Warner Brothers Planning Justice League Movie and Batman Reboot

Posted by on March 29th, 2011   Filed under: Action, Books/Comics, Remakes
Source: L.A. Times

It doesn’t usually take much to get comic book fans salivating, and indeed after a recent interview with Warner Brothers exec Jeff Robinov was published in the L.A. Times earlier today, a few offhand comments set off a frenzy of excitement with regards to the future of DC’s comic book movie universe. As we all know, the WB has Green Lantern hitting theatres this summer, and both Zack Snyder’s untitled Superman movie and The Dark Knight Rises planned for release next year. But what comes after that? Well, according to Robinov, they’re giving the fans what they want by following in Marvel’s footsteps and using these films to set the stage for the ultimate superhero team-up. Yep, that’s right, Robinov has confirmed that a Justice League movie is in development, and apparently planned for 2013. And if all goes according to plan, it will not mess with Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy either.

A lot of people definitely seem to be surprised that a Justice League movie could happen so soon, and I think many of us were still expecting to see The Flash or Wonder Woman get solo films first. Instead, they appear to be using Superman and Green Lantern to lead into the Justice League, and then they would potentially spin-off smaller films afterward. It seems like a smart move, particularly when dealing with characters that may not be popular enough to support their own movie. NBC’s Wonder Woman TV show will remain a completely separate entity and not connected at all to the movies (thank god).

It seems safe to assume that both Ryan Reynolds and Henry Cavill will appear in the Justice League movie, but what remains to be seen is who would play Batman. Christian Bale has been pretty resistant to the idea of crossovers with any other DC characters, and was more concerned with maintaining the integrity of the Nolan’s own trilogy. According to Jeff Robinov, however, they are planning to reboot the Batman franchise after The Dark Knight Rises, with Nolan and Emma Thomas staying on board as a producers. So it sounds like we will probably have someone else playing Batman. What do you think, is this a good move? Are you looking forward to a Justice League movie or should all of DC’s superheroes stick to their own separate movie franchises?



  • Nephums

    I fucking love the JUSTICE LEAGUE if this gets done correctly I will eternally be happy forever. They should have the writers of the animated movies help co-write because so far those movies have been extremely strong but if fine-tuned could end up producing a magnificent script.

  • MikeH

    i can go for a Justice League movie and it could blow the X-Men flicks out of the water. hopefully they will get a solid cast to do this.

    as for rebooting the Batman, give it up. the Nolan trilogy should be good enough for awhile, concentrate on something else and get off these reboots.

  • A JL movie would have been dope 10 years ago. Since Superman 2, the new rule seems to be “Dark DC = good movie”, so the only EXCITING move would be “Kingdom Come” live action, I think.

  • Captain N

    This will not happen like this. There will be no way a Justice League movie will be out by 2013. The Dark Knight Rises won’t be out until 2012. It just won’t happen.

    As for Batman getting rebooted, I have a feeling it won’t be a straight up origin story reboot. I think it’ll be merely passing the character off to new filmmakers to do their own thing, regardless how The Dark Knight Rises ends.

  • Derek McFarland

    That would be awesome, but I’ll believe it when I see it. I remember them being in talks of making a JLA movie a couple years back, but ended up just being nothing more than a big ball of wishful thinking. I hope this is true, but I won’t hold my breath.

  • I’m so sick and tired of people complaining about reboots. What did you think Warners Bros was planning on doing after Nolan’s trilogy? Just sit on the hundred million dollar property and do nothing with it? Of course there’s going to be more Batman movies.

    People need to realize that these are comic book characters. Characters that have a long history and thousands of different stories that they’ve been through. Is there just ONE person, or ONE creative team working on Batman comics? Of course not, because that would be insane.

    We’ve had Burton, Schumacher and Nolan and hopefully lots more. Letting different filmmakers loose on this source material is exciting and should be lauded not damed.

    ANOTHER NEW BATMAN SERIES WON’T RUIN NOLAN’S TRILOGY!

  • I apologize for not including Leslie H. Martinson in that list of Batman directors. How could I forget about Batman: The Movie.

  • Niklas

    Agree with rjdelight. I don’t understand why people need continuity with their super hero movies. Nobody has a problem with Bond being played by a different actor or doing their own thing, why can’t Batman or Superman be the same?

  • EXACTLY

  • Nelson

    I’m not holding my breath. This is all very exciting and interesting, but with DC and Warner Brothers I have learned my lesson. Until I see an actual trailer or some onset footage, I’m not getting my hopes up again. WHEN Warner Brothers comes up with a good DC movie and they put it together and actually act on it, usually, lately, it comes out well, BUT, I feel like I sense a lot of hesitation when it comes to DC movies unless they are under the gun or about to lose the rights or license to a certain character or property.

    Marvel seems to have a very gung-ho, even possibly reckless attitude about putting their characters onscreen, anyway possible, ASAP. DC is cautious to the point of paranoia. Some of these projects, Flash, Wonder Woman, I’m just not gonna have any kind of anticipation for them until they actually get underway.

    When I see a DC movie about a character other then Batman or Superman and it knocks my socks off, then I’ll start getting excited about this subject again, but until that day comes, to me, this is all just rumors.

  • I think it’s a little more than rumors when it comes from the mouth of the studio President.

  • karateka_nick

    i have two whole hours that im reading posts about the batman reboot….these news came like a BOMB to me,at first i didnt know what to think,if i agree or disagree with the idea.MR “””””rjdelight””””” you made the BEST post i have read in two hours!!!!!its EXACTLY as you say it!!BRAVO man!BRAVO!!more batman movies will come as more batman comics will keep on coming.Nolan’s batman trilogy will remain in hollywood history!And i TRULY believe that nolan’s trilogy will be a reference to all batman movies to come!nolan’s trilogy WILL be regarded as THE BEST!if come to think about it,more batman movies without nolan will ONLY make nolan’s trilogy even more LEGENDARY!!!!!!!!!!

  • Who would be the next Adam West in a reboot? Maybe Sharlto Copley?

    I want to see Powers Booth as The Man-Bat and Leonardo DiCaprio as Killer Croc.

  • Another actor to play Batman in a Justice League Movie is a good idea, but a new Batman movie it’s sucks.

    I would like to see Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns adaptation in theaters, and Billy Bob Thornton playing Joker in this one would be nice, but I believe it isn’t the Wanner Brother plans. They will make a fan boy movie to make much money.

    Talking about a Justice League adaptation, Alex Ross’ Justice would be the better option to make a Justice League movie adaptation:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justice_(DC_Comics)

    Thats all folks

  • I’m wondering now if Zack Snyder’s Superman will have a Justice League tie-in. It would certainly seem likely, based on today’s news. Perhaps something after the credits? With whoever runs the JLA breaking into Supes fortress of solitude and presenting an offer? Hmm? Hmm?

    I’m not as well versed in the DC world as I am with Marvel. Who’s actually in charge of the JLA? Where’s Greg when you need him…

  • Xidor

    With so many good and bad guys in one 2 hr movie, my concern is that they spend too much of the movie on character development especially with big name actors. The DC animated movies are great because they just go straight into the story because everyone already knows who Batman and Superman are.

    The 1997 movie Batman and Robin was horrible because they had Mr Freeze, Poison Ivy, Batman, Robin, and Batgirl. You can hardly fit all of their faces on the freaking DVD cover. It is the same thing as the last lethal weapon. They just kept adding more and more characters to the movie, because the story idea was so boring. Check out the cover for Lethal Weapon 4 and you will see what I’m talking about.

    The individual movies for the characters are a great idea for the Marvel Universe and I hope DC can pull off the same thing.

  • Gil

    no one cares about a wonder woman movie.

  • Big Hungry

    I hate saying this but it is true. I would rather see this done all CG. The intro to DC online is freaking amazing.

  • Big Hungry
  • Ryan Marlow

    I absolutely love the idea of a JLA movie. I fantasize about directing said movie and even wrote a treatment that would make all the geeks ejack.

    I think the best way to make it work is to have the JLA movie be it’s own universe in itself. They could have a new Batman franchise going on that is a different interpretation and actor from the JLA Batman. Trying to tie all of the different characters together that debuted in different movies by different directors would be a complicated feat.

  • Bas

    My thoughts exactly. In that light, making a new interpretation of Batman that fits with this idea as soon as Nolan is done with his is a good thing.

  • Anika

    I would like a JL movie; however, I just don’t think Warner Brothers will be able to pull it off. Marvel has pretty much blown DC out of the water with it’s films and by and far there needs to be introduction for all the characters. And what movie can you honestly have when most of the main characters, i.e. Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Arrow, The Martian, The Black Green Lantern (I like Ryan Reynolds, but Green Lantern is a black guy) and Cyborg and so on all need introductions. I saw they keep with separate movies and stop trying to keep up with Marvel. Oh and the Wonder Woman T.V. didn’t even get picked up….maybe they should call Linda Carter and get her to do it.

  • Shaun

    @Anika: the original green lantern was a white guy

  • hunter

    i made by own justice league film with bale(batman), cavill(superman), raynolds(green lantern), oldman(gordon), gordon-levitt(john blake) and strong(sinestro) and flash, green arrow, aquaman and the white martians