The battle for big screen supremacy between Marvel and DC has been lopsided to say the least over the last decade or so. In an opinion piece I simply ask the question why? Although the Marvel roster has plenty of depth, DC’s starting lineup is larger than life. Superman, Batman, the Flash, the Green Lantern and Wonder Women; Just the trio of WW, Supes and Batman should be more than enough material; I mean they are the holy trinity of the comic book world. DC has really missed its chance to expand its world beyond that of Gotham city on screen. The last Superman movie was in a word “boring”, at least for me. And The Green Lantern for all of the bells and whistles spent on bright green CGI costumes and bulbous villain heads missed the boat on telling a cohesive story. Maybe I am naïve but I do not understand why we have not gotten a live action Wonder Woman story this century. Christopher Nolan’s Batman films have been nothing short of masterpieces. There is not much more that you could ask for out of a “Super-hero” film. With the release of “The Dark Knight Rises” coming this summer it is not a stretch to think that Nolan’s Batman trilogy could be the highest grossing movie trilogy of all time. So I will leave Nolan’s Dark Knight Series alone for the time being and mostly talk about what I would like to see as a fan boy from DC films and Warner Bros. over the next five years.
First I would like to see a truly great Superman film. Next summer holds that possibility as it will see the release of “Man of Steel”. When I first heard the Christopher Nolan would be essentially “Godfathering” the project, I felt like this could finally be that Superman film we’ve been waiting for. (I’m not including the Christopher Reeves Superman as it was released in the 70’s and I’m still at the baby faced age of 24.) As I understand it, Nolan will be responsible for choosing the talent that is associated with “Man of Steel” (Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong about that down below in the comments section). This is definitely a great cast with Henry Cavill as Supes, Amy Adams as Lois Lane and the great Michael Shannon as General Zod. Then add in Kevin Costner, Russell Crowe and Laurence Fishburne in supporting roles what’s not to love? When he chose “300” director Zack Snyder to helm the project I have to admit I was a bit skeptical because his films are generally hate them or love them over the top types of films, but the more I thought about it the more I love Snyder in the director’s chair for this movie. Superman’s powers are so incredible, so other worldly, so over the top, can anyone think of a better director who’d be able to adapt a man faster than a speeding bullet? Although Superman is the most popular comic book hero ever he may also be the most difficult character to adapt to film. I think this film could rival The Dark Knight if done correctly. (Is that blasphemy?)
Next in 2013, can we finally get a live action Wonder Woman movie? I loved the animated movie that DC came out with a few years ago, if Warner Bros. can take elements from that then they’d be on the right track. An amazon warrior who is both beautiful and hard as nails should not be a hard sell with a big budget pushing it out to the masses. I would love to see Lynn Collins play the title character. She is absolutely stunning and is capable of some serious kick ass action; want an example, then go see John Carter. (Seriously, go see it.)
She got the acting chops capable of carrying a movie and Wonder Woman would be a great start.
Then maybe we get that long awaited “Flash” movie that’s been in limbo since I was in grade school. I’d love to see Ryan Gosling portray Barry Allen on screen. He’s a guy with both the acting chops and also the presence to carry an action movie. (Drive anyone?) How awesome would it be to see the story of a forensic cop who also fights crime with the power of the speed matrix? Almost like a super-hero version of Dexter, only without the murder. This has to happen, why not in the summer of 2014 along with The Green Lantern?
Why another Green Lantern? Because we need to see the property done right. While I don’t think that the Ryan Reynolds film was as dreadful as most people believe I do think it lacked heart, all flash and not much substance. So I am suggesting a complete reboot. I’d like to see a movie that develops the bond between Hal Jordan and his mentor Sinestro. The first film lost sight of that. What makes Sinestro such an excellent villain is his ambition. He is right and everyone else is wrong, period. He was the greatest Green Lantern and he knew it! The relationship between Hal and Sinestro is crucial to the growth of Hal Jordan’s journey as the Green Lantern. When Sinestro only gets about a half an hour of total screen time in a two and a half hour movie than there is clearly a problem. Hopefully we can get a Green Lantern story that will better explore their journey as mentor and mentee and then as friends who become mortal enemies. As for the cast, I don’t think Ryan Reynolds or Mark Strong were a problem at all in the first film but fans would love to forget about that film as quickly as possible, so a complete retool is in order. I could see either Joseph Gordon Levitt (Inception) or Bradley Cooper playing Hal with maybe Idris Alba (The Wire) playing Sinestro. How Awesome could that potentially be?
I think that the Green Lantern movie could be the most important movie in the bunch. That could be the movie that connects each super-heroes world for a potential Justice League movie in 2015. There is a particular storyline where it’s revealed that the Green Lantern Tomar Ra is responsible for the sector that contains the planet of Krypton, home to Kalel better known to us earthlings as Superman. A cool little fact that would be pretty great to see play out on screen. One of the core relationships in the DC universe is that Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne and their alter egos. How awesome would it be to see Christian Bale’s Batman on screen with Henry Cavill’s Superman? Granted, I understand that Bale has said that TDKR will be his last time donning the cowl but I don’t really want to see another actor as Bruce Wayne, for all intents and purposes Bale is Batman. (A Dark Knight reboot is coming down the pipeline fairly expeditiously if those rumors are to be believed.) And as for the possible man behind the camera of this ambitious endeavor, I’d have to go with Christopher Nolan. I would pay to watch that man direct Morgan Freeman misread a phonebook. He would probably never do it but he would be the perfect captain to drive this ship. His strength with the Batman films has always been the ability to keep everything based in reality, and I would love to see Nolan tackle the personalities of a Superman or Wonder Woman.
Now everything that I have laid out is probably impossible but please remember fellow fan boys, this is my dream scenario.
