Top Ten DC Comics Movies We'd Like to See

With Marvel's The Avengers due to hit theaters in just a couple of weeks and rumors already beginning to swirl about what they'll do next, DC's one-and-a-half film franchises (that's Batman and Green Lantern--let's face it--Superman doesn't count until it's had a movie in the last twenty years that made money) seems a bit anemic, doesn't it? And with The Dark Knight Rises set to bring Christopher Nolan's Batman films to a conclusion, they'll lose their cash cow at least for as long as it takes them to reboot it, making it increasingly unlikely that they can segue their existing movies into a Justice League feature anytime soon. So, what should they do next? We've got some ideas. And just to be sure they're not the ones you're thinking of, there's no Flash or Wonder Woman allowed. And nothing like The Spectre, Deadman, Green Arrow or Booster Gold, which are all in TV development. It's nothing personal.

Justice League (International) - Cast a new Batman for this movie first, and just run with it. Using the formula of the comic's current incarnation, but not necessarily its cast, you could easily make a film where a handful of second-tier DC heroes could make their cinematic debut. Instead of taking their best characters and giving them all a series of solo films building to the team experience, a la The Avengers, DC could take characters like Green Arrow and OMAC--who might have trouble supporting solo films if audiences don't know who they are--and introduce them to the world at large. And yes, Batman. With the anchor of Batman leading the team and acting as UN liaison, it would change the dynamic substantially from the comics but allow the film more readily to connect with new viewers. Wanna make something of it?

Animal Man - It's Swamp Thing, but without the stink of the old USA Network TV series. Handling the character in the same way that Jeff Lemire is doing now--downplaying the actual powers and playing up the personalities, the family and the history of The Red. It could be a bizarre and fascinating film which, if handled correctly by a director like Michael Gondry, could be as brilliant as it is insane.

Blue Beetle - One of DC's most heavily-promoted characters with younger kids, Jaime Reyes is the heir to nearly seventy-five years of history which give filmmakers a lot more to work with than just what's on the page right now. You want to remove the confusing alien/sci-fi element? Go back to the character's roots and have the Scarab Jaime finds be magical in nature, or at least unexplained. Same with his power set, if desired, to separate the film a little bit from Green Lantern.

Starman - In a perfect world, it would be great to see James Robinson's quirky, brilliant take on Starman come to premium cable as an HBO series or something, where the story could be told from beginning to end with only minor changes. But in the early arcs of the story, every new tale was a little mini-movie, following a three-act arc and even reading like a great movie on the page. Bring Robinson in to adapt his own work, because he clearly gets it, and sit back to enjoy the best reviews of any superhero film since The Dark Knight.

Manhunter - Very much like Starman, and even structured in much the same way, Marc Andreyko's take on Manhunter is a great concept, told well. Introducing a female Batman that's stronger and smarter than most male heroes would make a great statement about DC/Warner's commitment to making the cinematic interpretation of the DC Universe more diverse and realistic than its comic book equivalent. Suicide Squad - This one routinely comes up on lists of properties that would make great TV shows and the like. If I were them, I'd sign Tom Hardy immediately and get to work on doing a version of the Suicide Squad concept that suits the Gail Simone run. They could use it to tie The Dark Knight Rises together with Green Lantern by including Angela Bassett's Amanda Waller, and tonally it would be a perfect fit to do so as the story relies on characters of all power levels.

Anima - While this series was an unwieldy, violent mess when it ran in the 1990s as one of the books that came out of the Bloodlines event, it's always struck me as something that could easily be reinvented as a fairly all ages-friendly story of a young woman and her supernatural companion/protector, coming to grips with her own powers.  She was a flawed and likable character, and the supernatural/action element could bring men in for a movie with a female lead, which is always a nice outcome for movie studios. Demon Knights - Once The Hobbit is done, Warner Brothers' Lord of the Rings gravy train is finished for the foreseeable future, and it couldn't come at a worse time. With Game of Thrones joining shows like Mad Men and The Walking Dead on every critic's list of "the only TV shows that matter," the next five years could be to swords and sorcery what the previous five were to vampires after the success of Twilight, or what the five prior to that were to zombies. As a bonus--the comic it's based on is pretty damned cool, and not being tied to any major franchises could be a real boon for Warner, because if it fails you haven't tainted anyone's brand, but if it succeeds, then you could introduce... Stormwatch - The ultimate result of Demon Knights, Stormwatch is DC's answer to how the government would cope with superhumans. It's a lot like S.H.I.E.L.D., except that people don't go around wearing the agency's logo on their clothes while they blow things up, and it also has all the previously-established benefits that JLI has in terms of giving the studio an opportunity to test-drive characters who might make for their own franchises later.

Frankenstein, Agent of S.H.A.D.E. - Can you even imagine this on screen? The off-the-wall visuals, crazy ideas and crisp black comedy of Jeff Lemire's take on Mary Shelley's monster would either be a bomb, or a cult classic, before it ever hit theaters. In spite of the risks involved, a good viral marketing campaign and a respectful treatment of the material could easily bring in the Price and Prejudice and Zombies crowd and make for a legitimate hit.