? Can a superhero team be successful without a series of films leading up to a grand sort of finale bringing them altogether? I guess we'll find out over the next couple years. What do you think?
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