Parallel Universe

That 'Justice League' movie may need a new script

Warner Bros. rumored to have tossed out latest superhero screenplay

By DonKaye_ParallelUniverse Feb 7, 2013 7:24PM
DC Entertainment
There haven't been any official announcements -- and let's face it, you don't exactly make official announcements about this kind of thing -- but it's rumored that warner Bros. Pictures has sent its latest "Justice League" script into the Phantom Zone.


The news comes from Badass Digest, which cites multiple anonymous sources who claim that the screenplay by Will Beall has been tossed for one simple reason: it's terrible. That's not surprising, considering that Beall's screenplay for "Gangster Squad" was pretty weak too.

But Beall might not be totally at fault here. One of the problems with the script was that aside from the villain (Darkseid) and the five main members of the League (Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and the Flash), other superheroes have apparently been shuffled in and out of the storyline by studio execs, seemingly at random. With hundreds of millions of dollars on the line, and no sure way to crack the script, the studio is said to be getting nervous about the entire enterprise.

While that means that they could scrap the movie altogether, a more likely scenario is that they'll see how "Man of Steel" does this summer, and if this latest effort to reboot Superman takes off (and the trailer does look terrific), then "Justice League" might move forward again.

That probably entails getting a whole new script, or at least a new writer, and with no director attached either, you have to wonder if "Justice League" will even be ready in time to do battle with "The Avengers 2" in the summer of 2015.

Weren't we just talking about this earlier this week? Whether you're a Marvel or DC fan, there's no question that Marvel is eating not just DC's lunch, but its breakfast, dinner and bedtime snack when it comes to getting its heroes up in the screen. Comics writer Mark Millar, who's now at Fox trying to create a second Marvel universe, rubbed salt in the wound when he told Sci Fi Now a few days ago that producing a "Justice League" movie was "an excellent way of losing $200 million."

Christopher Nolan, where are you when the Justice League needs you?
37Comments
Feb 9, 2013 8:25AM
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They just need someone that is really passionate about the project from the very top all the way to the bottom. They have to get people who love DC franchise. So that they can pour hard work, tears and sweat to make this project a dream come true. This way Marvel could have some real competition. Who ever is not on board with the project needs to either quit or get fired and make way for people that can make it happen.
Feb 9, 2013 5:05AM
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I grew up with DC comics,and I always liked the DC superheroes much better than Marvels. But the Marvel superheroes have gotten much better treatment on the big screen. I hope this Justice League movie can be made,I only hope Chris Nolan would take charge.
Feb 9, 2013 6:57AM
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Marvel is eating DC's breakfast, lunch, dinner AND bedtime snack, while DC is eating Marvel's dust!
Feb 9, 2013 10:23AM
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I love the DC Super Heroes over and above the Marvel Super Heroes. The WB animated series "Justice League Unlimited", was written and produced well and introduced a lot of the non typical or "B" list heroes with cameo appearances. I think that worked well. Maybe the execs at WB are taking the story line of the this feature film too literal, and should consider using the talents of the individuals of the animated series. Their stories were always great and the interaction between the characters seemed to be geared more towards an adult audience than for children. Maybe by starting with an origin of the main characters, we could get drawn into the story line. Unless you are an avid reader of the comic series, the general public might want to get to know the characters on a personal leve, before swinging into action to fight off a Super Human villian like Darkseid. 
Feb 9, 2013 10:13AM
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I grew up with DC comics and had all of the original mags with their origins.  Problem was that their characters were completely bland and politically correct to a fault.  My sister brought home a stack of Marvel comics that one of her boyfriends gave her and I was hooked after the first couple of pages of Spiderman #12.  What's really interesting about the JLA movies is that the villain, Darkseid, was a creation of Jack Kirby.  For those in the know, JK was one of the original artists for Timely Comics back in the 40's and drew Captain America, among many others.  He started up Marvel Comics with Stan Lee and penciled the Hulk, FF, Thor, and several others in the original Marvel lineup.  At some point, Jack drifted from Marvel and joined DC comics where they gave him free reign to develop numerous titles on his own.  Darkseid first appeared in the Jimmy Olsen comic that he was doing at the time and has had recurring appearances in the New Gods and other titles over the past four decades.  The irony is that Darkseid ties both Marvel and DC together through Jack Kirby, who is possibly my favorite comic artist of all time.  If there's ever a Comic Book Hall of Fame, he should be the first inductee by a landslide vote.
Feb 9, 2013 10:54AM
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Make mine Marvel! Nuff said. Excelsior!
Feb 9, 2013 9:07AM
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'Marvel is eating not just DC's lunch, but its breakfast, dinner and bedtime snack'

 

Classic.........just classic. LOL! 

Feb 9, 2013 12:02PM
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When I was a pre-teen, I liked DC because the heros were so powerful and unstoppable.

 

When I became a teen, I had problems like everybody else, and I loved Marvel, because they had human problems too. Pete can't pay the rent, Aunt May is sick, he's out of money for web fluid, and Doc Ock, Green Goblin and JJJ want his head on a plate.

 

The people who he helps hate him, and the other heros don't trust him. And he was just a teen too.

 

Superman was indestructable, until they copied Marvel, rebooted, and made him a little more vulnerable. Oh, and it took 60 years of comic books before he actually died the first time.

 

Phoenix could take out Superman with ease. So they killed her off, real quick like. In real life, power corrupts.

 

DC is fun. Marvel is more fun. I'll take the X-Men over the JLA any day. Phoenix over Wonder Woman. Wolverine over Timber Wolf.

 

"Yes, my weakness is... the color yellow".  DC, WTF?

 

 

 

 

Feb 9, 2013 11:48AM
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find the best selling story about the jla and make it a movie win win. rehash some crap that prob makes no sense blammo big loss easy bunch of ****es making the film prob never read a comic in there life. same prob for all the films coming out now does anyone read anymore i know i've read well over 3k novels and prob some were in the area of 50k comics over the years. think these so called writers today or just half arsing it and need to go back to school and quit reading just the cliff notes version of everything dont cheat everyone out of the real story just because you're lazy.
Feb 9, 2013 11:45AM
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I think they should wait for "Man of Steel" and see how it does before starting "Justice League" the interest  in that movie and box office will determine everything.
Feb 9, 2013 11:28AM
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the important thing that DC can take from the Marvel Movies is to skip the whole "origins" thing unless you are tweaking it. You have a built in audience for the characters and with the right treatment you can just tell a good story. 
Feb 9, 2013 12:44PM
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whatever they do i just hope they dont release a steaming pile of 3D crap.

 

PLEASE NO MORE 3D!!!!!

 

also -- they might want to shorten the list of heroes for the first movie. or do a series of movies that focuses on different sets of heroes instead of putting them all in one at the same time.

 

everyone should agree a wonder woman movie should come first!!! we havent even had one of those yet.

 

just make sure to pick the right woman for the job not just some big breasted, no talent, ho, to jiggle in slow motion. oh and itd be in everyones best interest to get Lynda Carter to be Dianas mother. lets get that locked down ASAP!!

 

nobdy likes aquaman..dont bother..

 

then later do a superman - batman - wonder woman movie, to set the core of the justice league with the villians weve all come to hate: Joker & Harley, Lex Luthor, Circe..possibly the lesser villians too--Clayface, Grundy.

 

...then add in the flash against grodd, green arrow against deathstroke... etc etc etc... in later sequels.

 

do it right! we're watching you!!!

 

Feb 9, 2013 12:39PM
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If they're going to make it interesting...it needs to be the Justice League vs. Doomsday.
Feb 9, 2013 2:17PM
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I love both DC and Marvel.  I hate the fact that DC keeps making Superman weaker, I liked him as a pretty much indestructible.  He needed that advantage because he has principles and wouldn't do certain things to get the job done. 

 

Now as far as JLA is concerned, I think Mark Miller is wrong.  People said the same thing about an Avengers movie and we all know how that came out.  What DC needs to do is exactly what Marvel did form a plan and introduce all the characters in there origin films with the exception of Batman and Superman because they have been done to death.  Make Batman and Superman the central point of bringing the heroes' together to form JLA and maybe have a Batman/Superman movie to tie it together.  At the end of each movie, "as Marvel did" put a teaser in to let us know the studio has a plan and has actually thought this out.  I think Darkseid is the correct bad guy for the movie but at the end of each superhero movie show Darkseid making moves to attack Earth maybe by watching the events of the Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern and especially Superman from his world, his downfall is underestimating Batman. 

 

I realize Marvel has done thins but most things have been done before and since it worked for Marvel, DC should do something similar just make it better and have their own twist.  Just a thought, but I would like to see both comic book houses prosper.  The winner would be us because we would get the great movies and with today's tech there is no reason this can't happen.  Oh and find people that have a passion for what they are doing and not someone that just wants a pay check, or at the very least someone that actually has taken the time to read the comics and maybe watch the animated series.  Because as bad as DC is losing to Marvel with the movies I think DC is cleaning Marvels clock in the animated realm.  Just my though.

Feb 9, 2013 2:17PM
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Leave Batman out of the Justice League movie. Re-boot Bats in three years, but make sure it's not a campy pile of poo that WB put out prior to Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy. WB needs to see what has been done with Marvel's Universe. It can be done.

Feb 9, 2013 2:11PM
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I always love this cartoon and cant wait to see it on the big screen. I will keep this story up on my website and magazine.

 

I will keep a close eye on this and any other stories.

Feb 9, 2013 2:06PM
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The folks that are in charge of getting DC comic characters on the screen are only interested on how to use them to make money........., The people behind the Marvel efforts want to entertain you......


Feb 9, 2013 1:26PM
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If they are going to make a movie...they should do what Marvel did, make stand-alones of the main characters and then bring it all together. We've got Batman, Superman (no matter how many re-boots there are; although I wish they would think about expanding the one with the little boy being his son instead of just doing a whole new franchise again), and the Green Lantern. All that is left is Flash and Wonder Woman. That would give the writers a few more years fix up the script to be awesome. Isn't that the reason why the Green Lantern was made? 
Feb 9, 2013 11:26AM
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They should drop this whole enterprise. Nolan's Batman has become ingrained in people's minds and, trust me, that dude is NOT a joiner. He does not play well with others. The Green Lantern did a critical and commercial belly flop. Superman is, and always was, lame and tiresome. The Flash? Wonder Woman? Seriously? And Aquaman? Miller was right. Unless the studios need a MASSIVE tax write off this is a bad idea.

Feb 9, 2013 12:34PM
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Of course in every other venue BUT cinema (the actual comic books, TV, animated movies) DC beats the crap out of Marvel. The movies will soon follow. And call me when anyone from a Marvel movie wins an Oscar.
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