Bad Idea Alert: Why a 'Justice League' movie should NOT be made

Posted Thursday, June 7, 2012 at 4:52 PM Central
Last updated Thursday, June 7, 2012 at 4:55 PM Central

by John Couture

With the staggering success of The Avengers at the box office, yesterday's news that Warner Bros. has hired Gangster Squad writer Will Beall to pen a Justice League of America script isn't all too shocking. What is surprising however, is the assumption by WB that simply throwing a bunch of superheroes into a movie will equate into Avengers level success.

Can it possibly work? Sure. Will it? Not unless WB is willing to change its entire release strategy mid-stream.

And before you label me as a pro-Marvel plant simply spewing hatred at all things DC, you should know that I'm not a comic book guy. This means that I'm not clouded by decades of influence from one side or the other.

While some might argue that this fact immediately disqualifies me from being able to offer any sort of insight into this debate, I would argue that it makes me uniquely qualified to weigh in and give an unbiased opinion. Furthermore, as a "movie comics geek" - i.e. one who has gathered all of his comic book knowledge from movies - I would think that my opinion should be given extra weight because let's face it, if you want JLA to work, you'll need us aboard.

First, let's talk about what worked for The Avengers and why it's breaking box office records while you read this.

The Long Con

Marvel made a specific and coordinated effort between different Hollywood studios to build a brand that was The Avengers, before there were even whispers about an Avengers movie. Over the course of five movies released since 2008, you can tell (at least in hindsight) just how serious Marvel was about selling The Avengers.

While some don't include The Incredible Hulk in the "Avengers canon" because it didn't feature a cameo from Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, I think it's pretty obvious that Marvel was already putting little bread crumbs out there.

In fact, even Robert Downey, Jr. turned up in a cameo in The Incredible Hulk as Tony Stark. But, that's not the only bread crumb that Marvel placed in that movie. Check out this awesome compilation that I found on YouTube.

So, I think it's safe to say that these five movies were released in quick succession to help build awareness and buzz for the eventual Avengers film:

Iron Man (2008) The Incredible Hulk (2008) Iron Man 2 (2010) Thor (2011) Captain America (2011)

Starting with Iron Man as I said above, Samuel L. Jackson appeared in each film and served as the conduit that built momentum with each successive film. Why is this important? Well, for one it added continuity to a series of films and helped to introduce Nick Fury to the non comic book geek audience.

If you announced in 2007 that an Avengers movie was coming out later in 2007, the comic book geeks would rejoice and show up sight unseen. But, most of the general public wouldn't have batted an eye at it, let alone give up two hours of their time to watch a comic book movie.

That changed in 2008 when Iron Man completely changed the landscape. Later that same year, Christopher Nolan unleashed The Dark Knight onto mostly unsuspecting audiences and literally overnight, we, the movie comics geeks, were hooked as well.

We didn't know the difference between DC and Marvel. We simply enjoyed great films and with the Spider-Man films earlier that decade, we were hip that comic book movies could exist as wholly separate entities from the books upon which they are based.

Personally, all I knew about the differences between the two leading comic book brands was that one of their universes were set in real places we were familiar with on Earth such as New York and the other preferred made up places like Metropolis and Gotham.

Weaving characters like Hawkeye and Black Widow (even Agent Colson) through these proceeding films allowed us noobs to follow along and stay interested in the overall story arc. Think of all six films as one long serial and you can see that all they really did was recreate the Star Wars approach with superheroes instead of lightsabers.

By the time The Avengers hit theaters this year, we were salivating to complete the story. The fact that they brought in the man, the myth, the legend Joss Whedon to take us home was only icing on the cake.

Joss Whedon

While a certain amount of The Avengers' success can be chalked up to simply being the sixth movie in a long series of films, we shouldn't overlook just how much of this success is due to director and co-writer Joss Whedon.

If there's a current name in geek culture that wields more power than Joss, I don't think I know who that could be. Greater than even Peter Jackson in his Lord of the Rings heyday or Kevin Smith in his post-Clerks glow, the name that is Joss is higher than any other.

For a certain demographic, the man can do no wrong. He could brutally murder and decapitate a prostitute on live TV and then run through the streets of L.A. snorting a kilo of cocaine and I'm pretty sure most people would say, "oh that crazy Joss, what a hoot."

Naturally, I'm not advocating murder or drug use, but if ever there was a person fit to inherit the "Teflon Don" moniker, Joss would be that guy. After a successful series of hits on TV, the man with the golden touch decided to get into movies.

One of the biggest reasons that The Avengers works is that Joss didn't come into the film wanting to follow the path blazed by those before him. No, he decided to make a Joss Whedon superhero movie.

His trademark humor and storytelling oozes out of the film at every turn and I'm convinced that this perspective kept the film fresh while still completing the story. But let's keep it real, shall we?

Real Stakes

Obviously this shouldn't be seen as a dig against DC, but I think that one thing Marvel has going for it, especially in The Avengers, is the familiarity of the scenery. You can claim suspension of disbelief all that you want, but when you see New York City get torched by a fallen God and a bunch of aliens, it really hits home.

I think that's one of the reasons that Independence Day was so successful way back when. Shit got real when the aliens blew up the White House.

And yes, I know that comic books are supposed to be set in a different world or universe and that's the only reason that mutants, or aliens, or gamma ray abominations can exist, but still there's an innate human condition that sympathizes with the familiar. Do you know which scene of Superman II had the biggest resonance with me? This one.

The fact that Niagara Falls really exists and that I had been there instantly connected me with Superman.

Of course, you don't have to take my word for it, just look at what Christopher Nolan has done for the Batman films. By making the films grittier and more real, he has allowed us to connect with Batman on a much more intimate level than ever before, despite still setting the movie in Gotham.

It's a fine line to toe between making a movie that feels like a comic book movie while not alienating those of us who aren't diehard comic book fans. Marvel has done that beautifully with this series of six films and they are being handsomely rewarded at the box office because of it.

The biggest problem facing a potential Justice League of America movie is that it looks as though they are just going to drop the movie on us out of nowhere. Marvel spent five plus years and five movies to set up their Avengers film.

In the Marvel universe, we got used to seeing other characters pop up in other movies in the franchise. Batman and Superman have never shared the screen or even hinted that they know of each other, so there will be an initial disconnect seeing them onscreen for the first time.

Also, let's face it the Green Lantern film was a disgrace. The only Wonder Woman that audiences will remember is the one played by Lynda Carter. And no one knows what to expect from seeing The Flash on the big screen.

Not to mention that all of these properties have their own distinctive styles that don't really mesh all that well with one another. Can you see The Dark Knight trading jokes with Hal Jordan?

Finally, I don't know if this is true (again only a movie comics geek here) but it seems that all of the members of the JLA have a secret identity while The Avengers are out and proud as it were. Trying to incorporate not only their true identities but also each JLA member's alter ego will get pretty confusing pretty fast for non comic book geeks.

Saying this, do I think a JLA movie would bomb? Of course not. Heck, even as a casual fan I'd be interested to see it simply as a new fan of the genre. I think many of the non comic book geeks that watched The Avengers would also give it a shot.

But the real money for Warner Bros. comes from the sequels and spinoffs. If JLA is a financial failure, you can kiss all of that goodbye. So the question remains, can Warner Bros. put the cart before the horse and still win the race?

I'm skeptical naturally, but if WB were to be patient and set up a few films before JLA to introduce some characters and set the mood, find the right guy to run the franchise that will bring clout to the project and make the stakes something that even the casual fan has to take stock of, then yes I think JLA could be every bit as successful as The Avengers.

Sadly though, WB's track record with the DC properties doesn't give me much hope. What do you think?