Will Brian Michael Bendis Work on DC Films?

The comic book industry got a big shake-up today after it was announced that one of Marvel Comics most acclaimed writers since the 2000s era, Brian Michael Bendis, is now signed exclusively with DC Comics.

Already, comic book readers are buzzing with hopes about what kind of fresh ideas, storylines, and character depictions Bendis can bring to DC Comics. While that’s definitely a great line of speculation and debate for fans to follow, there’s an accompanying question that comes with:

Will Brian Michael Bendis also be working on DC Films?

Multi-Talented

While Brian Michael Bendis is first and foremost a comic book guy, that format isn’t the limit of his talent.

While working with Marvel, Bendis had a run of projects in the video game, TV, and movie formats. His most famous work was writing the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series, which was an adaptation of the Ultimate Spider-Man comic book series that Bendis also wrote. 

In the live-action lane, Bendis wrote several episodes of the PlayStation Network adaptation of Bendis’s comic book series Powers. He also did the screenplay adaptations for his comics A.K.A. Goldfish and its prequel Jinx for Miramax and Universal, respectively. Though the films never made it into production, they did offer Bendis some prior experience in telling cinematic stories. 

Creator-Driven Films

Warner Bros. and DC Films have been looking to make a decisive heel turn with their DC Films Universe, after some early divisive stumbles with Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and Suicide Squad. To that end, the studio promoted DC Comics creative chief Geoff Johns to the head of the DC Films division, and have re-asserted that their intent is to make creator-driven films that are in keeping with the traditional values of DC superheroes. 

If that’s indeed the case, then it would make sense for Johns and the rest of the DC Films executives to lean on other comic book creatives to help shape and shepherd their films. Johns already made use of Wonder Woman comic book writer Allan Heinberg for the Wonder Woman movie script, so even though Bendis is coming into the company without any major DC Comics writing credits, a writer and creator of his caliber would be kind of squandered if he wasn’t used for the film projects, as well. 

DC Films has Matt Reeves’ Batman movie going into the pipeline and a Man of Steel 2 sequel that has a big challenge of re-establishing the DC Films Superman franchise as something lighter and more hopeful than Snyder’s version. That’s two opportunities right in front of us for Bendis to influence the biggest DC superheroes there are. There’s also Green Lantern Corps in need of reinvention, an entire DC Standalone Films line that needs launching, and a villains side of both the connected and standalone films that needs an upgrade from what Suicide Squad delivered. In other words: there’s plenty of work for Bendis to do here. 

Other Possibilities

As stated, Brian Michael Bendis’s skills have multimedia potential, and he’s already done Marvel-branded projects that could make for great similar projects for the DC/Warner Bros. brand: 

• Video Games – DC has achieved some pretty big video game successes with projects like the Batman: Arkham and Injustice games. Both series contain deep storylines that draw on (yet reinvent) some core DC Comics mythos. If the company wants a lighter touch to its games, Bendis would be a great choice in scribe. 
• DC Animation – DC/WB has been the clear winner over Marvel when it comes animated series and features, and there’s bound to be some great new projects on the way after Justice League. Marvel’s biggest animation success of the last decade was arguably Ultimate Spider-Man (if not Earth’s Mightiest Heroes), so snagging Bendis for some DC animated projects seems like an easy win. 

Do you DC fans want Biran Michael Bendis involved with the DC projects that are headed to the screen? Would you like to see his influence on the animated side, the movie side or both? Let us know @ComicbookNOW!