In news that should come as no surprise whatsoever to anyone familiar with the box-office figures for Marvel’s The Avengers, Warner Bros. are said to be pressing ahead with plans for their own team-up, The Justice League, with screenwriter Will Beall (Gangster Squad) busy developing a script to bring DC’s stable of superheroes together on screen. According to Variety, Beall was appointed as screenwriter last year and is yet to complete his script, so it would seem there’s still quite some way to go before the project becomes a reality.
WB has been keen to launch a Justice League movie for some time now and in 2007 it almost became a reality as George Miller (Mad Max) signed on to direct a big-budget motion-capture take entitled Justice League: Mortal. Falling apart late in pre-production, Miller had already secured a cast that included Armie Hammer (The Lone Ranger) as Batman, D.J. Cotrona (G.I. Joe: Retaliation) as Superman, Megan Gale (Stealth) as Wonder Woman, Hugh Keays-Byrne (Mad Max) as Martian Manhunter, Anton Yelchin (Star Trek) as Wally West / The Flash, Santiago Cabrera (Heroes) as Aquaman, Common (American Gangster) as John Stewart / Green Lantern, Adam Brody (The O.C.) as Barry Allen, Jay Baruchel (Fanboys) as Maxwell Lord and Teresa Palmer (I Am Number Four) as Talia al Ghul.
In terms of their DC properties, Warner Bros. do of course have the third and final installment of Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, set for release next month, while Zack Snyder is busy putting the final touches to next year’s Superman reboot, Man of Steel. Meanwhile Variety’s report also states that Green Lantern scriptwriters Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green were developing a script for The Flash for Greg Berlanti (Life As We Know It) to direct, with fellow GL scribe Michael Goldenberg attached to Wonder Woman, although there are no further details about the status of either of those projects.
You’d have to imagine the studio would be keen to follow Marvel’s lead by bringing Christian Bale’s Batman into the fold alongside Henry Cavill’s Superman (hell, even Ryan Reynolds’ Hal Jordan), but there must surely be doubts over Bale’s involvement, meaning that WB could use a Justice League feature to ‘reboot’ the Caped Crusader post-Nolan. It would also provide an opportunity to launch solo franchises for Justice League members such as Wonder Woman and The Flash – two properties which have both struggled in development hell for several years now – should these latest solo screenplays fall by the wayside.
Originally published June 6, 2012. Updated April 10, 2018.
