"I Am Legend" Predicted Meeting of Superman and Batman
Monday, July 22, 2013 at 3:01PM Glenn here. Long before it was announced at Comic-Con that the Man of Steel would join forces with The Dark Knight, Superman and Batman were already joining forces on the big screen...
That's a shot from Francis Lawrence's 2007 apocalyptic zombie flick I Am Legend. The timeline proved to be a little off - Legend is set in 2012, but the Superman/Batman flick won't reach cinemas until sometime in 2015 - but that's still pretty good foreshadowing, don't you think? Even the artwork they revealed is virtually identical.
What do we think of this news, anyway? Rash damage control after audiences proved less enthused about Man of Steel than initially hoped (I very much enjoyed it for whatever that's worth), or genuinely exciting meeting of the brawn ala The Avengers? And was Warner Bros just being cheeky when they inserted this fake billboard easter egg into I Am Legend or was it their sly their plan all along?
Reader Comments (13)
It's (pretty clearly) damage control. It's BAD damage control when they really should be slamming budgets down to get more films out the door and, maybe, stressing they want to pursue a concept of a Justice League team made entirely of baseline humans (ideal line-up for that: Question (Buddhist or Conspiracy Theorist (JLU animated show), Vic Sage, let's say actor is 35-40), Green Arrow (Oliver Queen, ex-conservative rich man making some sort of shot at liberalism, though not necessarily succeeding (taken from Green Lantern/Green Arrow) and let's say actor is 35-40), Batman (Bruce Wayne, man brooding over loss of parents at eight and let's say actor is 40-45), Nightwing (Dick Grayson, Batman's first son, former circus kid and less damaged over it due to a mixture of Batman's help and being slightly older than Bruce was at his parents' death), Batgirl (Cassandra Cain, bred as an assassin by her father through having a perfect read of body and facial language and ran due to the feeling of someone dying being horrifying to her, ultimately ending up with Batman through a series of events and let's say actress is 16-22) and Oracle as research and tech support (Barbara Gordon, the uber hacker of the DCU who hops in and out of guiding the heroes, subtly implying an even larger universe for her to help out with, actor would be around 25-30.) The name of this first Justice League movie? It's this: Justice League: Contents Are Fragile.
I'd say it's bad damage control and that this should be the lineup they Warner Bros. builds up to for their first Justice League movie, in stark contrast to Marvel's bombardment of powers.
Batman (Bruce Wayne)
Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) (Yes, I know claims of "Hawkeye knockoff" that'll emanate from the mainstream, but I stand by this, especially since Warner Bros. is pushing him everywhere.)
The Question (Vic Sage)
Batgirl (Cassandra Cain)
Nightwing (Dick Grayson)
Oracle (Barbara Gordon)
The name: Justice League: Contents are Fragile.
(I thought I entered a more detailed version, but just in case, here's a condensed version.)
I never thought of the damage control angle but it would make sense. Personally, while I would love to see a Batman/Superman film, I think it's a bad idea to make it the sequel to MOS. While I certainly had my problems with it, I thought MOS built a solid enough foundation for a new SUPERMAN franchise and a straight sequel could've been a much better film. Also, I'm just not a fan of rebooting the Batman franchise so soon.
I loved Nolan's Trilogy and it'll only be three years after TDKR when we get this team up. The whole things screams of desperation on DC's part to play catch up with Marvel. Maybe if they made a GOOD Green Lantern and actually decided to make a Wonder Woman film, they wouldn't have to stoop to such tactics.
Let's take a roll call on my six and what the build up would be:
Batman (the soup to nuts big selling point, doesn't need to be the "PC" part of the package. Gets the most expensive solo film before the reboot, but that would still be a, relatively, cheap $80 million.)
Question (Vic Sage) (Though white, would hopefully be rendered as a Buddhist. Personally, Buddhism fits with his mask (if your mask is your totem, his is blank facelessness, which fits well with the Buddhist thing) far more cohesively than Ditko's original Objectivist take, where something like Rorshach's more eye-catching black and white mask makes far more sense.)
Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) (also white, but the fact that his company ultimately failed provides tension with the sucessful Wayne)
Nightwing (Dick Grayson) (nothing named "Robin" has turned out that well in live-action yet, so I hope they'd kick off a Justice League movie post his identity shift.)
Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) (Female of Asian descent, giving them alternate PC points than what Marvel's shooting for. Possibly allows the Batgirl legacy to be re-introduced at DC's next reboot of their comics. Steph I can sort of get (oh, white female who's the daughter of a "lame" villain who we're going to ban from appearing in our mainstream seeking reboot), but I don't think anyone can, at all, excuse the accidental racism of completely elimnating Cass.)
Oracle (Barbara Gordon) (Female who spat in the face of disability to become something kind of inspiring. Is still able to fight, in some capacity, from her wheelchair.)
So: Two females, one of Asian descent and one who's disabled to Four straight, white and able bodied males. Let the massively uncomfortable Justice League movie begin.
volvagia -- funny that these 'knockoff' claims would happen about Green Arrow and Hawkeye (and I agree they would) since most DC characters predate Marvel characters and in this case by 25 years ;)
daniel -- maybe i misunderstood the news. for some reason i thought it was a different film than Man of Steel 2 (but i'll admit i haven't been paying much attention since i am SO tired of Batman
who has had more than his share of the movie action in the past 25 years
If it means that they make one superhero movie instead of two, I'm for it.
Nathaniel R - Well its coming in 2015 so unless WB squeezes in a MOS sequel before then, it will be what MOS2 should be. Also, as much as I like the character, I can understand your Batman fatigue. They need a LONG break from The Dark Knight but JL is on WB minds, so that's not going to happen.
One last thing, what did you think of MOS? In your Best Supporting Actress prediction for one of Amy Adams' roles, you said her Lois Lane was dull - which is a fair observation, even though I thought she was decent - so I assume you've seen the film.
Yes, the film is working as a technical sequel to Man of Steel. Just with Batman.
Daniel -- i'm on a podcast coming out Wednesday discussing it for an hour so i'll hold my comments till then :)
Or, could this be Warner Bros telling us they made a zombie and they plan on releasing it in 2015? Im not old enough to buy guns, so im screwed. Anybody else started preparing?
I suppose the Superman/Batman movie will work as much as a sequel to Man of Steel, as The Avengers is a sequel to Iron Man 2 (and of course the other Marvel films) just with less characters.
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