So yeah Man Of Steel comes out tomorrow and everyone is talking about whether or not this will lead to a Justice League movie that has been in development hell forever. Now, I like most of our readers would kill to see the Justice League up on the big screen duking it out with Darkseid or the Legion of Doom, but the more I think about it, the more I don’t think it is really possible. This is not because of something like “the movie would be past its prime” or that the movie would not do well. I have come to the conclusion that the line-up of heroes Warner Brothers would choose to go up on the screen would ultimately alienate the audience.
I know, this sounds crazy! Who doesn’t want to see Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, and the rest on the screen together? But that line up has one inherent problem: there would be no “human” character. Level with me. Who out of the prospective Justice League line-up would give the audience a realistic connection? Superman and Martian Manhunter are aliens and Aquaman might as well be, Wonder Woman is basically a goddess, Green Lantern left a rather sour taste in the audience’s collective mouth last time he was on screen, and Batman is hardly relatable. That leaves you with Flash, but he’s still just as superpowered as the rest. The Avengers had a lot going for it, but most of all there were actual humans on the team during the final confrontation. Black Widow and Hawkeye may not have had the largest roles in the, but they still played a large factor in the overall narrative. They gave the audience someone they could relate on the screen who was not a god or super soldier. These two characters grounded us in a sense of absurd realism.
Like I said, let’s look at the prospective team that could be put on screen: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and possibly Martian Manhunter. That is a very solid and exciting line-up, but who could they pit against them that could provide an adequate reason for all of these characters to team up? Darkseid and Vandal Savage would be the obvious choices due to their strength and intellect, but after that it is up in the air. Warner Brothers could not really do a Legion of Doom; that is just too many actors and would increase the budget of the film exponentially, not to mention overcrowding the film and diminishing the amount of screen time they could dedicate to the heroes.
Another factor in my opinion is that most of the options for League members lack that human element that we see in Marvel heroes. Marvel spent multiple films creating empathy and making sure even the most far out of their characters have a strong element of pathos for the audience to connect to. You can’t just throw characters on screen and expect them to act human, and out of the bunch there really would be a lack of levity in the movie. Batman and Superman are not going to be making jokes when Darkseid is raining hell on earth. If we’re lucky, Barry or Hal would have some amount of humor, but looking at recent history it’s not likely. There really needs to be some amount of levity in this world if we are going to want to keep revisiting it.
Justice League would be interesting to see come together if possible, and I would love to get maybe a one-off film. I believe, in the case of DC at least, that these film characters are best left separate or in team ups of two or three heroes, Worlds Finest is possible. Justice League, in my humble opinion is just not possible.
What do you think of the Justice League characters?
Goyer stated on Tuesday MoS sequel is confirmed as well as JL. Annnnnd…rumor has it Martian Manhunter will make an appearance in Man of Steel…muhahahaha. I saw a pic of an actor in a CGI suit that closely resembled Jon Jonzz