As of this moment, I have been sent five e-mails that offer up variations on the following theme:
“Ha ha I knew you were a liar and Joseph Gordon Levitt is NOT BATMAN! HA HA!”
You guys are cute. Here’s the thing, though… while I have no doubt El Mayimbe’s latest piece on what’s happening at Warner Bros is factually accurate, I also have no doubt that things are changing weekly at Warner when it comes to the future of their DC Universe movies, and that the piece I wrote about Joseph Gordon-Levitt was accurate when I wrote and published it.
I can’t imagine what the development meetings on “Justice League” have been like for the last year or so, since the release of “The Avengers,” but I’m guessing it’s been an exercise in both optimism and frustration. I think they have every right to be optimistic based on all the great characters they own under the DC banner, and they absolutely should be frustrated because from an outsider’s perspective, it looks like the entire company is asleep at the wheel.
Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale spent a lot of energy last summer making sure everyone knew that they were done with Batman and were never going to make another one. The end of the film, controversial among Batman fans, implied that Bruce Wayne was done being Batman and Joseph Gordon Levitt’s character inherited the mantle, presumably to pick up the fight for Gotham’s soul. I really love our last image of Bruce Wayne, happy and free and perfectly smitten with Selina Kyle. I’d hate to think of that being thrown away just to put Christian Bale back in the Batsuit.
That’s what Mayimbe is reporting this morning, by the way.
He reports that Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale are negotiating to come onboard… something. The report seems a little fuzzy regarding some key points, but I’ll cover the ones that interested me most. The report says that Christopher Nolan has been put in charge of the entire onscreen DC Universe, and that the plan is to get Bale to suit up again and join Superman to put together a team. Mayimbe’s also saying David Goyer may be onboard to write the film, which makes logical sense if you’ve been following his career or Nolan’s.
I love that Warner Bros. is over the moon enthusiastic for “Man Of Steel.” I would love to take my kids to see an amazing Superman movie in theater, and it’s sounding more and more like that’s the case. I’m so excited to see the action in the film, which has been described to me as “spectacular,” but I’m also excited to see how Cavill plays Clark Kent. Thats just as important to me as the red-caped version of the character. And, again, if this really is the huge monster hit that Warner is hoping for, then there’s a good chance Cavill will be playing The Big Blue Boy Scout for the ‘Justice League’ movie as well, with Warner making sure to uber-hype the idea of Bale back in the suit versus Cavill’s Superman.
We’ll obviously have much more on “Justice League” and any other superhero movie that Warner Bros tries to make, and we’ve got our fingers crossed that if Nolan, Bale, and Goyer are all part of the all-star team, then this proves to be a truly inspired new take on the basic premise.
At this point, no release date has been announced, and Warner Bros probably isn’t going to officially lay out their entire release schedule until they know for sure if they’re making the movie.
We certainly hope so.