WI: DC Movies in the Marvel Style

Warner Brothers takes note of the success of the DCAU, and a crazy idea hits them - what if they dared to do something similar with live action?

A productive conversation with Bruce Timm and Paul Dini leads to plans for the DC Cinematic universe are born.

When do you envision this conversation happening? If Dini is given that kind of influence-we're looking at a Batman Beyond franchise rather than the Batman Begins franchise-which considering Batman Begin's lasting influence has the potential to alter a lot of elements of the superhero genre in the genre's current form in terms of tone and focus.

I know that you don't like Nolan's films-but I think Batman had to be rebooted in more or less the direction Nolan took him in 2005. The Burton/Schumacher franchise couldn't be revived or saved after Batman and Robin. Also-doing so would have been a bit of a waste in that that franchise had killed off most of Batman's enemies up to that point. I'm glad the 2000's had their own Joker and Two-Face to contrast with what Burton and Schumacher had done-and with a Batman Beyond franchise those characters couldn't appear because they'd be dead. Even if they came back as hallucinations or something you'd be stuck with how Burton and Schumacher defined those characters. In the Joker's case that's not as much of a problem-but in a toned down franchise the return of Tommy Lee Jone's Two-Face would look out of place.

Also having a sequel to a 2005 Batman film come out in 2007 is a terrible idea. Every time a studio has tried to produce a sequel to a superhero film that quickly the result has been a disaster unless the films were completed at the same time. Batman and Robin, the Amazing Spider-Man II, Iron Man II all suffer from a rushed production cycle. If you only have two years-you have considerably less time to do all the production work that a major film requires
 
I really don't think that's true. TDK's production only started in earnest in 2006, following the release of Nolan's Prestige. Keep Nolan focused on Batman (or have another director helm it, while keeping Jonah Nolan and Goyer on the script), and you can get it a year early, I'm sure.

A Superman sequel in two years might be a bit tougher, but who knows what Abrams had in mind.
 
When do you envision this conversation happening? If Dini is given that kind of influence-we're looking at a Batman Beyond franchise rather than the Batman Begins franchise-which considering Batman Begin's lasting influence has the potential to alter a lot of elements of the superhero genre in the genre's current form in terms of tone and focus.

I know that you don't like Nolan's films-but I think Batman had to be rebooted in more or less the direction Nolan took him in 2005. The Burton/Schumacher franchise couldn't be revived or saved after Batman and Robin. Also-doing so would have been a bit of a waste in that that franchise had killed off most of Batman's enemies up to that point. I'm glad the 2000's had their own Joker and Two-Face to contrast with what Burton and Schumacher had done-and with a Batman Beyond franchise those characters couldn't appear because they'd be dead. Even if they came back as hallucinations or something you'd be stuck with how Burton and Schumacher defined those characters. In the Joker's case that's not as much of a problem-but in a toned down franchise the return of Tommy Lee Jone's Two-Face would look out of place.

I imagine Timm would check Dini somewhat - certainly on the Batman movies, since Timm was one of the major architects. Honestly, my DREAM Batman movie would be a live action, feature length adaptation of one of the better Batman TAS episodes - imagine a movie of Heart of Ice!

As far as when, there actually were some small talks between Justice League and Justice League Unlimited at WB - the ideas were promptly dismissed as too expensive for too little gain. It would NEVER work in live action, and there simply isn't enough interest in superhero movies :rolleyes:

The Fact WB was up to their necks in Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings money at that point also likely made dismissing the idea easier.

Honestly, I love Batman Begins - its still pretty comic booky, and hadn't gone overboard with the grimdark. If Nolan had kept that similar style and tone in his other movies - and not thrown any hopes of a greater Dc Universe under the bus - you could still see something similar.

Plus, you'd avoid the trap Nolan got into after Dark Knight - despite appearances, Batman isn't too realistic either, and in going for hard realism, you cut off access to most of his Rogue's Gallery. That's how come we ended up with a movie with an inexplicably Arab Bane with a British accent, as opposed to say, Mr Freeze or the Penguin.
 
Well the other problem is that Nolan reportedly viewed most of Batman's other villains as variations on the Joker theme which he thought had already been covered by the Dark Knight. There's nothing too outlandish about the Penguin in a Nolan film context. I don't think he's suited to be the lead antagonist for the third film-but if Nolan had wanted to use him he could have done so in a way that fit even the Dark Knight's tone. No-Burton's Penguin wouldn't have fit-but if Nolan could fit in Harvey Dent he could have fit in a version of Oswald Cobblepot. He just wouldn't have been the main villain-he'd either be a cameo or have a role similar to what the Scarecrow had in Batman Begins.


You need to accomplish all of these things at once.

1. Escalate conditions beyond where the Joker left them in 2008. Essentially-Gotham City has to be destroyed for the stakes to be higher than they were in the Dark Knight.
2. You need to resolve the impact of the Dark Knight. Batman as fugitive-the Harvey Dent lie etc. Batman must be rehabilitated.
3. Create a convincing end for the franchise-Batman either dies or retires permanently.
4. Villain cannot be in any way similar to the Joker but must nonetheless be destructive enough to fit into point 1.

Given those conditions I'm not sure the Dark Knight Rises could have been much different than the film was or who a better villain might have been.
 
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