It was recently announced that, due to the incredible financial success The Avengers had, Warner Bros. has hired Will Beall, writer of the film Gangster Squad, to pen a Justice League movie. Warner Bros. must think that he’s talented, because he is also currently in charge of writing the Lethal Weapon reboot, as well as the Logan’s Run remake (which has Ryan Gosling attached to it). That’s not all, but reports have also stated that Michael Goldenberg, co-writer of 2011’s Green Lantern, has been hard at work with a Wonder Woman script, a job that Joss Whedon himself had a few years ago. Plus, (yes, there’s more), Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green, the two other co-writers of Green Lantern, are also working on a screenplay for a movie starring the Flash. So with Warner Bros. finally stepping up to the superhero initiative, what can we expect?

1. A New Formula

It’s no secret that Green Lantern was a bomb. It stunk. The script was all over the place, the characters weren’t likeable, it couldn’t make back what it cost, and critics everywhere butchered it from every which way. That being said, the fact that Wonder Woman and Flash, two insanely popular fan-favorites from the comics, will be handled by the guys who brought you Green Lantern is a bit nerve-wracking. Perhaps they’ve learned a lesson in what makes a good superhero movie? I don’t know, but Warner Bros. sees something in them, so we have no choice but to sit back and watch.

It seems odd, however, that they’d want a screenplay/script from a Justice League film so early on. When Marvel was doing Iron Man in 2008, the Avengers were only a second thought, and weren’t finally realized until Iron Man 2 in 2010. So why does Warner Bros. want it now? Easy. They want to set themselves apart from Marvel in any way they can, so I believe that they want to knock the Justice League out first, and do spin-off films after. That’s quite a bold move, considering that a majority of the general public aren’t as familiar with characters like Flash, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter, characters that are very important to the Justice League mythos… which brings me to my next point.

2. An All-Star Roster

The Justice League has always had a semi-big roster, ranging from five members to twenty. Which characters will be used, and which ones will be tossed away? No doubt that the big guns like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman will be included, as well as Green Lantern and Flash, but will that be it? If Avengers taught anyone anything, it’s that you can introduce new, semi-obscure characters into the film, and have the public go nuts over them. Case in point, nobody knew who Iron Man was pre-2008, yet he’s arguably the most popular Avenger today. So what about Aquaman, Hawkman, Atom, Martian Manhunter, and all the rest of the team’s not-so-popular members? Will they be included?

Personally, I don’t think they would ever give Aquaman a chance at being on the big screen, as the character’s been torn to shreds by the Super Friends in the 70’s, as well as being the butt of many jokes in shows like Family Guy. With that in mind, I think it’s safe to say that the main five: Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Green Lantern will be the roster, and it will end there. It’s also quite possible that Cyborg, a character whose history had changed with DC’s recent re-launch, may be in the film as he’s now a founding member and he adds diversity to the team’s racial balance. Any way you slice it, the public will automatically compare this movie to the Avengers, so the inclusion of a black character, something that Avengers didn’t have if you don’t count Nick Fury, may not be that unheard of. Now that we’ve talked about the good guys, what about the bad guys?

3. An Earth-Based Threat

To completely set itself apart from Avengers, they’re going to have to keep away from anything space-related. That means we may not see Justice League villains like Darkseid or Despero in the film, which I’m personally ok with. In fact, the Justice League has quite a few adversaries on Earth that will be more than suitable for an origin film. These include: Vandal Savage, The Injustice Gang, Felix Faust, The Legion of Doom, Batman, etc. Wait, what? That’s right. Batman.

In the insanely popular story arc, Tower of Babel, Batman had plans on how to individually defeat all the members of the Justice League, should they ever go rogue. Someone stole these plans, and used them on the Justice League. A while back, when Warner Bros. wanted to make a Justice League film starring Armie Hammer as Batman, this was the plot that they wanted to use. Without a doubt, Batman’s the most successful DC character to ever work on film, so could it be possible that they want him to be the League’s biggest player? Call me crazy, but I really don’t think that it’s too far off.

Of course this is all just speculation and I can be way off, but this is what I’m predicting for the future Justice League film. Maybe the movie will be three hours long and have all seven founding members in it, or maybe it’ll just be the “big five” in a 90 minute film. Maybe it will be bigger than the Avengers, or maybe it will be an incredible failure. We don’t know, but it will be fun to sit and watch as it happens. What do you expect?

The tower of Babel plot was ulready used for Justice League:Doom,so that's out.

I want to see Black Lightning.

Lex Luthor,Vandal Savage, League of Shadows as the villains using world wide terrorism with weapons of mass destruction in an attempt to take over the world.

I disagree with not having an alien invasion, I mean I think an Earth based threat could work, but I think having an invasion by Brainiac would be pretty interesting for a plot idea.

WELL DEFINATELY THE BIG FIVE AND THE OTUER TWO COULD BE BETWEEN 4 PEOPLE. MM, AQUAMAN, CYBORG, HAWKMAN OR EVEN HAWKGIRL. THIS MOVIE ISN'T GONNA BE LIKE THE BOOKS THOUGH. A GOOD VILLIAN FROM EARTH TO FIGHT.... LEX LUTHOR AND THE GOVERNEMENT KINDA. THE GOVERNMENT IS VERY UNSURE ABOUT THE SUPERHEROS THAT HELP THEM SO LEX LUTHOR TRIES TO TARNISH THEIR REPUTATION, GETS THE GOVERNEMT AND THE PEOPLE TO DISLIKE THEM NOT WANT THEIR HELP, THEN LUTHER BECOMES PRESIDENT, TRIES TO RUN THE COUNTRY, HAS SOME SECRETS WITH BADGUYS THAT HE HIRES TO HELP MAKE THE LEAGUE LOOK BAD, GETS IN HIS SUIT THE JL STILL NOT GIVING UP ON THE PUBLIC HELP THEM AND THEN AT THE END OF THE MOVIE THEY DECIDE TO EXPAND A LITTLE AND CREATE A SPACE TOWER.... ( THIS SOUNDS LIKE A LOT OF DC ANIMATED MOVIES I OWN AND AVENGERS AT THE END... OH WELL. I DARE THEM TO MAKE A BETTER MOVIE!)

Including a group of Earth villains like the Injustice Gang, Legion of Doom, Secret Society, etc. would only add on to the film's budget as they would have to hire more actors to portray the members. As such I think it would actually be preferable to have an extraterrestrial threat, or at least one great antagonist who can take on the entire League at once (Amazo).

Besides, an alien threat would hardly be considered a rip off of the Avengers as long as it's done creatively and differently. The Avengers, while a good movie, was very simplistic in story, and had a very straightforward and rather stereotypical invasion. They even used the Ultimate version of the Skrulls and they didn't perform any shapeshifting, infiltration, or display any form of competence. The Chitauri only served to be fodder, which is something that the Justice League movie could do differently. Besides, having someone like Despero and Despero alone wouldn't really be an invasion, so I wouldn't rule him out.

As for Aquaman not being included because people think he's lame, why would they not take the opportunity to make people see that Aquaman isn't useless? This isn't an Aquaman film, he isn't the main selling point, so people aren't going to go to see him if they think he only talks to fish. When he shows up in the film and kicks all kinds of ass, people will then realize how awesome he truly is, and public opinions would start to form around that, as they did for the Superfriends cartoon.

@YoggSaron: I agree, I don't think the Legion of Doom or the Injustice Gang will be in the first one. I was just providing some examples of Earth-based threats. Amazo actually didn't cross my mind. He'd actually be a really safe bet on a first villain, especially if you have someone pulling his strings (Brainiac, Lex, Vandal Savage, etc.)

While I totally agree that the Avengers' actual plot wasn't exactly creative, the everyday person who's not a fan will just ignorantly point out that "this movie's a rip off because they fought aliens." Personally, I'd love to see someone like Darkseid in this movie.

DC isn't one to really take risks. Only now in 2012 are we getting an awesomely written Aquaman that people are noticing (Morrison tried to do it in the 90's, but it seems that everyone forgot about it). That, plus the fact that the risk they took with GL in that bomb of a movie last year makes me think that they're trying to avoid all that kind of semi-abstract stuff altogether, and focus on their "big guns." Personally, Aquaman's one of my favorite DC characters of all time, but I'm not getting my hopes up for an appearance. I mean, he wasn't even included in the founding roster in the Justice League cartoon.

@TheAntiReVamp: So? They did a GL origin movie long before they made the live-action one last year.

One thing DC is good at going is Alien invasion. DC has a huge array of cosmic threats, alot much better done than Marvel. So I would like them to do a movie with a cosmic threat. Because I dont think there is a need to seperate it from Avengers just bust having an earth based villain. DC's movie should follow the footsteps of TDK, make them realistic and reimagine the heroes as if they are a new phenomenon in today's real world, alot like what they're doing with new 52. Secondly, I think making a JL movie first then spin offs is a great move because DC's heroes are bigger names than compared to Avenger casts.

1. Totally agree with what you've said here. Can't add more to this point.

2. Obviously the Big Five will be in the roster but I'd hope for another member to be added in the course of the film. DC's Big Five are capable of holding their own movies in the right hands but I would want to see another member added to the League who would be introduced in the film. Maybe Black Canary so the League has another female member in its midst. Or Green Arrow? Some people are aware of him given his role in Smallville so he could be a popular choice as a late coming Leaguer.

3. DC's cosmic threats would make for a more entertaining movie IMO. Alien invasions and cosmic threats are something that are executed better by DC than Marvel. Although I didn't like it in the New 52, I wouldn't mind Darkseid being the big threat in the JL film. Although there are loads of other choices to boot as well.

1. You are actually incorrect. Including international box office, Green Lantern actually made WB a profit.

2. The roster is almost guaranteed to include Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, and the Flash. Beyond that, the secondary characters could be almost anyone, depending on whom WB is looking to give a bump for a solo movie. As much of a joke as it may seem, Aquaman would be tremendous fit. On land, his powers would be largely complementary to the core group, but an Aquaman film done right (underwater King Arthur story) would be excellent and visually stunning.

3. The perfect film plot is sitting there waiting for them. Grant Morrison wrote it way back when and it has everything, even the nod to ancient-alien-conspiracy-theory that got Avengers some push in certain circles.

@Gambit1024: Marvel did great with re-imagining heroes in the world today - the only unrealistic "stuff" has to do with Tony Stark - For JLA, I think that if they are going to use this movie to introduce the characters THEN make solo movies after - They can't mess it up. The hard part will be giving them their own screen time, as like I mentioned, they still need to introduce the characters. The whole "alien invasion" thing... Well, if the writers put that in the movie, then it would seem like a huge rip off the Avengers - So this movie should have a realistic, yet iconic villain that can stand against the entire team...

@YoggSaron: Dude, I'm not some guy that hates DC and likes Marvel better - but even if DC found a way to make an alien invasion for a JLA movie different and more "creative" from the Avengers - it will still look like a complete rip-off either way.

@Tyrus: i dont think u hate dc or whatsoever. But just cos two films have alien threats doesnt mean its a rip off. Most of Superman and GL foes are aliens. Almost all of JL's foes are space related. Its like saying iron man is a rip off of batman cos theyre both billionaires with high tech toys. It doesnt make any sense to me. ww's next movie would probably revolve around greek gods, does it mean she is copying thor? Or is Thor copying clash of the titans?

As long as the two films are done with a different tone and plot, it'll not be called copying. Especially if they're fighting against a villain from Supes villains like brainiac.

@Gambit1024 said:

DC isn't one to really take risks. Only now in 2012 are we getting an awesomely written Aquaman that people are noticing (Morrison tried to do it in the 90's, but it seems that everyone forgot about it). That, plus the fact that the risk they took with GL in that bomb of a movie last year makes me think that they're trying to avoid all that kind of semi-abstract stuff altogether, and focus on their "big guns." Personally, Aquaman's one of my favorite DC characters of all time, but I'm not getting my hopes up for an appearance. I mean, he wasn't even included in the founding roster in the Justice League cartoon.

I agree that they shouldn't just toss out a solo film for him. What I meant was include him in the Justice League movie to show how awesome he can be. There really is no risk in including him in the JL movie because they aren't trying to sell Aquaman to the general public. They are selling the Justice League, which includes non-comic readers' favorite heroes Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, etc, that just happens to include Aquaman. The general public is heavily reliant on what they see in cinema to supply their (limited) knowledge of the characters, and are easily influenced to think differently of a character based on their outside comics exposure. Superfriends was the reason Aquaman has a poor reputation to begin with, and I would hope him being awesome in a Justice League film would bring him up a few notches in the public eye.