How to Make the Justice League of America Movie a Success

Barely a month after I predicted that the success of The Avengers would revive and kick plans into high gear for a Justice League of America movie, Warner Brothers announced Will Beall (of the upcoming Monster Squad and Logan's Run remake) as screenwriter of the JLA script.

Great news for fans of the DC universe, who have been wondering for years why the likes of great, beloved DC heroes (i.e., Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter), all of whom have rich histories to draw from,  have never really even come close to making it to the big screen. But while the JLA movie now seems to be on track and in pre-production (Beall was reportedly brought in some time in 2011) there are still three major hurdles that need to be cleared to ensure the Justice League of America movie is a success. In the order that they need to be addressed, those three things are 1) reconciling the franchises 2) introducing the characters, and 3) building anticipation.

One of the main reasons The Avengers has been so immensely successful is because Marvel stuck to the formula of a carefully planned production with a slow build. Beginning with the first Hulk movie (and well before The Avengers was ever seriously considered) the Marvel films effectively introduced the characters who would later join forces as the Avengers, established backstories, teased audiences, and got us all emotionally invested in the individual heroes and franchises (The Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America.) Onscreen, storylines in the individual films foreshadowed the coming together of these characters via the "Avengers Initiative", while behind the scenes in the real world, all the lead actors were being signed on. Thor's Christopher Hemsworth and Jeremy Renner, and Captain America's Chris Evans, were locked in to The Avengers early, as was Robert Downey Jr., whose Iron Man deal reportedly earns him up to 7 percent of the revenue in any film in which he plays that character. Additionally, the creative teams for each of the individual Marvel films were put in place early on. There was collaboration among these teams; storylines were carefully weaved together; resulting in The Avengers coming off as a logical next step that movie audiences knew years ahead of time was coming down the pipe.

The JLA movie, unfortunately, has none of this going for it. Despite the fact that the film has been gestating in Hollywood for nearly a decade -- George (Mad Max) Miller was set to direct at one point -- Warner Brothers' announcement this week comes off as nothing short of... well I'll just say it... reactionary.

If the JLA movie becomes the mega-picture it should be, it won't be because it followed The Avengers' blueprint. For one,  half of the core JLA lineup (Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Martian Manhunter) hasn't even been featured in their own individual movies, or otherwise introduced to contemporary audiences. It's troubling that instead of focusing on the JLA members (the most popular and interesting heroes in the DC universe) over the past 30 years, we've  inexplicably seen lesser (and in some cases, downright obscure) DC characters like Jonah Hex, Catwoman, Steel, Supergirl, and even Swamp Thing make it to the big screen.

Making matters worse is the fact that the JLA members that have been featured in movies (Superman, Green Lantern, and Batman) have done so in very self-contained franchises that have no connection to each other. Dark Knight trilogy director Christopher Nolan has gone on record stating that this summer's The Dark Knight Rises will be the last in the series and (in spite of the fact that Warner Brothers has extended an offer) he has no interest in directing a JLA feature. Pre-Avengers, there were plans for a Batman reboot (with Nolan reportedly producing) but things have likely changed now. Nolan has been clear in stating that he actually prefers to keep any and all of his Batman films independent of the rest of the DC universe, but at this point, any Batman reboot absolutely must support the JLA movie and the rest of the DC cinematic universe.

Warner Brothers also missed a golden opportunity with last summer's Green Lantern to tease both a JLA movie and the upcoming Man of Steel (Superman) feature. When studio execs should have been thinking long-term and doing what they could to at least hint at the formation or existence of the JLA, the GL movie was produced in a vacuum; no one was thinking big picture (no pun intended) and a chance to create audience anticipation was lost.

What this all means is that the JLA movie is pretty much starting from ground zero. So the only logical move at this point is for Warner Brothers to make the best of what it's got -- the Green Lantern franchise and Man of Steel -- and simply proceed from there. The extended game plan could proceed thusly:

With a creative team that includes producer Nolan, screenwriter David S. Goyer (Blade, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight) and director Zack Snyder (Watchmen), all signs point to Man of Steel being a can't miss hit. But there's still more than a year before the film is scheduled to hit theaters. Warner Brothers could use that time to shoot a short epilogue to be placed after the closing credits of Man of Steel (similar to the "recruitment" scenes we saw at the end of Captain America, The Incredible Hulk, and the other Marvel films.) A scene like this placed at the conclusion of Man of Steel could see Superman perhaps "checking in" at the JLA satellite, or alternatively, seeking out Green Lantern or one of the other heroes to discuss forming the JLA. Not only could this serve as the launching pad for the JLA film, but it would also make a lot of sense when you consider that Superman is certainly one of the cornerstones of the Justice League.

The next logical move would be to get a Green Lantern sequel into production. Admittedly, the original underperformed, but the pluses of a second GL film outweigh the negatives. For one, Green Lantern is best buds with Barry Allen, making the introduction and spin-off of the Flash character a possibility. As a bonus, should they prefer someone other than Ryan Reynolds to play the title character in the GL sequel (and the subsequent JLA movie) or if in fact they decided to go with a GL reboot instead of a sequel, Warner Brothers already has a means to smoothly accomplish this already built into DC Comics canon. Reynolds' Hal Jordan character could be replaced (as he was in the comics) by the Kyle Rayner Green Lantern, thus providing a seamless way to recast GL with a newer and/or more popular actor. This would then create the opportunity to bring Hal Jordan back (perhaps in the JLA movie) reincarnated as the Spectre. (And once again, this would all be 100% DC canon.)

But of course none of this solves the fundamental problem of getting the remaining JLA characters introduced. Not that some haven't tried. Goyer completed a script for the Flash years ago and fought hard to get it into into production. Now, however, any Flash movie seems more likely to come from Green Lantern writer Greg Berlanti. A Wonder Woman film, despite tons of rumors about Megan Fox starring in the title role, also seems a long ways off (even the updated TV series got shelved) and by all estimations is somewhere in the vague "in development" stage. Aquaman, meanwhile, is also still MIA on the big screen. A movie, reportedly attached to Leonardo DiCaprio's production company, has been rumored -- but for 2015 at the earliest.

The upshot, unfortunately, is that in the wake of the record-breaking box office receipts The Avengers has netted, Warner Brothers will likely forgo a logical, intelligent and anticipation-building film-by-film progression and instead dive headfirst into their JLA movie. Blowing their wad all at once like this seems not only risky, but short-sighted. Even if the JLA movie is a full-on blockbuster, where do you go from there? Could you start to spin off the individual characters into their own films one at a time?... I suppose, but how well would movie fans receive that?

Sadly, DC and Warner Brothers seem to be drooling at the billions The Avengers is raking in and in their mad chase after those kinds of dollars, they're rushing a JLA movie into production far too early.

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