As the teaser states, I am a hardcore DC Man, and I just watched The Avengers for the first time at home. I was wowed once again by the incredible awesomeness that it was. It brings me so much joy and entertainment. I saw it in the theaters at least three times, maybe four, I honestly don't remember. I realized many things about it. First and foremost; It is a GREAT Action Movie. A truly great action movie. In that genre, it deserves it's spot on the All Time World-wide and Domestic Gross list.
Before I go on, let me express my views on the difference between a good movie, a great movie, and THE Great Movies. I think this is something we all need to keep in mind...
A Comic Book Movie does not need to be a great movie, and has barely a chance at being one of The Great Movie. The Dark Knight is one of Those Great Movies. I honestly think that it will be the only comic book movie to reach that status. As some Hollywood Elite have said, it is The Godfather of our time. I believe that to be true. But, I'm not here to talk about The Dark Knight, or The Dark Knight Rises(Which is fair to say is the Godfather Part 3 of the trilogy, no matter how much I love it, I can admit that.) To judge a movie is to judge it as a member of it's genre. As I said, The Avengers is a GREAT Action Movie, a Great Comic Book Movie-And that...is enough. It does not need to picked apart by "Nolanites," fanboys, or all-around fools. It is only as good as the filmmakers had the brains to make it. They knew their audience and they did as much as anyone could to cater to them. Beyond that, it's quite frankly your problem, or opinion if it wasn't enough. You can not apply the same criticisms to it that you would The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather, Schindlers List, Citizen Kane, or whatever you feel to be one of Those Great Movies.
That being said, let me move onto the major realization I reached tonight; Warner Brothers most likely does not have what it takes to make a better movie for The Justice League. We know little to nothing about what they might have in store, but it already has a gargantuan obstacle; It has to be as good or better than The Avengers. It absolutely has to. Any less and it will have been a huge waste of time. So what would make it better? Well, I don't think the answer lies in carbon copying Marvels "Phase" method. I believe they can come out the gate with a Justice League movie, and if they put everything into it, and take their time, it'll be as good as it could ever be. If you can't accept this as a possibility you are either a cynic or a fool. A good writer and director could make this happen.
Why? To answer that we have to look at what made The Avengers the success that it was. I know many people think that the build-up, the solo films, is an ultimate reason it worked as well as it did. I wouldn't be so foolish to understate that as a big reason, but not nearly as much as people think. The Box Office numbers would suggest that many people saw The Avengers without seeing all the other Phase One films. Hell, I had to force my girlfriend of the time to watch Captain America and Thor the night before we saw The Avengers and she told me it didn't really effect her enjoyment of The Avengers. I think she was lying and I'm no longer with her, so...Take that or leave it. My point is though, is that its pretty clear plenty of people saw, and enjoyed The Avengers as a movie on its own.
Why wouldn't they? It was very well crafted. Each character had a memorable, interesting, and insightful introduction, and a consistant characterization throughout the film. Then there's the BIG advantage. Their powers. It's simply awesome and exciting to see six different super heroes work together, use their powers in a variety of ways to defeat a foe. It didn't really matter that the force they were fighting were only powerful through numbers because numbers mean we get to see more of them completely obliterated in a rain of true epic superpowered glory. If you go to a superhero movie looking for something else...well, you probably forgot which genre you were going to see.
So...what would it take for DC to amaze us with a Justice League movie?
I gotta give a fellow editorialist a bit of credit here; JPFola26 has posted many editorials and fanfic on Wonder Woman and The Martian Manhunter. I don't necessarily agree with all of his ideas on the treatment of these characters but in them really lies the difference that could put The Justice League in the same or higher regard as The Avengers.
Wonder Woman is the ultimate female super hero. As powerful as Superman and somehow as human as Batman, despite being from a "different world." She would obviously be a female Thor, but with much more recognition going into the project than Thor did before his first film outting. Then, when it comes to a power we've yet to see on screen, The Martian Manhunter's incorporeal,shape-shifting, and mental powers has so much potential as a member of an awesome team.
To make The Justice League a success, Warner Brothers only needs to assemble a great array of creators, cast, and crew. It can work. I know it can. But if Hollywood has taught me anything its this...
Just because it CAN happen doesn't mean it will.
If DC and Warner Brothers focus solely on trying to cash in on what they probably see as a "trend" with these comic book movies, they will most likely look no further than what HAS made the most money, and not use the foresight to ponder what COULD make the most money. They need to carefully pick the attributes of The Avengers success that they can carry into a movie that highlights the attributes that make their Heroes wholly unique. Oh...and feature a Batman so unbelievably awesome we forget about Christian Bale for an hour or two.
Yeah, something like that.
Stay civil, True Believers.
-jjk2814