The increasing marginalisation of Superman in what we thought was his own franchise? Or the most exciting thing to happen since The Avengers teamed up?
Regardless of how you feel, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and at least Cyborg will be coming together to form the Justice League on film.
Warner Bros. president of worldwide production Greg Silverman has announced that Justice League will continue from 2016’s Batman vs. Superman (current title) and will be directed by the returning Zack Snyder. Whilst initial reports stated a release date of 2018, internet ‘scoop’ site Latino Review believes it will shoot back to back with BvS and release in 2017.
“It will be a further expansion of this universe,” said Mr. Silverman. “Superman vs. Batman will lead into Justice League.”. Note the title Silverman uses for the next film. The internet at large have put Batman first, so have we just heard the film’s official title?
DC are clearly bent on matching Marvel, whose on-screen universe already contains 9 films (with more announced) and a TV show (again with more announced). The continuing success of Arrow, and the announced Flash and Gotham shows further cements this.
Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy made big money whilst being critically lauded, yet DC’s other efforts have met with more mixed results. Green Lantern and Jonah Hex flopped, whilst last year’s Superman reboot Man of Steel performed well but received mix reviews. DC must be hoping that playing all their aces now, forgoing the world building that Marvel went through, will do the trick. They do start in a different position though, as whilst the general public didn’t know who Iron Man was before his first film, you’d be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t know who Batman and Superman are.
Time will tell if this is a good move or a rush job, but either way it is exciting to be seeing another cinematic universe grow.
For more details on DC’s other films and the full report, head over to The Wall Street Journal.
Batman vs. Superman is set for release on May 6th 2016 with Zack Snyder directing a cast that includes returning Man of Steel stars Henry Cavill (Superman), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Diane Lane (Martha Kent) and Laurence Fishburne (Perry White) alongside Ben Affleck (Argo) as Batman, Gal Gadot (Fast & Furious 6) as Wonder Woman, Ray Fisher as Cyborg, Jesse Eisenberg (Now You See Me) as Lex Luthor, Jeremy Irons (The Borgias) as Alfred Pennyworth and Holly Hunter (The Piano), Callan Mulvey (300: Rise of an Empire), and Tao Okamoto (The Wolverine) in as-yet-unrevealed roles.