I certainly hope those doomsaying Mayans got it wrong, and that we’re still kicking around on this blue marble in 2015. Warner Bros have finally set a broad date of US Summer (mid) 2015 for their own superhero-palooza, Justice League. Which just so happens to be around the same time as another superhero team up flick you may have heard of, The Avengers 2, gets released by the Marvellous competition.
So get as much cat videos and fail pics off the internet as you can over the next 3 years, I have a feeling it’s getting broken in half in 2015.
The news about the release date for Justice League comes just one day after Warner Bros finally won a lengthy and complex court case against the descendants of Superman co-creator Joe Schuster that has been going on for years. And as The LA Times reports, this case is also the reason why the Justice League movie has been stuck in limbo for so long. Essentially the case was about the rights to the famous character, with WB asserting that a 1992 agreement signed by Schuster’s sister Jean Peavy absolved her of any rights to Superman. And with their now being no doubt as to who actually owns the character, one whom is pretty central to the whole Justice League franchise, production can finally get under way in earnest.
WB had actually lost a similar case in 2008, to one of the heirs of the other Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel. The Siegel estate ended up with partial rights to the character, specifically such things as his costume and origin story, which is more than likely what prompted the character’s origin and appearance to be rebooted in the comics, just as it is being down now in the movie Man of Steel.
Also revealed in The LA Times‘s article is the fact that it appears that Warner Bros will definitely not be following the Avengers model of individual character movies all contributing towards and leading up to the Justice League movie, but rather that all solo efforts will be spinning out of this, post 2015. The sole exception of this could possibly be Henry Cavill’s Superman, who’s to be seen in Man of Steel. It’s still not confirmed that MoS will indeed tie into Justice League, but with so much emphasis being placed on the Superman ruling, it seems only likely.
What is definitely known though, is that by WB scheduling the film so close to Avengers 2, they’ve essentially just smacked Marvel through the face with a white satin glove and declared a duel. Batman already tried that once already this year and came up short, but maybe things will be different when he shows up with his super buddies for backup.
What do you guys think? Which super-team will come up tops?
Last Updated: October 19, 2012
Kenn
October 19, 2012 at 12:54
Unfortunately for DC they don’t have Hulk and Tony Stark.
DarthofZA
October 19, 2012 at 16:37
Infortunately for DC all they have is Batman and Superman… and the way the general public will see it is that Batman isn’t even been played by “Batman”.
Also, they have Aquaman, Martian Manhunter and Wonderwoman who are all either disliked or unknown by the general public, and Flash and Green Lantern don’t exactly have great movie reputations. This is a complete uphill battle for DC without even taking into consideration what Marvel are doing. I want this to succeed, but I just don’t see it touching Marvel as far as success goes.
Also, the Marvel fanboy in me is kinda happy with this 😛
James Francis
October 23, 2012 at 10:15
Both those characters were not worth much until Marvel started rotating them heavily in animated movies. DC has a lot of characters that it can build up using the same approach. Arrow is perhaps the first real stab at that – a way to lift the obscure Green Arrow character into the light. There are also much stronger B-list characters in the DC universe: The Spectre, Lobo, Sandman, The Outsiders…
Marvel fans have been getting big heads, but apart from a fairly strong A-list, it has less to offer than DC in terms of variety. And you are all pretty happy blowing Marvel’s horn while ignoring how its using movies to completely rewrite and redo the canons of comic characters. That’s like being a Da Vinci fan and watching someone touch up the Mona Lisa with spray paint.
Kervyn Cloete
October 23, 2012 at 11:38
I am definitely not a fan of movies informing their source comics. The latest thing to piss me off being Captain America’s costume suddenly looking exactly like the movie version with zero reason given as to why.
Wrt Marvel vs DC’s depth, I’d agree with you to a certain degree. DC’s B list is definitely more varied, but Marvel’s B list shines in one specific area: Their cosmic/sci-fi stuff which Guardians of the Galaxy will hopefully introduce successfully.
And speaking of GoG, I can’t tell you I’m stressing about that movie. Marvel has never had a complete fail yet for a movie. Most of even harshest critics will find something to enjoy in them. But GoG is going to be the hardest sell for the studio thus far, and if they don’t pull it off, my concern is that it will result in both Marvel and WB shutting the doors on my riskier properties. Specifically, I would absolutely kill for WBDC to do a New Gods epic, but if GoG can’t even pull it off, there’s no way in hell that would even get considered.
James Francis
October 23, 2012 at 13:34
Ask Green Lantern how audiences feel about cosmic/sci-fi stuff. Okay, it was also a bad movie, but still…
Kervyn Cloete
October 23, 2012 at 14:16
Yep, that’s exactly my fear. This could be the second, even bigger strike, and I have a feeling audiences and studios won’t stick around for a third.
James Francis
October 23, 2012 at 15:41
Not to mention that audience tastes keep shifting. One year the darkness of Batman was in vogue, then the quirky silliness of The Avengers won out.
Lourens Corleone
October 19, 2012 at 14:03
Marvel, for sure!
Lardus
October 19, 2012 at 14:04
Marvel will win this one, and if they can’t, they will Avenge it!
James Francis
October 22, 2012 at 11:24
At least we’ll have come full circle: two giant movies that were made off the backs of their creators without much money – at all – reaching them or their families. Marvel has never really paid Jack Kirby what he was owed and the Superman case is another example where the creators were left out cold.
Here’s more on the Superman fight:
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/superman-heir-pens-letter-fans-378793
Kervyn Cloete
October 22, 2012 at 12:57
Yeah it is a crying shame how both DC and Marvel treated these pioneers. The least they could have done was throw in tribute somewhere in the credits, but even that was too much.