Will Batman, Superman and the Justice League Movie Be Able to Dethrone The Avengers?

Reunited and it feels so good; studio ramps up plans for its superhero extravaganza now that rival Marvel's cadre of good guys is raking in big bucks at the box office

By Josh Grossberg Jun 06, 2012 3:40 PMTags
The Justice League cartoonCartoon Network

So you loved Marvel's The Avengers, huh?

Well, fans of rival D.C. Comics will be thrilled to learn that Warner Bros. is resurrecting development on its long-gestating Justice League movie, which aims to bring together all of its seminal superheroes—you know the ones: Batman, Superman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and the Flash among others—in one high-flying adventure.

And may we say it's about time.

Variety reports that the studio quietly went about hiring last year's Gangster Squad scribe Will Beall to pen Justice League and he's currently working on a draft but has yet to turn one in. The screenwriter also is working on a reboot of the Lethal Weapon franchise and a remake of Logan's Run as a starring vehicle for Ryan Gosling.

Warner Bros. has been trying to get a JLA flick off the ground for years, so given the $1billion-plus in moolah that The Avengers earned at the global box office, studio suits have even more impetus to revive the project. 

One incarnation that came close to getting the greenlight in 2008 had Mad Max director George Miller at the helm and would've starred then-unknown Armie Hammer as the Caped Crusader, The O.C.'s Adam Brody as The Flash, and Megan Gale as Wonder Woman. 

But League, coscripted by Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney, fell apart faster than you could say Lex Luthor after Warner was unable to secure tax breaks in Miller's native Australia, where shooting was set to take place. The studio was also facing the expiration of holding deals with its cast of newcomers that would have forced it to pay them six-figure salaries whether the film got made or not.

While fanboys wait a little while longer for Warner Bros. to get things together, they can at least look forward to Christopher Nolan's highly anticipated Batman trilogy-capper, The Dark Knight Rises, arriving in theaters July 20. The acclaimed filmmaker is also executive producing Man of Steel, a reboot of that franchise with Zack Snyder at the reins.

And last but not least, word has it there's a second installment of Green Lantern in the works as well as a feature version of The Flash.