Yesterday we reported that a seemingly throaway line in an LA Times report about incoming Warner Bros. studio president Jeff Robinov hinted that a new Justice League movie was in the works. The reaction to that single line has caused the newspaper to revisit the subject, giving a bit more info on exactly what Warner Bros. is up to, saying the studio has both Justice League and a reinvented Batman on its mind.
Everyone agrees that Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy should remain as a standalone entity, so after that ends next year with The Dark Knight Rises, it’s time for the character to be rebooted (Christian Bale has always said he’s out after part 3 anyway). Fans will be happy to hear though that Nolan will remain on board as a producer, although he will not be directing the reboot. Here’s what Jeff Robinov had to say: “We have the third Batman, but then we’ll have to reinvent Batman… Chris Nolan and [producing partner and wife] Emma Thomas will be producing it, so it will be a conversation with them about what the next phase is.”
There’s not much more info on Justice League, other than that the script is being developed with hopes to release the movie in 2013. He also mentioned that superhero projects such as The Flash and Wonder Woman, which are currently being written, could serve as spin-offs after the Justice League of America.
Although the LA Times piece doesn’t say it directly, it does rather sound like Warner is keen on creating its own universe of characters in the same way Marvel has for The Avengers. It would seem logical that with a new Superman movie coming next year, Henry Cavill will be signed to play Clark Kent in Justice League and that the superhero team movie will act as a springboard for any reinvention of Batman they come up with. And if Nolan has is producing Superman and the Batman reboot, does that mean they really want him to oversee the entirety of Warner’s DC output? It would certainly appear that way.
Only time will tell what actually happens, but it’s all very intriguing, and suggests that finally the studio is going to push forward with exploiting its impressive roster of superhero characters, having been rather left in the dust by Marvel except for the Batman franchise.