For as long as Warner Bros. has been talking about doing a Justice League movie, fans have questioned why the studio would choose against going the Marvel route - creating a cohesive cinematic universe that puts all of the superheroes together in one world. All signs have pointed to WB skipping solo comic book movies like Marvel did with Iron Man, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, and The Incredible Hulk, and instead jump straight to the team-up film that would put characters like Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and The Flash together on the big screen in live-action for the first time.
But with Zack Snyder's Man of Steel due out this summer, and new quotes from studio president Jeff Robinov, it looks as though the tide might be turning.
For their latest issue, Entertainment Weekly had the chance to sit down with the executive to talk about the future of adapting DC Comics properties, and it looks as though the new Superman movie may actually end up leading into a bigger universe after all. "I think you’ll see that, going forward, anything can live in this world,” Robinov said when asked if there was a chance the film would contain references to other heroes in the DC canon. "[Nolan’s] Batman was deliberately and smartly positioned as a stand-alone. The world they lived in was very isolated without any knowledge of any other superheroes. What Zack and Chris have done with this film is allow you to really introduce other characters into the same world."
And what's more, we may not have to wait until Man of Steel's June 14th release date to see some forward motion. "We’ll announce something in the next several weeks that will hopefully position the DC characters and the movies we’re going to be making," the studio president said. Does that mean more superhero solo movies will be announced? Could Justice League be potentially getting a release date?
But now for the bad news: it looks as though Christoper Nolan really won't have anything to do with the future of the studio's comic book movies. In early March there were heavy rumors that the Dark Knight filmmaker would be returning to the DC fold and bringing Christian Bale's Batman back with him (it's also worth mentioning that he's a producer on Man of Steel). Sadly, however, it seems definitive now that Nolan won't be involved. Asked if the rumor was true, Robinov said, "No, no it’s not." (which makes sense given that the filmmaker is hard at work in Interstellar). What's more, it looks as though The Dark Knight Trilogy will be left behind as its own thing, but the studio president also added, "Where we go in the future is a whole other conversation."
This is a lot to process and there aren't really any big reveals or confirmations here, but it certainly is exciting, no?
