What we know for sure: Zack Snyder has been handed the keys to Warner Brothers/DC’s superhero kingdom and will direct the Justice League movie. I thought maybe that Ben Affleck playing Batman was a bride price to get him to direct the Justice League, but that dream is dashed (though he would’ve done a great job with it). The roster will include at the least: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and the newly-cast Cyborg (his parents experiment on him and turn him into a cyborg).
What we know, maybe: Some combination of other founding League members Green Lantern, The Flash and Aquaman will be in the movie. Ryan Reynolds may or may not still be Green Lantern. That movie was a big enough disaster that everyone’s okay ignoring it/recasting the role. The Flash is actually getting his own CW show but it’s still not clear if WB is separating their movie and TV continuities. And I can’t wait to see the casting fight that breaks out over who gets to play f*cking AQUAMAN. (Maybe Matt Damon? HAHAHAHA)
Also in the maybe camp: The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit states that Justice League will film back-to-back with Superman vs. Batman, targeting a 2017 release. The size/length of the production they’re gearing up for in Chicago and Detroit supports this.
Stuff we don’t know at all: Who is writing it? Batman vs. Superman had a bit of a writer’s tussle as Christopher Nolan acolyte David Goyer was dismissed in favor of Affleck’s Argo collaborator, Chris Terrio. But no word on who is writing Justice League. Honestly, at this point, this will determine more about the movie than the director. Is it too much to ask that Affleck contribute to the script? I’m way more interested in a superhero made by Affleck than I am in one starring Affleck, but I’ll take it in trade if I have to.
What it all means: We’re diving into the team-up before we flesh out the team. I don’t think you have to follow Marvel’s model of doing multiple individual origin stories before getting to the main event, but we don’t know ANYONE in the Justice League. We got halfway there with Superman, and that’s the best we’ve got. It puts a huge burden on Batman vs. Superman—we only have one film in which to establish all these new characters and make an audience care enough about them to invest in an even bigger team-up movie.
And I’m not sure if Zack Snyder is the right one to do this. He’s a director with no subtlety, some would suggest he’s prone to indulging in rape fantasies, and he’s more taken with his visuals than his story or characters. But Watchmen was kind of cool! Sure, when it wasn’t sucking and/or indulging in rape fantasies. And I recently downgraded Man of Steel after an unfortunate re-watch, largely for inconsistent characterization and face-punch-obvious imagery. Justice League will be a spectacle. It will make eleventy billion dollars. But I worry it won’t be good. I worry that anyone involved really cares about making it good, so much as just…making it.
