Five DC Comics Movies We Want To See Announced At Comic-Con
It's nearly time for Comic Con International: San Diego, and while fewer and fewer major [...]
It's nearly time for Comic Con International: San Diego, and while fewer and fewer major announcements are actually taking place there from the movie studios, hope springs eternal and each year fans go in hoping they'll get a presentation like the one Marvel put on years ago when they announced Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and Guardians of the Galaxy all at the same time and with concept art.
And, hey! It could happen.
If it does, it will not likely be Marvel. Why? Well, they seem to be fostering a somewhat less co-dependent relationship with Comic Con, announcing things at stand-alone events and through the Disney-owned E3 show. With Star Wars Celebration turning into a great venue for trailers, news, and more, it seems Disney has got the code cracked as to how to get the most bang for their proverbial buck, and really that's not going to be by announcing a bunch of stuff at Comic Con where they're competing with hundreds of other exhibitors.
Could Warner Bros. be looking to make a statement at Comic Con, though? Certainly after the hugely divisive Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the studio seems to be looking to embrace the hardcore comics faithful and encourage fanboys and fangirls they know what they're doing. Special features on the Ultimate Cut Blu-ray of Batman v Superman are chock full of famous faces talking about how important the larger DC Universe is as a creative entity and the genius of [insert comic book creator name here].
They're also reportedly screening Suicide Squad in San Diego in time for Comic Con, a few weeks before the movie is properly released in the U.S. So it doesn't seem like it would be totally out of line to hope for an announcement or two to fill out as-yet-untitled slots on Warner's DC release calendar.
If they did, what might those movies be? What do we hope they would be? Read on, and make your opinion known in the comments below...!
HARLEY QUINN AND THE BIRDS OF PREY
With great buzz around Suicide Squad, there are already rumors of spinoff films being developed to spotlight individual members or small groups of characters from that film.
The most often-repeated rumor? Harley Quinn will get her own movie, likely teamed with at least one or two other female DC characters.
For the sake of branding, I'll assume such a movie would be called Birds of Prey, the long-running, almost-entirely-female super-team that DC has been running since about the mid-'90s. While Harley has never been a member of the team, characters like Black Canary, Batgirl, Oracle, Huntress, and other Gotham-based and non- or lightly-powered heroines have, meaning that Harley would likely fit right in.
It's hard to be too very excited about a movie that hasn't come out yet -- and DC seemingly knows it. While there have been rumors that Warner is very happy with Suicide Squad and looking to develop sequels and spinoffs, the studio themselves have avoided confirming those reports...likely aware of the mark it left on Sony when they made expansive plans for a cinematic universe spinning out of the success of The Amazing Spider-Man, only to have the film's first sequel crash and burn, leaving them to wonder what was next (and ultimately to reboot again).
That said, they didn't wait very long after the first fans had seen Man of Steel to announce Batman v Superman, so its likely are really developing Suicide Squad follow-ups, but holding back confirmation from the fans thus far. If there were a handful of early screenings, up to and including the reported Comic Con screening, would that give them enough confidence to pull the trigger and make the announcement...?
JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK
Back when rumors of a DC Extended Universe were just that, and the studio had only really confirmed Batman v Superman, fan-favorite filmmaker Guillermo del Toro was reportedly pitching an idea to Warner Bros. that was similar to the then-current comic book series Justice League Dark.
Featuring magical characters like Zatanna, John Constantine, Swamp Thing, and Deadman, the movie was reportedly not officially in development at Warners, but more a dream project from the Hellboy and Pacific Rim director.
With Pacific Rim disappointing at the domestic box office and then his relationship with Legendary Pictures carrying del Toro away from Warners when the two corporations parted ways, any comments on the film have been few, far-between, and vague...but at one point it was reported that due to del Toro's busy schedule, Warners was looking to put a different director on del Toro's script.
The short-lived Constantine TV series also briefly seemed like it might be a barrier to this film being made, since Warner Bros. doesn't allow their TV and movie universes to cross over into one another -- but as we saw with Suicide Squad, a little small-screen exposure to measure the interest of the mainstream audience in a character or concept isn't something the studio is averse to. Perhaps now Constantine -- and its title character's appearance on Arrow -- might turn out to be something they can use to actually bolster interest in a Justice League Dark film.
BOOSTER GOLD
As the Greatest Hero You've Never Heard Of, Booster Gold travels from the future to protect our present -- his past -- and along the way make a lot of money as a superhero pitchman.
That's the high concept that makes Booster sound not only like a cool idea, but one that's radically different from any of the superhero movies and TV shows currently running (even though his son, who because of time travel is actually Booster's mentor in the comics, is featured on DC's Legends of Tomorrow).
The idea of a character with built-in humor and a history of buddy-comedy antics with his best friend and Justice League teammate Blue Beetle might appeal to a Warner Bros. stung with constant criticism that their films aren't light and peronality-driven enough.
And, of course, a time-traveler would be an interesting wrinkle to play with in the world as it exists so far. Filmmakers involved with The Flash have suggested that time travel might be a big part of that movie, and certainly we saw that flash of entropy or speed force or antimatter or whatever it was washing into the Batcave in Batman v Superman with The Flash yelling out of it...but it seems like that's a little out of his control. So having somebody in the universe who has pinpoint accuracy with time travel and a knowledge of what not to mess with in the past? That could be useful.
Throw in Greg Berlanti, who is reportedly developing the film with X-Men: First Class writer Zack Stentz, and you've got a recipe for something that should make Warners pretty enthusiastic, considering the huge commercial success Berlanti has brought them with Arrow and The Flash.
If there were to be only one film announced/confirmed at Comic Con, I would expect this one to be it, since at this point both Berlanti and Stentz have conrfirmed it, so if they were concerned about not getting a sufficient amount of coverage for Comic-Con announcements due to all the white noise the convention can create, this one would be a good place to take that hit and still excite the heck out of the fans in the room.
TEEN TITANS
This one's tricky, of course. So far, we haven't seen any "young" superheroes other than future Justice League members in the movies. We only know that one Robin is dead, not whether there were others and what came of them. And Titans has been in development for TV on and off for a while now.
But with Dick Grayson at the head of the team, I'd like to see the Titans get a movie adaptation before TV. Dick has never been handled well on the big screen and it's time a storied and beloved character like that got his due.
There's also the fact that, like Justice League, since the '80s or so, the Teen Titans comic book title is one that's jumped from event to event pretty regularly, offering a lot of tantalizing prospects for big-screen adaptations.
It would also give them an opportunity to start fostering the idea of "legacy" on the big screen, something that DC has recently reintroduced to the comics and something that's long been considered a differentiating factor between DC and Marvel's superhero lines.
SUPERMAN
During our recent set visit to Justice League, there was a lot of talk about how the deconstruction of superheroes in Man of Steel and Batman v Superman was really secretly about getting them to where they "needed to be" in order to become the ideal, iconic versions of themselves in Justice League and beyond.
Well, more than anything else, it can be argued that Superman is what needed the most work in Batman v Superman (a film I liked). And with Geoff Johns now reportedly in charge of the movie division, I would LOVE to see the Last Son of Krypton come out of the grave with a new outlook, a new set of priorities, and a movie that helps to establish a new status quo for him (since they kind of broke Clark Kent with the whole funeral thing).
Your move, DC...!
Trending Now:
-
1Star Wars: The Acolyte Finally Introduces Major Sith Lord Into Live-Action -
2EA Sports College Football 25: Best Offensive Playbooks -
3Weird Al Yankovic Announces New Music for the First Time in Years -
4Star Wars: The Acolyte Stuns With Major Death in Season Finale -
5Star Wars: The Acolyte Finale Includes Massive Franchise Cameo