*Cover image by Alex Ross.
Leaked rumours (via the newly launched NikkiFinke.com) suggest that Warner Bros. is going all out on DC fans’ wet dreams. The company is apparently planning to officially announce a fully-loaded line-up of movies from the DC Universe of comics featuring the likes of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman (as already announced) as well as Flash, a new Green Lantern (bye bye Ryan Reynolds!), Aquaman and more. Here is the rumoured line-up:
May 2016 – Batman vs Superman: Dawn Of Justice
July 2016 – Shazam
December 2016 – Sandman
May 2017 – Justice League
July 2017 – Wonder Woman
December 2017 – A team-up movie featuring Flash and Green Lantern
May 2018 – Man Of Steel 2
Now all this is very exciting and all, but this could be all proven false. That’s particularly because of the second title on that list: Shazam. The thing is, Shazam is too less-known a character for a July opening and that too preceding the release of Justice League and Wonder Woman. A failure of the movie would put a serious dent on an expanding universe that hasn’t been completely established yet. Instead, a non-Summer release (May or October) or the same release date of a better known character (Flash? Aquaman?) would have made more sense. That said, the movie that is extremely exciting as a prospect in that line-up is the one slated for December 2017: a team-up between Flash and Green Lantern! If you’ve read the comics, or even Yale Stewart’s excellent JL8, you know that the two will make for an excellent buddy-cop, nay, buddy-superhero team. And with Christmas release date for a movie featuring red & green superheroes just makes sense! Flash of genius, eh?
In another bit of news, still not official, Jason Momoa (Khal Drogo!) has been cast as Aquaman in the upcoming Batman vs Superman: Dawn Of Justice.
Now this is a good bit of casting for the actor’s physical presence. It even works for the fact that Aquaman is more of a supporting player in the Justice League — Jason Momoa hasn’t proven to be a great leading man but is an excellent supporting player (Conan vs Game of Thrones).
So if true, this could very well work considering he will be introduced in a movie with DC’s Big Three in it: the movie headlines Superman & Batman and also introduces Wonder Woman. The challenge will be to make a superhero whose powers are telepathically communicating with fish and breathing underwater into a formidable hero. Or they could just make him seriously-done-funny comic relief, as he’s been mostly depicted in fan-art/stories. Unlike Marvel though, who clearly went with a pedigree of actors (Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, etc.) mixed with eye-candy (Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson), Warner Bros. seem to be mostly aiming for unproven actors (Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa). As a DC fan, let’s hope Warner Bros. get’s the one thing right which they mostly do: blockbuster franchises!
