Justice League Franchise Film Two: Wonder Woman

Once again, we start with the main cast!

 Wonder Woman played by Jennifer Lawrence

 Steve Trevor played by Jensen Ackles

Cheetah played by Emma Stone

Circe played by Charlize Theron

There's not a whole lot that I can say about the reasons I picked this cast. It seemed pretty natural and smooth, and the characters seemed obvious for the story that needs to be told here. Since Wonder Woman's origin story has never been told on film (at least not in a live action medium), it becomes necessary to do so here as her tale is not so widely known in popular media. While I recognize that I am going against my previous statement regarding Superman not fighting his greatest villain in Earth's Mightiest Hero by having Diana throw down against not one, but two of her biggest nemeses, there is still someone bigger and badder who I plan to break out later in the series. But more on that later. For now, lets move on to the plot of this film.

ACT 1

We start in a flashback, with a narration explaining some of the backstory behind Themyscira and the Amazons, all done in a Lord of the Rings-style montage. We see them enslaved by Hercules, transformed into his personal harem. We see Queen Hippolyta (Lucy Lawless) beaten and implied to have been repeatedly raped by Hercules. We then see a revolution, with Hercules' male followers killed by the Amazons. We see Hippolyta fighting Hercules one on one, but neither of them seem to be able to best the other. Finally there is a burst of golden light on the battlefield, and the narrator explains that the Goddess Hera intervened and gave the Amazons the Island Paradise of Themyscira to be a safe haven from the cruelty of man. However, not all of the Amazons were content with this new home. Hippolyta's sister, the Sorceress Circe, who was just as heavily abused by Hercules, wanted to lead the Amazons on a crusade across the world and kill all men. Seeing her sister as weak, she challenged Hippolyta for the right to rule the Amazons - but lost. She was stripped of her powers and exiled from Themyscira forever. Saddened by the loss of her closest family member, Hippolyta crafted a small figure out of clay and prayed to Hera for a daughter - a wish that was granted. With a flash of light, the figure of clay becomes a baby girl - Diana.

 We cut to modern day in the skies. Steve Trevor is on a routine patrol over the Aegean Sea with his wingman, Barbara (Callsign "Cheetah"). The two of them throw some banter around, and we see that Trevor is a serious misogynist, whereas Barbara - despite being a fighter pilot - is intimidated by Trevor who makes her lose confidence in herself. In the midst of this talk, the two are attacked by several unmarked jets. We see a quick aerial battle where both Steve and Barb are shot down, with slight implication that Trevor's earlier put downs caused Barb to lose confidence and choke at the key moment. We see Steve's eject system fail, and Steve closes his eyes as he resigns himself to his fate before we see his plane crash into the sea.

From here we cut to Themyscira, with Diana walking through the city, talking to her mother, Queen Hippolyta (Lucy Lawless). This is mostly just an introduction of an older Diana, her personality, skills, desires, dreams, etc. She is curious about the World of Man, as she is the only inhabitant of Themyscira who was not alive for their enslavement at Hercules' hands. During this, she sees the fire-trail of Trevor's plane crashing into the ocean, and is told to lead a small group of warriors to investigate. We then cut to a reprise of the scene we saw after the credits of Earth's Mightiest Hero, with Steve coming to consciousness on a beach and being chased and eventually captured by Diana. He is brought back to Hippolyta's palace and interrogated, it is determined that he will be allowed to live but must be returned to the world of man. Diana volunteers for this task, and the two board a ship to take Trevor home. The two get to know each other on the trip, and they make quick time and avoid rough waters and storms. Diana attributes this to a small offering of gold she drops into the water with the line "Though I know that Poseidon will not interfere with our journey, there are other, more... protective lords of the sea who I would not wish to cross spears with this day."
ACT 2

The two of them arrive in Washington, and Diana takes Steve to the Pentagon. On the way, Diana shares her philosophy of gender equality with Steve, and these ideas begin to take hold with him. However, when they arrive at the Pentagon, they are both quickly surrounded and apprehended by Military Police. They are both taken before MP Special Agent Amanda Waller (Jennifer Hudson), who accuses Trevor of treason against the United States by aiding the terrorist group calling themselves the Oblivion Front. When Trevor demands to know why such ridiculous charges are being brought against him, Barbara Minerva steps forward, revealing that she had survived the crash and was picked up by a rescue carrier. She retells the story of how Trevor joined forces with the attacking jets and shot her plane down. When Trevor tries to protest, he is cut short by Waller and thrown into jail, while Diana is taken in for questioning.

Diana opts to fight her way out of custody (breaking Steve Trevor out and taking him with her), and the two of them wonder what happened that caused Barbara to lie about what happened above Themyscira. Steve mentioned that there was something different about the behavior of his former wingman, while Diana mentions that she sensed something strange, not quite human about her - that she carries herself more like an Amazon than a woman from the world of man.

We cut to Barbara herself, who is being scolded by Circe (who will not be named in this scene) for failing to ensure Diana's execution at the hands of the US government, saying that the "gifts" that she has bestowed upon her should have been enough for Barbara to convince the government to kill them both straight away. While Barbara tries to protest, Circe cuts her off and orders her to handle the matter personally. Barbara screams as we cut to black.

There is some further character development as Steve and Diana evade the government as we build towards the last act. So...

ACT 3

Diana and Steve are attacked by Barbara, who has now received some animal traits resembling a cheetah, including razor-sharp claws, superhuman agility, strength and stamina. She easily overpowers Steve and begins to attack Diana. After a vicious battle, Diana emerges victorious, and demands to know why she attacked them. Cheetah laughs and replies by telling Diana that no matter how hard she tries she will never return to Themyscira. When Diana asks in shock how she knows about Themyscira, Circe arrives in person.

"It seems that you inherited your mother's strength," as Circe reveals that she is not nearly as powerless as the Amazons supposedly left her. She unleashes a ruthless magical barrage upon Diana, who is forced back, entirely unprepared for such an assault. When Diana asks her who she is, she reveals her identity and calls herself Diana's aunt. She explains that many years after her exile, she languished old and alone on a deserted island in the Mediterranean Ocean, where she was found by the goddess Hecate. Seeing her as a worthy champion, Hecate returned Circe's powers to her and amplified them tenfold, granting her eternal youth and power over form and mind. She still dreams of a world without men, and knew that if her sister thought that Diana had been killed by men in her journey that Hippolyta's wrath would be unstoppable, that she herself would lead the crusade against men that Circe herself once championed. Then she would challenge her sister once more, and with the power of Hecate within her, she would become the queen of the Amazons and - by extension - the world. She reveals that she was the one who compelled the pilots of the two other planes to attack Steve and Barb over Themyscira, knowing the events their arrival on "my sister's little paradise" would spark. "But it seems you were too strong for these pathetic worms, so I'll have to kill you myself. It's better this way, though. I can easily twist the minds of everyone here into believing you were executed by their government, and that is what my dear sister will hear - and I get to kill you myself. Delightful. I get my vengeance and my genocide, all in one delicious little murder. Wonderful how the gods reward the faithful, isn't it?"

Diana and Circe fight, Steve and Cheetah fight. Circe transforms a number of US soldiers into beastimorphs to attack Diana while she bombards her with magical blasts. Diana still wins, Circe is captured. Steve manages to trick Cheetah into attacking soldiers instead of him, resulting in her arrest. Steve and Diana say goodbye as Diana returns to Themyscira to put Circe into imprisonment. However, when she returns, she realizes that she misses the world of man, and misses Steve even more. Against her mother's wishes, she returns to Washington and shows up at Steve's apartment, saying that she is going to stay in this world. "You told me about a man in Metropolis who protects his city from injustice and chaos. It is best for the world that I use my strength and skill to do the same. After all, if one little wonderboy can protect a city... then this Wonder Woman can protect the world."

Blackout

Post Credits Scene

Steve comes home to his apartment, and another man in military garb (Nathan Fillion) comes in behind him. They talk some quick banter before Steve notices a fire a few blocks away. He turns back to his friend and says "Hang on a second, I have to make a quick call..." but looks up to see something emanating a flash of green light from off screen, which he follows with his gaze as we hear the sound of shattering glass. "Not enough to have a girlfriend with superpowers, was it Hal?"

Justice League Franchise Film One - Superman: Earth's Mightiest Hero

Lets start with the cast!

Superman played by Jared Padalecki

Lois Lane played by Mandy Moore

Lex Luthor played by Michael Rosenbaum 

(which honestly feels like saying "Lex Luthor played by Lex Luthor")

And finally, the main villain of the first film of our franchise...

Metallo played by Adam Baldwin

Metallo, you say? Why would you choose Metallo as the opening villain? Well, for the same reason Joker wasn't the villain of Batman begins. In a massive world such as this, it's important to save the really big guns until when they're important. Don't worry, we'll bring in villains like Zod and use Luthor as a supervillain later in the franchise. For now, though, Metallo can be big bad Superman has to face.

Theme: This isn't going to be an origin story. Everyone knows who Superman is, what he is, what he can do. What this WILL be is a sort of coming of age story. This is a younger, slightly more naive Clark Kent. He's grown used to who and what he is, and has done some of the hero-ing in his life already. This is the story of how he becomes Earth's Mightiest Hero, where he becomes the champion of Metropolis. 

PLOT

Act 1

The movie will start with Lois Lane doing a report on a bank robbery or some such criminal shenanigans. As print news is a dying art in modern times, we're restructuring the Daily Planet into an online news paper, for which Lois Lane does the majority of the video segments. During this, something goes awry and Superman needs to come in to the rescue. Superman saves the day, Lois says "Thank you Superman," and everything comes off okay.

Cut back to the apartment where Clark and Lois lives. We find out that in this franchise's continuity, the two are already married and Lois knows who Clark is. She chastises him slightly, saying that the police could have handled the situation, and that if Superman keeps saving Lois then people will figure out the secret. We see that Clark is still a young man, somewhat naive and a bit of a boyscout. Through some minor exposition we learn that he's a writer for TheDailyPlanet.net and meet his cowriter Jimmy Olsen (played here by Seth Green). Clark is sent to write a piece on the new technology expo being put on by LexCorp. Cut to...

Lex Luthor (Not yet evil, just profoundly arrogant - think RDJ's Tony Stark before the kidnapping and developing a conscience) is the CEO of the nation's largest weapons and technology manufacturing company, and is the U.S. military's number one contractor. He is demonstrating advanced new weapons systems at this expo, but what we see is his most impressive development. He talks about how soldiers are fragile, and that machines and computers can be more efficient in wartime (it is also hinted here that there is much more political strife in the world, and that there might be a new world war brewing - more on that later!). Suddenly, a pilot (who is being played by Jensen Ackles - seemingly a cameo, explained later) says something along the lines of  "no machine can beat a real pilot in the cockpit". Lex replies that he is not replacing human soldiers, just improving them. Here we meet our Metallo, a member of the Marine Corps who was badly injured in conflict abroad. However, to save his life, LexCorp. implanted him with a bio-adaptive regenerative cybernetics - a fancy way of saying if something gets damaged, it is quickly replaced by metal. At this point, Metallo looks mostly human, though Lex explains that most of his bones have replaced. When it is asked what powers the whole affair, Luthor reveals that Metallo's functions are powered by a highly energized element that Clark immediately recognizes a Kryptonite. There is a demonstration of Metallo's ability to endure damage by being shot in the head at point plank range, the crowd applauds, Clark looks concerned.

Act 2

Clark decides to try to get an interview with Lex Luthor, purportedly to get more information for the piece, while the actual reason is to get a closer look at LexCorp's facilities and try to convince Luthor to shut his super soldier program down. The focus of this arc, however, is mostly on Metallo himself. The military wants further testing on the technology that has made him what he is, and as such they continue to subject him to more intense testing, but each time he takes more damage, the more he becomes a machine and less a man. As time goes on, he begins to forget more and more of who and what he is. Eventually, he goes berserk in the labs, fighting his way up through Luthor tower until he reaches Lex's office. Lex makes a run for it, leaving Mercy to hold him off. The two fight for a short time, but Metallo eventually overpowers her and goes after Luthor. He is about to kill his "creator" when Superman arrives on the scene. Luthor escapes here as the two fight, but Metallo eventually renders Clark powerless thanks to his Kryptonite. Metallo nearly kills Clark, but he is rescued by the timely arrival of Lois, who gets him into the car and escapes.

Act 3

The showdown. Metallo is on a rampage through Metropolis, every attempt the national guard makes at fighting him only takes more of his humanity away until he is nothing but machine. Superman, knowing that he must defeat Metallo to save Metropolis, confronts the machine once more. There is a massive fight between the two where Superman eventually gains the edge and emerges victorious. The exact turnabout is unimportant. The point is, Superman overcomes a truly deadly foe, Metropolis is ever grateful, Superman becomes Earth's Mightiest Hero. Credits.

Post Credits Scene

After the credits finish, we cut to a fighter-jet crash on a beach. We now see Jensen Ackles' character slowly wake from consciousness, where he turns and looks at where he has crashed. "What in the..." The camera cuts to behind him and rises, showing a tropical island with gleaming buildings of greek architecture. The pilot looks baffled, then three arrows fly out of the jungle and land at his feet. Blackout. 

Justice League Franchise - How It Could Be Done

Moreover, how it SHOULD be done, because I know better than other people.

So this past spring, Marvel Comics threw down the movie gauntlet with The Avengers. It went to show that while DC might get the occasional individual movie right, Marvel can make a massive comic book continuity WORK. And man did they prove the shit out of that sentiment, because Avengers was amazing. They took all the characters from their assembled films and got them to work together well on screen while also managing to put on an engaging story and plot.

So the question now raises itself: how can DC release a similar Justice League franchise? Theoretically, it should be a much easier feat than the Avengers - unlike Marvel, whose movie rights are spread across multiple production studios and the like, all of the DC Movie Rights are owned by the same studio - Warner Brothers. That means that they would be able to make any movie out of any character, merge them into the same continuity and not have to worry about copyright infringement. The question is simply how to make it work - and that's what I'm here discuss.

Restarting a continuity for several highly developed franchises (Batman and Superman have so many movies already, a reboot could seem jarring, particularly with a new focus on a larger universe) is no small feat. Working them into the same world along with a few relatively new worlds - specifically Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter and Aquaman - is something none of the previous DC superhero movies have had to do before.

But anyway - you probably don't much care about the technicalities of it all. You probably just want me to get to the way I'd do the actual movies, huh? Alright then. HAPPY TO OBLIGE.

This is going to be a multi-post thought string, with each post detailing a different movie in the "franchise" with my choice for actors, along with plot synopses and details that I would throw in to make the shared universe of it all clear.

So lets do it - JUSTICE LEAGUE AWAY!