[Peter Hill]

Fanboys across the world will mess themselves after reading this: Warner Bros. is planning a live-action feature film version of the Justice League of America!

Writing duo Kiernan and Michele Mulroney (the Mr. & Mrs. Smith TV pilot) will write a JLA screenplay, which Variety reports may feature such DC Comics icons as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash and Entourage's favorite superhero, Aquaman. The studio has yet to finalize which characters will be in it.

"The Justice League of America has been a perennial favorite for generations of fans, and we believe their appeal to film audiences will be as strong and diverse as the characters themselves," Warners exec Jeff Robinov informed Variety.

So what does this mean for the future of the Batman and Superman franchises, as well as for the long-in-development Wonder Woman and Flash movies (both of which recently lost their writer-director attachments)?

"To a large degree, casting will depend upon the story arc for the JLA feature and at what point in the superheroes' lives the plot takes place," said Variety. "Warner also must deal with myriad producers working on the Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman franchises."

Warner Bros. had been developing a Batman vs. Superman film prior to opting to produce Batman Begins and Superman Returns instead. But the studio now sees big bucks in developing their own superhero team franchise, a la Fox's X-Men series.

Smallville recently aired the episode "Justice", which featured a JLA of sorts including Superman, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Cyborg and the Flash. And lest we forget, there was an unaired live-action JLA TV pilot produced in 1997 that starred David Ogden Stiers as the Martian Manhunter.

cred-ign Um...oh my?

[AngelBee]

Wow! Hope this goes ahead and doesn't let down either! This could be mazing or terrible, hopefully the makers know what they're doing.

[YTmWSOA5]

I don't know about this only because of the recent Superman and Batman movies. Batman Begins was espicially good and really had a completly different tone than Superman. You can make the JLA movie without those two, but then again, they're the two main draws. I think it'd be possible to connect it with Superman Returns. I can't see how they can do it without ruining the potential for more great Batman movies unless they set it aside in a different "universe" with a different actor... and I'm not sure how many people would go for that.

They should forget about the single Wonder Woman and Flash movies if they want to do this too. Flash could have been a great movie, but the guy who made Cheaper by the Dozen, Just Married, and the Pink Panther is set to direct it. I can't even imagine how awful that will be.

[Nptxsews]

It could be good, but they'd better not screw up the new Batman and Superman films because both were excellent. Leave Nolan/Bale and Singer/Routh the fuck alone, Warner Bros!

[Oriesssedleli419]

I really don't know about this. I mean, Justice League is more of a kiddy cartoon than batman or Superman IMO, so real adults playing the characters would seem way too silly to me.

[GeorgeEckland]

If this does pull thru it's make it or break it cos they could either make this a real great film like superman or make it suck . .

[esanamaserrn]

Some pretty significant news:

Source: IGN - Superman Sequel Scrapped?

Last week's news that Bryan Singer was developing a new thriller with his Usual Suspects screenwriter Chris McQuarrie sparked the speculation that the director's Superman sequel may have stalled.

Now comes a report that claims the sequel may have been scrapped entirely, but that doesn't mean Brandon Routh will be retiring his Super-duds anytime soon.

According to Moviehole.net, Warner Bros. is considering postponing (or outright shelving) a direct sequel to Superman Returns in favor of putting the Man of Steel in their recently announced Justice League of America movie.

The site adds that Batman would not be involved in the Justice League film, leaving that franchise separate from both Superman and JLA.

IGN heard the same rumors over the weekend, but our inquiries to our Superman sources had gone unanswered at time of publish. This seems sensible. After all, Superman Returns didn't perform nearly as well as Warner Bros. was hoping it would, so why not increase JLA's chances of performing by including Superman? It's probably a much safer move than making a sequel to a movie that didn't do well at the box-office to begin with; when compared to Returns' budget, anyway.

Batman Begins did do well, however. Having Batman in JLA could prove costly to Nolan's series. Plus I can't really imagine Nolan's Batman fitting into the Justice League environment, whereas it isn't too hard to picture Singer's Superman in there.

Anywho, I'm more interested by Singer and McQuarrie teaming up again than about JLA. That should be very interesting.

[Zhgpavye]

Hmmm...I've known about this for months, I thought everyone knew by now...oh well, I think they could do this and still continue on with Batman and Superman without huring it.

[molaunterbizone]

Looks like Batman could be in after all:
Source: IGN - Batman's JLA Status

The online rumor mill was abuzz this week with reports that Bryan Singer's sequel to Superman Returns may be shelved in favor of putting the Man of Steel in Warner Bros.' planned live-action Justice League of America movie.

Variety countered those rumors, saying that Singer would indeed direct the Superman sequel but after helming a World War II thriller with Tom Cruise first.

Initial reports also claimed that Warners did not want to include Batman in the JLA movie. But a new story claims that the Dark Knight will indeed be part of the film's roster of superheroes.

According to IESB.net's sources, reports of Batman's exclusion from the film are untrue and that Warners intends on utilizing their other most famous comic book hero besides Superman for what could be a hugely expensive film.

They also point out that Christian Bale said while doing press for Batman Begins that he was signed to a three-picture deal, one of which could be a team-up film of some kind.

Think of JLA as Warners' answer to Fox's X-Men franchise -- the third installment of which out grossed Superman Returns at the 2006 summer box office -- or their Fantastic Four series (the first FF film accomplished something that Batman Begins could not at the time, which was to break the summer '05 box office slump).

Kiernan and Michele Mulroney (the Mr. & Mrs. Smith TV pilot) are writing the JLA script. I'd much prefer they keep Bale away from this movie.

[MizzDaizzy]

Yeah the new Batman series just wouldn't fit into a JLA movie. It'd ruin the current Nolan Batman movies. Superman being in it would work, but not Batman. They could make a great JLA movie with Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Latern, and Aquaman. They don't need Batman; there's a point where they just have too many anyway.