With Superman now a certified success, DC Studios can breathe a sigh of relief. DC’s co-heads James Gunn and Peter Safran can really start planning for the future. Reports are already coming out about how DC Studios hopes to fast-track Wonder Woman and Batman: The Brave and the Bold films. And Supergirl is already done filming. Once Gunn receives scripts he finds satisfying, that is. All of this is, of course, setting up the main course, which will be an eventual Justice League film uniting the main heroes. This time, the hope is that it’s a Justice League movie that’s done right, and does the iconic team, well, justice. And the key to how to pull that off might lie in the iconic Justice League animated series.
Say what you want about the DCEU Zack Snyder Justice League team, but it had a pretty solid lineup. Glaringly, however, it didn’t have a Green Lantern among its ranks (likely due to the 2011 Ryan Reynolds film flopping), nor a Martian Manhunter on the team. However, the latter did appear in cameo form in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Usually, the most iconic team rosters center on a “Big 7,” but the DCEU gave us only six. So in that regard, they started off on the wrong foot. On social media, Gunn has mentioned he’s a big fan of the DC Animated Universe. That DCAU encompassed Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyondand Justice League (later, Justice League Unlimited). This is why we would not be shocked to see the animated JL roster as our big-screen League.
So, which possible DCAU heroes will anchor the DCU’s new Justice League? Right now, our only clues are who appears in Superman and characters we know will appear in future announced projects. We know that Superman is obviously a part of this new universe. Eventually, Batman and Wonder Woman will be as well. Superman introduced us to Hawkgirl, and Lanterns on HBO Max will introduce the John Stewart version of Green Lantern. That leaves two major members of the animated JLU that remain a big question mark: the Martian Manhunter, and the Wally West version of the Flash. If the DCU brings in the latter two heroes anytime soon, then we think it’s all but confirmed the animated League will become our new live-action team.
Despite over 65 years of different Justice League teams in the comics, the lineup most well-known to people remains the animated version. No matter how popular a comic book may be, millions more people see a TV series or film than read a comic book. So, for mainstream audiences, the appeal of seeing that beloved roster, which many adults today grew up watching as kids, might be too hard to resist. The show proved that the group dynamic of that roster of heroes really works well together.
Of course, James Gunn (assuming he writes and directs this one), may look to the later animated version, Justice League Unlimited. That version had a truly massive grouping of characters, although the seven founders remained the core of the group, and the big decision makers. So maybe we’ll see Mister Terrific, Guy Gardner, Metamorpho, and Supergirl appear, even if they aren’t front and center. Maybe even Blue Beetle, who it seems DC may retcon into the new DCU, could be a part of it.
That might seem like a lot of characters, maybe too many. But Gunn just proved he can lead a rather large ensemble cast with Superman, which has over twelve main roles. We’re not saying his Justice League has to be that big in size. But Gunn has proven again he can pull off a sizable cast and give almost everyone something to do. No matter what, we are literally years away from a Justice League film. We don’t think Gunn and Peter Safran are going to rush into this like the old DCEU did. But Gunn is smart enough to know that the blueprint for how the League can work on screen already exists. The trick now is how to translate it into live-action.
About The Author
