Warner Bros. Plot 2013 Shoot, 2015 Release For 'Justice League'; Will Spinoff New Character Movies From The Film

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by Kevin Jagernauth
October 18, 2012 3:49 PM
5 Comments

Get out your speculation machine, prepare the shortlists because as "Justice League" from Warner Bros. inches closer and closer, every scrap and morsel will be examined and pontificated over until the movie is actually in theaters. Even though we already sorta knew this, the studio is putting together some plans to bring the superhero team-up movie to the big screen.

The LA Times reports that following WB's legal win over some of the rights to Superman with the heirs of co-creator Joe Shuster (it's complicated, read about it here) they are pressing ahead with the movie that will see the Man Of Steel team with Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern and god knows who else they decide to thrown in. As you know, the movie already has a script via Will Beall ("Gangster Squad") that was commissioned over a year ago. The plan now is to find a director and cast, shoot some time in 2013 and prepare it for a 2015 release....when "The Avengers 2" will also be hitting multiplexes, of course.

As everyone knows, WB is sitting on a host of DC Comic characters they can make use of, but they haven't been helped in exploiting the catalog with failures like "Green Lantern" and just a general molasses approach to development. But the plan here is the reverse of Marvel, with "Justice League" to serve as the launched for standalone character movies. It's a dicey prospect, but perhaps no less dicey that creating a big all-encompassing movie universe with a series of character movies, that lead into one team-up. Each have their pros/cons.

So a little bit of geek joy for the day. Much more to come soon, we're sure.

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More: Warner Bros. , Justice League

5 Comments

| Reply
Brandon | November 30, 2012 8:52 AMReply

This movie will be 3 hours long with all the exposition it will
take to explain who these characters are. Unless they do it
in a Ben Stiller Mystery Men kinda way... which will only cheapen the franchise and piss off millions of comic book geeks.
Lord Boofhead | October 22, 2012 12:38 PMReply

"and god knows who else they decide to thrown in"

Maybe ,I don't know, Aquaman and the Martian Man Hunter who are in the picture you started the article with?

Plus you can't have the JL with out J'onn J'onzz, he was one of the main founders....
Ugh | October 19, 2012 3:46 PMReply

Sadly I assume this will be the end of serious standalone Batman films. At least for the next 20 years. If Warner Brothers is putting Batman into a cinematic universe that he shares with Superman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman & other cosmic characters he's no longer going to be able to deal with down to Earth problems regarding his enemies (well... as down to Earth as Fear Gas Swarms & Nukes can be).
Oh well...
Alphabet | October 18, 2012 11:59 PMReply

It does seem like jumping the gun somewhat, but cast it right and maybe they've got a shot.

Personally I keep thinking of Michael Fassbender for Batman, can't imagine anyone more fitting or capable, and thus risk serious disappointment if/when they finally reveal the (upper-B-list?) cast...
Daniel | October 18, 2012 8:22 PMReply

It just seems like a lot to cram into one movie. Assuming there are five (or s0) heroes to deal with, how much screen time do you spend setting up/explaining who each one is before the inevitable threat-to-the-world-that-requires-them-all-to-join-forces plot kicks in? Even "The Avengers" had some degree of explaining to do, and those characters had all appeared in other movies. Maybe you can skate over explaining who Superman and Batman are, but how the hell do you cram in explanations of Aquaman (ruler of an underwater kingdom?) Wonder Woman (amazon from a magical island?), the Flash (guy who can run fast because he got hit by lightning?) for the uninitiated , that are both plausible and succinct, while maintaining a cohesive narrative? If they can pull it off, I'll tip my hat to them. But it seems pretty bonkers to me.