I’ve flown my DC fan flag in the past (though I’ve had few worthwhile occasions to fly it), and today’s double dose of DC rumor, courtesy of Latino Review, is helping to better my spirits when it comes to the Distinguished Competition.
First off, the buzz that Chris Pine is attached to play Hal Jordan (everyone’s faaaavorite GL) is still going strong. Pine must be looking for the next big thing now that his time with Star Trek is coming to an end, and since his stint as Jack Ryan didn’t take off, tossing his hat into the superhero game is a good bet. The bigger (and better) piece of rumor is that Pine won’t be the only headlining Green Lantern. He’ll be joined by fan-favorite John Stewart, the GL that was made popular by the Justice League animated series.
Not only do I think this is a good idea, but I think it sets the stage for what Green Lantern needs to be: a cop movie with intergalactic police officers. Do Lethal Weapon with power rings and you’ve got me sold. I think one of the biggest problems with the last Green Lantern is that it was a by-the-numbers hero story. Something we haven’t seen played out with superhero cinema is an old fashioned procedural, and though that formula may seem tired, injecting a spacey backdrop and alien perpetrators into the mix could lead to something incredibly fun and fresh.
The other big piece of news/rumor has to do with Batfleck’s first solo outing as the Caped Crusader (given the obvious title of The Batman). Supposedly, Warner Bros plans to stick The Batman in the November 2018 slot. That would put it in competition with Captain Marvel, Marvel’s first female-led film. Although I’m mostly supportive of Marvel and their grand cinematic experiment, I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t like to see some of the wind knocked out of their sails. It’s a bummer that it would be at the cost of Captain Marvel, but I can’t completely disagree with DC’s brutal business strategy. They’re not even close to playing second fiddle to the monolithic Marvel, so fighting dirty is definitely an option at this point.
Affleck is still being touted as the director of The Batman and his Argo writer Chris Terrio is still attached to the script (though I’m sure the response to Batman v Superman: Special Victims Unit might affect that). With Marvel sitting out Comic-Con this year, DC needs to beat their war chest hard and bring lots of thunder to Hall H if they want to prove they can stand up to the Marvel machine. Whether that means the films will be good or not, we’ll be waiting a while to see.
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