LOOKING BEYOND BATMAN
DC is optimistic Justice League will help expand its universe
Peace never reigns in the pages of DC Comics. There’s always a world to be saving, a cataclysm to avert. The making of the DC superhero team-up film Justice League was hardly any more tranquil.
Made in the wake of the disappointment surrounding its predecessor, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and the critically panned Suicide Squad, Justice League was, like a jetliner given new wings in mid-air, retooled on the fly. Warner Bros. sought to lighten the tone of Zack Snyder’s grandiose and muscle-bound DC universe — a much-publicized pivot that came just as tragedy was striking.
Snyder, the 300 filmmaker, had overseen this latest series of DC movies starting with Man of Steel, but he stepped down after Justice League had been shot after the death of his daughter. Joss Whedon, the Avengers director known for snappy dialogue who had already been helping to punch up the script, was brought in to steer the film through postproduction and two months of reshoots. Writer Geoff Johns and producer Jon Berg had already been brought in to brighten Justice League and overhaul the wider DC slate with a more optimistic tone.
But that’s not been all. Ben Affleck, who stars as Batman, withdrew from directing a standalone Batman film, while also combating criticism over his behaviour with women in the past. Whedon’s exwife Kai Cole called him a hypocrite for espousing feminist ideals but not living up to them. Jason Momoa had to apologize for a 2011 joke about rape and Game of Thrones. And just weeks before release, Warner Bros. severed ties with one of the film’s chief financiers, Brett Ratner’s RatPac-Dune company, after sexual assault allegations were levelled against Ratner. Gal Gadot, who plays Wonder Woman, has reportedly insisted Ratner have no connection with any future Wonder Woman film.
Justice League is the kind of production that, one suspects, its makers will celebrate the release of with a stiff drink.
“I’ve probably had a stiff drink along the way,” producer Charles Roven says, chuckling. “It’s been different in the sense that we’ve had some sadness along the happyjoy of making the movie. But for the most part it’s been an incredibly positive experience.”
Now, Warner Bros. and DC are hoping the finished Justice League doesn’t show any Frankenstein-like scars from its tumultuous creation.
“The goal is to make sure when you’re watching the movie, it all feels cohesive,” says Roven, the veteran producer of the Dark Knight trilogy. “That imprint that Joss had, some aspect of it is going to come out in the direction, but the actors are already pretty much down the road on their arcs. Let’s just say 80, 85 per cent of the movie is what was originally shot. There’s only so much you can do with other 15, 20 per cent of the movie.”
It’s also a turning point in the larger DC cinematic world. Justice League finds Affleck’s Bruce Wayne, in the wake of Superman’s apparent death, gathering together the League to fight a new enemy. That means pushing not just Wonder Woman to the fore, but also Miller’s Flash, Momoa’s Aquaman and Ray Fisher’s Cyborg.
Gadot and Wonder Woman are a big reason for optimism in the franchise, after its critically acclaimed, zeitgeist-grabbing $412.6-million box office success domestically. Though the epicentre of DC Comics has always revolved around Batman and Superman, that’s starting to change.
Matt Reeves has taken over the Batman movie, but he’s starting fresh on the screenplay, making a release date several years off. That leaves open the possibility of further changes, even potentially Affleck’s casting. “From everything I know, he’s going to play that Batman,” Roven said. “They’re retooling the script, so I can’t really say anything for certain.”
The Superman sequel Man of Steel 2 also isn’t coming anytime soon, if at all. Roven says there’s no script but “various story ideas” are being kicked around.
On the front burner, however, is Aquaman, scheduled for release in December 2018, a Wonder Woman sequel due in 2019 (with director Patty Jenkins returning) and a Cyborg movie. Whedon is also prepping a Batgirl movie.