I liked it. It was fun, and embraced the gonzo, over-the-top nature of a lot of DC stuff. Aquaman and Shazam did the same, to their benefit.
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I think I can safely say it was okay. Not mind blowing by any means, but not like Morbius where I gave it a shot and abandoned partway through. Probably worth a watch for DC fans if you can catch it on streaming/ borrow a DVD from library. Donāt know that Iād pay any more money to watch it. Best character IMO was Brosnanās Dr. Fate. Hawkman was a decent portrayal too.
Back to the new Superman casting, has someone already mentioned Tyler Hoechlin, the CWās current Superman? Heās plays a really good Clark Kent, and pretty good Kal-El too. Probably not likely to make the jump from small screen to large though, even if Brandon Routh did the reverse.
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Personally, I donāt think Iād be too excited for a film starring any of the Teen Titans. If no one minds me sharing, here are some DC films Iād like to see made:
- Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes ā Would likely focus mostly on just Superboy, Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, and Lightning Lad, but with other Legionnaires also present, as the full cast is far too absurdly huge to be practical for a film. The villain would likely be either Time Trapper or Darkseid, although other villains could work.
- Jack Kirbyās New Gods ā Speaking of Darkseid, Justice League teased him a whole lot (not to mention that his uncle was that filmās villain), but I think that DC should just go all in and make a film about the Jack Kirbyās Fourth World: Darkseid, DeSaad, Granny Goodness, Mister Miracle, Big Barda, Orion, Lightray, the Forever People, Izaya the Highfather, and maybe even Superman and his pal, Jimmy Olsen.
- Green Lantern & Green Arrow ā Sure, the 2011 GL film was poorly received, but I think a movie about Hal and Ollie (and maybe Speedy too) road-tripping across the country and tackling tough problems would be great.
- Aquaman: King of Atlantis ā Jason Momoaās Aquaman was good, but he was more of a warrior than a leader. Iād like an adaptation of the Rebirth Aquaman book, with Corum Rath and the Deluge as the villains.
And yes, I know that this is all just a bunch of wishful thinking.
Huh, I didnāt know that those characters were in that film. Is the Justice Society or other members of it mentioned or shown?
I havenāt seen Superman & Lois, but from his other appearances I totally agree that Hoechlin would make a good Superman.
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Yeah, Atom Smasher and Cyclone too. Some relation to The Atom and Red Cyclone in the comics, but I donāt recall exactly how itās addressed in the movie. The first part is basically their version of a JSA foursome vs. rampaging reawakened Black Adam.
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Iām guessing you didnāt see the Justice League movie. Cyborg has long since transcended being a Teen Titans character, and is now considered core JLA. The movie has issues, but the actor portraying Cyborg did an absolutely excellent job, very much on par with Gal Gadotās Wonder Woman.
There is one very specific take on the Legion which I likeā¦ I really need to figure out how to unambiguously identify it, but Iām sure itās not the one with Superboy involved, so letās agree to disagree.
This could pretty much only be done justice to in some sort of cartoon, but it could work. In this case I can one hundred percent point to my preferred take on these characters: Final Crisis. Itās the only story in which the New Gods actually feel godlikeā¦Darkseid is a legitimately Satanic figure, and the superheroes have no idea at first how to deal with this kind of spiritual or extraplanar force thatās conquering the world by possessing people and rewriting scientific laws. Itād be super hard to do a movie or TV show about this, but Iād be incredibly happy if they managed to pull it off.
I actually kinda like that film in spite of its many flaws, but I think if you were to get the people who did Arrow to include a very low-budget but very smartly written take on GLā¦as cool as the powers are, theyāre obviously too expensive to be practical. So rather than blowing the whole budget to make him look cool, you really pull him back so that he and Ollie are on the same general level. The result might resemble the fourth and eighth Star Trek movies, with GL as Captain Kirk or Picard, stranded in the past but filled with the certain knowledge of a better and larger world being possible, while GA takes the role of the woman from the 20th or 21st century, very street savvy and grounded in the problems of the now. Hal has to make things work without most of the tools heās used to relying on, but Ollie is trapped in his small scale perspective and canāt see the possibility that things can actually change. I definitely think thereās some good story templates here.
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No, I did see Justice League, and yeah, I know that Cyborgās one of the founders of the JLA in the New 52 continuity. Iām aware of his status, I just donāt really have any reason to like the character. (No offence intended to any who are fans of Cyborg, of course.) I donāt really dislike the character, even, I simply havenāt found any reason to like him. Also, this isnāt a criticism against his actor in Justice League by any means; I have no qualms with his performance.
Superboy is certainly not necessary for the Legion, in my opinion. Iāve read plenty of great stories without him present, and I think Iād enjoy a film about the LSH about equally regardless of his presence. I simply mentioned his involvement because he is traditionally a central character, although certainly not a required one.
I havenāt read Final Crisis, but Iāll take your word for it. The one thing that Iād definitely want in such a thing is a good fight betwixt Orion and Darkseid. (Of course, Iāve no idea whether Orionās even in Final Crisis, but still.)
Me too! I thought it was average at worst.
Very much agreed. The two characters have a lot of cool dichotomies.
I found the version of LSH that I like: Legion of Super-Heroes TPB (2005-2006 DC) By Mark Waid comic books Itās by Mark Waid, he does a really good (not ideal, but extremely above-average) job of creating this self-contained world of a dystopian future where the superhero ideal is a teenage counterculture, encouraging not only individuality but an embrace of the unique abilities these people gain from their alien biologies. Itās quite well-presented, with a huge two-page spread at the opening of the volume that very efficiently tells you who and what all these characters are. My favorite character of course is Dream Girl, who could basically replace Bruce Wayne in the often-quoted exchange with Flash in Justice League: āWhatās your superpower?ā āIām rich!ā
He is in there, but I donāt think you get your wish: Final Crisis - Wikipedia
" Following the trail of a group of missing child prodigies, detective Dan Turpin discovers the dying body of Darkseidās son, Orion. ā¦ The Silver Age Flash is resurrected from within the Speed Force by powers unknown and races back in time alongside Wally West in an attempt to outrun the Black Racer and stop the bullet that will kill Orion. ā¦ The two Flashes, having failed to prevent Orionās death, emerge from the time stream one month after the equationās release and discover that the minds of nearly the entire population have fallen under Darkseidās control, with its super-human victims having been transformed into a military force of āJustifiersā."
(I swear I didnāt remember that last bitā¦)
I wouldnāt go that farā¦it was most definitely a poorly plotted, written and acted film, but the special effects were really good IMO, and while I think Ryan Reynolds was badly miscast in this role, he didnāt do too bad of a job. The real failures IMO were the reduction of Parallax to a fairly uninteresting kaiju-esque monster, instead of the psychological tormentor he should have been, and the thoroughly baffling decision to make Hector Hammond a villain who spends the entire film screaming in terror and pain. The interpretation of Hal Jordan as a much more flawed and crappy character is also not to my taste, but I can at least understand why they did it that way, as even today itās very difficult to get audiences to accept a classically square-jawed superhero with no subversions or deconstructions.
Well, thatās disappointing. : ( Iām pretty sure that Kirby wanted the Fourth Worldās final battle to be betwixt Darkseid and Orion, although Iām unsure if he got to do that with his original run of the books (as Iām in the middle of reading a reprint collection of them), but if not, I think it would be nice for his wish to be honoured. Of course, this being comics, thereās likely never going to be a āfinal battleā for a character as big as Darkseid.
Gasp! @The_Justifier has accidentally revealed his own secret identity as a minion of Darkseid!
True, the villain choices were somewhat odd. Yeah, I donāt know why they decided to have Parallax as the first movieās villain, as it seems more like something youād save for a later, more epic crossover-y one. Honestly, I think a better version of Hammond would just be an adaptation of (one of?) his first appearance in the Silver Age where he steals GLās ring and Hal has to outsmart him to get it back.
Yeah, I agree on all points.
One year later and mostly due to some ad-bot using necromancy on the thread, Iād nominate the Fatal Five versus whatever mix of five Legion members you prefer for a first film/series, perhaps with a time travel plot that temporarily erases the rest of the Legion and needs fixing. If Superboy shows up at all itās to get taken out of action by the Five to establish them as truly dangerous. Thereās literally an old comic issue that uses that as a plot, although itād need quite a bit of work for modern audiences. You could have the Time Trapper show up post-credits as the Bigger Big Bad behind the Five.
Really want to start with something relatively simple to introduce the Legion instead of throwing everything you can at the audience unless youāre trying for a cruel parody/deconstruction, which Iād just as soon not see happen.
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