Justice League was supposed to be the DCEU’s answer to The Avengers. It was and it wasn’t. It was in the sense that it brought together all the big characters from a shared comic book universe into one all-star movie. It wasn’t in the sense that making it was a disastrous and heartbreaking headache, and it underperformed so epically it called into question whether or not the DCEU could even survive.
The DCEU has survived, though, complete with news that its latest solo venture, Aquaman, has just become the highest grossing DC movie ever, outperforming even The Dark Knight Rises. But maybe they should be sticking to solo movies for a while now. That’s what filmmaker Patty Jenkins thinks, and she turned Wonder Woman into a runaway success, so DC brass should listen to her.
The director of 2003’s Monster-turned-DCEU savior talked to The Hollywood Reporter and, in a bit singled out by The A.V. Club, weighed in on when they should get the gang back together again.
“The Justice League movie, I find those movies to be extremely challenging. I think they are fantastic when they are well done,” Jenkins said. “But taking on all of those characters at the same time in the timeline … I sort of hope that we don’t do a Justice League movie for a little while, because I’m excited to see all of their movies. I want to see Aquaman 2, I want to see Flash.”
That means that, if DCEU execs listen to Jenkins, we won’t be seeing Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman and Aquaman and Cyborg and the Flash — and whoever else they can wrangle in the meantime — reuniting anytime soon.
In the same interview, Jenkins was asked about the third Wonder Woman, despite the fact that the second outing, Wonder Woman 1984, only wrapped production in December and won’t be in theaters for another year. All Jenkins said was that she didn’t want to do yet another period piece.
“I’m not planning to put it in the past again, because where are you going to go?” Jenkins said. “You have to go forward.” Does that mean Wonder Woman 3 will be some futuristic, perhaps even dystopian, misadventure? The answer is: No one knows right now, not even the woman who directed Charlize Theron to her Oscar.
(Via THR and The A.V. Club)