Warner Bros. (Left, Right), Marvel Entertainment (Center)
Well played, Warner Bros. Just when everyone thinks that Robert Downey Jr.’s potential return as Tony Stark is the biggest news of the week—well, if someone can return before they’ve actually left, considering he’s still signed up for the next two Avengers movies—you go and drop the names, dates, and casting announcements for no fewer than 10 movies during a conference call. Well played indeed. Here are the highlights of the week’s superhero movie news.
SUPER IDEA: Warner’s Making a Lot of Superhero Movies Over The Next Five Years
Warner Bros. has finally unveiled plans for its DC Comics properties on the big screen. We all knew that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was coming in 2016, but during a conference call yesterday Warners CEO Kevin Tsujihara announced it’ll be joined by a Suicide Squad movie directed by David Ayer. In 2017, there will be a solo Wonder Woman movie and the first of two Justice League movies. The following year Warner Bros. will release The Flash and Aquaman, with Ezra Miller and Jason Momoa in the lead roles, respectively. In 2019, we’ll get Shazam and Justice League Part Two (Really, that’s the title), with 2020 offering up a new Green Lantern movie and a solo Cyborg movie, starring Ray Fisher. Yes, we’re already talking about movies that’ll be coming out six years from now.
Why this is super: Beyond the simple fact of Warner’s stepping up and declaring its intentions, there’s a lot to unpack here. Warner Bros. has beaten Marvel to the punch of not only a solo female-led superhero movie, but also superhero movies with non-white leads: Aquaman and Shazam, and possibly even Green Lantern, depending which Lantern they choose to focus on. More to the point, the scale of this announcement shows that Marvel will very soon have a serious competitor in the superhero movie business, one that’s in it for the long haul and may even outpace Marvel in terms of production. The official announcement of these movies hinted that even more DC projects could be revealed for the time period, including solo Batman and Superman projects. The race is on. Or, rather, it will be on in 2016.
SUPER IDEA … MAYBE: Captain America 3 Will Have Cap Take on Iron Man
So it turns out that Robert Downey Jr. might not be making a fourth Iron Man movie—because he’s actually in talks to appear in the third Captain America instead … as the bad guy, oddly enough. According to Variety, the Marvel movies are expected to follow the direction of the 2006 comic book series Civil War, with Stark and Cap coming to blows over whether or not superheroes should register their identities with authorities. (This is a heavy-handed gun control metaphor, everyone.)
Is this super?: On the plus side: More Robert Downey Jr. playing himself in a suit of superheroic armor! On the slightly more ambivalent side: There’s a risk in bringing the Civil War storyline to movies, and not just because the comic book was about as subtle as someone dropping an anvil on your head. For one thing, it arguably turned Iron Man into a bad guy and turned many readers against him for awhile, and that seems like a road that movie audiences might not appreciate. For another, do we really want to see another movie where Cap fights against a corrupt system he’s already entirely complicit with, using only his unshakable moral system, chiseled jaw, and utter lack of personality? Wasn’t that exactly what happened last time, as good as it was? For now, let’s chalk it up to “To Be Continued,” instead of passing judgment. Isn’t that how superhero stories should end, anyway?
Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara Jae C. Hong / AP
SUPER IDEA: Michael Keaton Becoming Batman Again
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly , Michael Keaton said he’d play Bruce Wayne again “in a heartbeat”—as long as Tim Burton was directing. “He started everything, and some of the guys who have done these movies since then don’t say that, and they’re wrong,” Birdman star added.
Why this is super: There are many who feel that Christopher Nolan did the best Batman movies, but Burton definitely made the most interesting ones (Batman Returns, anyone?). The idea of Burton and Keaton re-teaming now to do another one is very exciting indeed, even if it is almost entirely unlikely to happen considering that whole Ben Affleck thing. But we can dream…
SUPER IDEA: Hawkeye In A Solo Movie? Sure, Why Not?
During a Reddit AMA, Jeremy Renner backtracked on earlier comments about his Marvel character going it alone. “Am I interested?” he wrote in response to the prospect being raised. “Always have been interested. I always love Clint, and in the last Avengers: Age of Ultron, we got to dive into him some more. Very excited about the outcome of it, and where it can go in the future.” It’s ultimately up to Marvel, he said. “It all comes down to … how the puppeteers at Marvel can manifest a story that’s worthy of a solo movie. Not sure what that is, or how that is, but I’m confident they can do whatever they want, if they want to do it.”
Why this is super: If someone at Marvel Studios hasn’t thought about trying to adapt Matt Fraction and David Aja’s Hawkeye series for the big screen yet, we’d be very surprised. And if they haven’t, it’s clearly time to start.
SUPER IDEA: Darkness. No Parents.
Nevermind all the other DC news: A movie featuring Will Arnett’s Lego Batman is being fast-tracked, according to reports. It’s going to be directed by Chris McKay, who was the animation supervisor on The Lego Movie, with that movie’s writers acting as executive producers. It’s likely to hit theaters in 2017.
Why this is super: If you saw The Lego Movie, you know why. If you didn’t, then you should really watch The Lego Movie, because it is—if you’ll pardon the cliche—awesome. More importantly, you’ll get to meet the none-more-dark Batman, who is as vain, lacking in self-awareness, and hilarious as you’ve always suspected the Dark Knight would be. More of that just might be the best movie news of the year.
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