Where Marvel Comics has seen its pantheon of characters celebrated both in 20 years of X-Men movies and 11 years of interconnected movies featuring the other major characters from the comics, DC Entertainment has limped along on the big screen, choosing to either go darker than the traditional comics in its adaptations or overlooking the core of its characters altogether. It’s had a better run on television. What we all probably want is something getting closer to the heart of why we loved the characters as kids. And if you want reminded of what that was, you’ll be happy to see that all nine seasons of the animated classic series Super Friends aka SuperFriends are streaming right now on DC Universe.
Although it still has that same look and feel of the recent Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice–it actually looks more like last year’s Suicide Squad–Warner Bros. revealed the latest team-up trailer for Justice League today at Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con at the San Diego Convention Center. This time the studio is smartly leaning on the success of Wonder Woman to reveal the inclusion of Themiscyra in the movie. We’ve seen Ben Affleck’s Batman, with his best work probably his cameos in Suicide Squad, and we’ve seen Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman this year in the first solo Wonder Woman title film. Jason Momoa’s Aquaman and Ezra Miller’s Flash have had some screen time in various images from Warner Bros. promoting this film, and the last trailer (here) highlighted Ray Fisher’s Cyborg. Now, in this nearly four-minute long trailer, they all get to be seen.
Justice League, another Zack Snyder creation handed off for last-minute clean-up work to Joss Whedon, arrives in theaters later this year along with Wonder Woman,Logan,Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, and Spider-man: Homecoming. Will Justice League deliver enough punch to equal The Avengers? Can Warner Bros. and DC Entertainment ever stand a chance at catching up to the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
This is the best look at the League in trailers for the film so far. This looks more like the work of Whedon than Snyder, or are we just hopeful? Check it out for yourself–here’s the latest trailer for Justice League:
DC Entertainment released yesterday the news that Brandon Routh will be portraying Ray Palmer, and his alter ego The Atom, in season three of CW Network’s Arrow TV series, adding one more Justice Leaguer into the current live-action DC universe. Since Routh previously played Superman in Superman Returns, the continuation of Christopher Reeves’ 1970s Superman role, it also seems unlikely The Atom will appear in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice two summers from now.
But it’s not the first time a movie star has played two roles in the same superhero universe. Chris Evans played Fantastic Four member Johnny Storm AKA The Human Torch in Marvel’s two Fantastic Four films, then came back to headline The Avengers as Steve Rogers AKA Captain America in three big-budget Marvel Universe movies. He was great in both roles. Fans accepted it and never even questioned Evans playing both roles.
DC Entertainment previously released Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice casting decisions for the Justice League with Henry Cavill reprising his role as Superman from Man of Steel, Ben Affleck will dawn the cowl as Batman, Gal Gadot will handle the golden lasso as Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa will wield the scepter as Aquaman AKA Arthur Curry, and Ray Fisher will play the next live-action borg as Justice Leaguer Cyborg.
CW Network already features Stephen Amell as Oliver Queen aka the (Green) Arrow, and introduced Grant Gustin as Barry Allen aka The Flash to be spun off in a Fall 2014 TV series.
Four new previews for animated movies coming out in the next 8 months are out this week. Each has genre actors that might get you to go to the theater for your animated viewing fix.
First up is Free Birds, which is about a Thanksgiving turkey pardoned by the president (who appears to be President Clinton) who partners with another bird to use the White House time machine to go back and prevent the first turkey from being the subject of Thanksgiving–thereby saving all turkeys from a Thanksgiving fate from then on. The story looks good and the cast and animation do, too.
