While Marvel was taking massive risks building its interconnected universe, Warner/DC seemed a lot more timid and unsure what to do with its major properties. Batman has been a major success, and while we’re getting a new Superman film, the impression is it’s only coming now to beat a deadline where Warner could have lost the screen rights.
A few years ago DC got to the point of casting a Justice League film with George Miller directing, before getting cold feet and backing off. Now the success of The Avengers has prompted them to bring the idea back to life, with Variety reporting that Will Beall has been hired to write it.
Beall is one of Warner’s favourite writers at the moment, having penned Gangster Squad and is currently working on a Lethal Weapon reboot and a Logans Run remake. There’s no news on what direction the Justice League film may take, or which characters may be involved, although it’s likely they try to get Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern and possibly more in there.
The idea with Miller’s film was to have a Batman and Superman in the movie which would run in parallel to Chris Nolan’s Dark Knight and (at the time) Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns. However with Nolan’s films coming to an end and Superman getting rebooted, it’s an opportunity for DC to try its own interconnected universe. Whether that will happen in yet to be seen.