Damon Lindelof (Prometheus, Star Trek Into Darkness) has offered some advice to Warner Bros. about their planned Justice League movie, which will tie together their superhero properties of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc – just like Marvel did with The Avengers / Avengers Assemble.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Lindelof was asked whether he would help WB solve their ‘Justice League problem’ if they called. He deflected the question with his superpower of Suggestion Shield…
“I think a lot of that depends on Man of Steel. The Justice League problem is not a problem of, who is the bad guy that Wonder Woman and Green Lantern, Superman, whoever you decide to pit them against. The problem is: What’s the tone of that movie? They’ve been struggling with launching their own tone. The tone of Green Lantern is very different from the tone of The Dark Knight. They clearly inhabit two entirely different worlds. You want to feel like someone is establishing a world where the Justice League can exist, maybe Man of Steel is that movie. If Man of Steel works, and it’s great, I think it starts to make sense where Paradise Island* is in that world. Because that’s an entirely different world than the one Christopher Nolan introduced.“
Lindelof seems to be saying that Batman is the square peg. Particularly with Nolan’s interpretation of the character, it’s hard to imagine Batman inhabiting the same Universe as ‘real’ superheroes like Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Aquaman and The Flash. Like he said, it’s all about nailing that tone. The IMDb currently has the Justice League movie down for a June 2015 release.
And while he was on tone, Lindelof had the following to say about Man of Steel being rated PG-13 in the States…
“It should be PG. In the spirit of not throwing stones from the glass house in which one resides, the same should be said of Star Trek. The limitation between PG and PG-13, particularly as it pertains to violence — there’s no sex in Star Trek; there are a couple of “s-words,” but only because we already knew we were going to get PG-13. They are easily excisable. I always loved that moment in Temple of Doom when Indy says, “Shit.” Because that’s exactly what he would say. You don’t use it to be gratuitous, but it’s what a character would say in that moment. Donner’s Superman is a very adult movie. It doesn’t feel like it’s being whitewashed or watered down in any way. It feels real, cool, fun, escapist and upbeat. The larger thing for Man of Steel, is like, “Yes, we all are consuming darker stories.” Again, glass house. But it’s like, “Is there any way we can get the word dark in it?”
Man of Steel is based on a story by David S. Goyer (Batman Begins) and Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight Rises) and sees Henry Cavill (Immortals) leading the cast as the Last Son of Krypton. Joining him are Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire) as General Zod, Amy Adams (The Fighter) as Lois Lane, Russell Crowe (Les Miserables) as Jor-El, Kevin Costner (Hatfields & McCoys) as Jonathan Kent, Diane Lane (Secretariat) as Martha Kent, Laurence Fishburne (Contagion) as Perry White, Ayelet Zurer (Angels & Demons) as Lara Lor-Van and Antje Traue (Pandorum) as Faora.
Man of Steel hits cinemas on June 14th.
*Wonder Woman’s home.
Originally published May 16, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
