Rumor: Nolan to produce Justice League film

[Truth.]

and WB wants Bale to return

The guys over at Latino-Review have decided to spend this fine evening dropping an atomic-bomb-level rumor that will send fanboys into a tizzy. The site is reporting three major developments when it comes to Justice League and Warner Bros. trying to figure out how they’re going to combat Disney’s one-two franchise punch of Marvel and Star Wars. So far, Warners has been struggling with their superheroes. They’re all out of Batman, and while there’s some very early positive buzz on Man of Steel, their highly-anticipated Justice League movie reportedly had to go back to square one early last month when Will Beale‘s script was tossed out.

But Warner Bros. isn’t giving up, and according to Latino-Review, Christopher Nolan is coming to the rescue. And so is Zack Snyder. And they want Christian Bale to put the cape and cowl back on.

In a video report, Latino-Review’s El Mayimbe says,

“Christopher Nolan has completely taken over the DCU at Warner Bros. Anything having to do with these super heroes, goes through him now.”

Rule #1: No smiling.

Rule #2: When in doubt, use gritty realism because comic books are for children.

I kid…slightly. Look at screenwriter David Goyer‘s recent comments on Man of Steel, which was produced by Nolan, and it seems like they’re taking two super heroes at opposite ends of the personality spectrum, and going with the exact same approach.

Speaking of Man of Steel, Snyder could be making himself an integral part of the process as well:

“So like with Man of Steel, [Nolan's] going to be involved with godfathering/producing while Zack Snyder will be co-producing and will possibly be the director.”

Assuming this is true, then Warner Bros. must have a tremendous amount of faith in Man of Steel or Nolan has simply said, “Snyder is my guy. Deal with it.”

Then here’s the “kicker”, according to LR:

“They’re shaping this as a vehicle for Christian Bale to reprise his role as Batman and join Henry Cavill‘s Superman in the Justice League movie.”

After the video, Latino-Review goes on to say that this may not necessarily be for Justice League, but for World’s Finest (for non-comic book readers, it means a Batman/Superman-only movie). This seems like kind of a boneheaded idea for a few reasons. First off, Nolan would have to be willing to undermine the emotional underpinning of his last Batman movie:

“Sorry, Catwoman! I know you’re really hot and we’re having a great time gallivanting around Europe especially since everyone thinks I’m dead and in no way recognizes one of the world’s wealthiest men dining in a café, but a flying gentleman just came over and asked if I would help him fight crime, so I’m going to kick Robin out of the Batcave, take back all my stuff, hope that none of the orphans sitting on top of the Batcave notice, and all will be well. Ta-ta!”

Assuming a writer can successfully find a way out of that corner (and Nolan is willing to obliterate the character arc he established), Warner Bros. probably wouldn’t want Bale for only one movie, so would he would have to be willing to sign on for a multi-picture deal. El Mayimbe points to an interview where Bale said he would consider a fourth film. Faced with the opportunity to establish a new Batman, Warner Bros. would be clingingly madly to the hope that they could get the old Batman for as long as possible, not just one more movie. To put it another way: Do you think Warner Bros. would be fine getting Bale and Cavill together for World’s Finest and then ditching Bale for Justice League?

Appraising this rumor, I think the most credible aspect is Nolan attaching himself as an overseer of DCU movies. However, it’s clearly not going to be at the level of someone like Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige whose sole job is to manage the details of the Marvel Movie Universe. Nolan’s a filmmaker. He’s already moving towards his next movie, Interstellar. When it came to Man of Steel, he helped oversee the script and the director, and then went away. Warner Bros. needs their own Kevin Feige, and while Nolan may have the name recognition, he’s not available to do all the work that’s required to make DC movies rival Marvel movies.

As for the other rumors, we’ll see. I’m hearing positive stuff on Man of Steel, and if it’s a hit, Warner Bros. will definitely want to keep Zack Snyder around for at least Man of Steel 2. And as for getting Bale back, it seems like a pipe dream, and a misguided one at that.

[Pronay]

“Sorry, Catwoman! I know you’re really hot and we’re having a great time gallivanting around Europe especially since everyone thinks I’m dead and in no way recognizes one of the world’s wealthiest men dining in a café, but a flying gentleman just came over and asked if I would help him fight crime, so I’m going to kick Robin out of the Batcave, take back all my stuff, hope that none of the orphans sitting on top of the Batcave notice, and all will be well. Ta-ta!”

[Combo7]

Kind of sad to see WB flailing around so desperately. No way would Bale be party to this.

[ric]

honestly the way the dc comics work (as i understand it) is really kind of helping them here. they just start and stop. the joker? oh hes in arkham...oh now hes out. thats fine. and awesome. unlike the marvel stuff it doesnt make sense to apply the standard of super-continuity where everything is explained. stay the course. the marvel movies fall into the pit trap where they all seem the same in a lot of ways that arent really that awesome.

that said its not really a huge huge deal to write yourself into getting another bat suit and toys etc. fucking guy is bruce fucking wayne (or bruce waynes heir apparent) you put in some shit about hidden money or something and problem solved. you dont even need wayne himself all you need is fox or alfred since either of them could have more than easily squirreled away some part of a vast fortune/armory given who they were in the family business and they technically havent really set up the new guy to be the new batman for 100%sies. really if you wanted to bring back bale you could kill off cat woman or include her in the shit too.

in any case. superman batman movie would be fine if they did it well. i dont really know how else dc plans on doing justice league (which in my opinion can wait for something more organic to come along at this point). marvel heroes are more awesome really in the comic book sense. dc should stick with batman and superman as separate movies right now and see if they can bring wonderwoman into the fold at some point and maybe just maybe the flash and maybe just maybe aquaman. the big thing here though is that the batman movies are just flat out better in terms of going for more substance. but only 16 year olds give a fuck about the green lantern right now and i dont really see how you can change that into something dark as the motherfucker builds green constructs with his fucking mind and that is his power right now and his villain soaks up fear for christ sake. theyd really have to tone that shit down. and the thing about batman is that his world has limitations and thats what makes him as a character and his hero-ness and movies so good is because hes not flying the fuck around solving problems like that. hes outwitting outinspiring outteching and straight up outdoing his opponents all in the shadows of the city he protects and inspires. all superman has to do is feel ok about himself to fly across the world and knock some motherfuckers head off flying through a bajillion and two bullets

if justice league no batman. i guess thats what it comes down to in my opinion. batman is fucking awesome by himself anyway. theres more than enough sweet shit about gotham and batman and his villains to make it its own rebooting franchise. youve got aquaman, superman, wonderwoman, the flash, green lantern. these guys make sense. youd have to reboot batman to be more like the punisher really to be the non-powered semi-hero there. hes around. hes entirely on his own agenda. he probably kills people. etc etc or youd have to make most each and every one of those heroes more anti-hero or vigilante. superman vigilante? could be sweet. could be the direction the shit needs. aquaman? clear vigilante candidate but at what point do you start basically aping the marvel stuff here?

will really need to see superman in order to get a feel for how this thing will work out. but my vote: no justice league. forget about it. stick with making solid franchises with better content and more emotional pull

[Reggie]

The only good news here is that Warner Bros. is considering a World's Finest film before or possibly in lieu of Justice League.

Nolan's Gotham City is in a world not populated by superheroes. If it were, then Superman would have frozen Bane to the spot, Green Lantern would have whisked the nuke off to Alpha Centauri, and the Flash would have repaired the city at super-speed. Holding a city hostage is precisely the kind of scenario in which the Justice League involves itself, and the fact that they did not is proof enough that they don't exist in Nolan's films.

I don't think Warner Bros. needs to ape The Avengers in this case. You could make a World's Finest movie without any preamble. In fact, just take Dave Gibbons' and Steve Rude's World's Finest graphic novel and turn it into a screenplay. Then you've got the Joker, you've got Luthor, you've got Alfred buddying up with Lois Lane, you've got Commissioner Gordon and Perry White trading tobacco smoke, it's a family affair. Forget all of this origin movie nonsense for a couple of characters who have been around for over seventy years and whose origins have been detailed countless times in comic books, cartoons, and films.

I agree with ric's first point whole-heartedly. DC's compulsion to maintain a continuity for its universe is its downfall. Let the iconic characters be icons. The audience isn't going to faint dead away if they see Clark Kent text messaging Jimmy Olsen.

[Tommy Bunz]

Kind of sad to see WB flailing around so desperately. No way would Bale be party to this.

From what I can gather on the internet, he's made at least $50 million off the Batman movies, and the number could be close to double that. You're out of your mind.

[Reggie]

Yeah getting Bale back on board is the easy part. I'm sure there's a dollar amount enticing enough.

[Req]

swear i read this bleary eyed as JJ Abrams to produce Justice League and was finna kill someone.

[Money Daniels]

I could buy Superman/Green Lantern existing in Nolan's Batman universe as long as it's established that they didn't show up on the scene until after the events of the Dark Knight Rises.

[Tweak Da Leak]

Shit if its a prelude to the formation they can just say Superman was battling a bigger threat in Luther, while Green Lantern was handling some outerspace threat. I don't think they should make it in Gotham though, I'd want to see Nolan's take on Metropolis.

[907]

Slightly off topic but not really, anyone else here watch that animated Dark Knight movie that came out recently? It was pretty damn good. The only real flaw was that they didn't do any of the inner dialog from the books, so his thoughts and motivations aren't quite as clear.

[citizen]

can't they put batman the character into a justice league movie without having to address the story arc of nolan's movies?

[Tweak Da Leak]

yeah 907 that was solid

I still think Mask of the Phantasm is the best animated batman flick

[The Afronaut]

can't they put batman the character into a justice league movie without having to address the story arc of nolan's movies?

I feel like this is would be best. New Batman.

[Combo7]

Kind of sad to see WB flailing around so desperately. No way would Bale be party to this.

From what I can gather on the internet, he's made at least $50 million off the Batman movies, and the number could be close to double that. You're out of your mind.

You know more about this stuff than I do, but Bale always struck me as the kind of actor who considers himself an artiste and wouldn't want to demean himself by being part of a goofy superhero team-up film. If Depp can put the brakes on the Pirates films, it isn't a stretch to think that Bale would be hesitant about an ill-conceived cross-over movie.

Wasn't he adamant about not wanting Batman to have a partner (Robin) in the Nolan trilogy?

[alpha]

I wouldnt say the Terminator led by McG film turned out the way he hoped.

fwiw, I just don't see how this works in any part of Nolans TDK universe. I'm sure they'll be some sort of teaser at the end of the new Supes movies to give a better clue of the plan.

[Truth.]

pretty sure a new Batman will end up being cast, I don't think they will have this connected to Nolans trilogy at all

[Tommy Bunz]

I'm not claiming to know the inside workings of Bale's mind, and certainly he likes to occasionally take challenging roles but like alpha said he's not above taking a role for a massive paycheck (he got 9 mil up front for Terminator plus a cut of the box office). If Nolan was producing and there was a respectable director attached, I'm sure they could put a figure in front of him to keep him in the role.

And by the way, they are making a 5th Pirates movie, with Depp.
http://www.hitfix.com/news/johnny-depp- ... ly-10-2015

[Combo7]

I know, but Disney wanted to start cranking it out immediately after the fourth one wrapped. Depp told them to chill.

[Cash Rulz]

can't they put batman the character into a justice league movie without having to address the story arc of nolan's movies?

I feel like this is would be best. New Batman.

Yeah.