Re-Pitch the DC Cinematic Universe

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saint_matthew
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Re-Pitch the DC Cinematic Universe

Post by saint_matthew »

You are sitting quietly, minding your own business, when out of nowhere a tear in space & time opens up beneath your chair & you fall thru it, falling thru space & time, before falling back in to linear time, landing in an office somewhere, landing on top of someone. When you get your bearing you discover that you've landed in the pitch meeting for the Green Lantern movie meeting, in Hollywood.

When you landed you knocked out the guy who would eventually pitch the Green Lantern film, you get one chance to pitch the WB movie execs a cinematic DC Universe & save the world from the travesty that Green Lantern & the DC cinematic universe.

What would you pitch?
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Ares
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Re: Re-Pitch the DC Cinematic Universe

Post by Ares »

My opening pitch would essentially be a World's Finest film, trying to do justice to the idea of Superman and Batman being on the big screen together for the first time.

Both characters origins are a part of American pop culture by this point, so I would handle this largely in the Opening Credits sequence, giving us quick glimpses of the characters past, images of a rocket ship crashing on Earth, an orphaned boy in an alley, a young man working on a farm with a tractor balanced on one shoulder, another young man studying hard in a class, a college boy learning journalism, a young man in a secret temple learning martial arts, etc. Culminating in newspapers with headlines about the newly emerged Superman and the rumors of the mysterious Batman.

The film itself would try to be a stand-out, classic superhero film. Superman gets an opening scene of saving people from some disaster (like catching an airplane), then goes stop some bank robbers, complete with bullets bouncing off of his chest. Batman shows up to stop one of his rogues like Two-Face from pulling off some weird crime, beats up the thugs, saves the innocent victims, vanishes mysteriously.

Not sure about the villain, but it would have the classic "fight then team up" aspect, only since it's fairly rookie versions of both heroes it's less "Batman has a plan for everything" and more "Batman makes clever use of his tools and the surroundings to hold Superman off for a time until they come to an understanding". Then we get to see them talk/interact, discuss their origins, work together in both superhero and civilian identities, have Alfred comment on what a polite young man Mr. Kent is, etc. Film ends with them realizing they can't handle all of the world's problems on their own, but there are rumors and reports of other superheroes out there. Maybe they should look into it.

From there, launch a brand of films called "The Brave and the Bold" that would take an established hero and use them to introduce audience new characters. So you'd get a "Brave and the Bold: Superman and Green Lantern" where it opens with some alien kaiju that both Superman and Green Lantern show up to fight. Hal explains his origin, there's a deeper plot about what caused the alien to show up, they deal with it, and part as friends.

Then you have a Brave and the Bold: Batman and Martian Manhunter where it's revealed Batman discovered a badly injured J'onn in his early days (J'onn was badly scarred by a fire after serving in the JSA, possibly due to the atomic bombs dropped in Japan), and that Bruce not only helped J'onn regain his sanity, but J'onn helped teach Bruce about detective work, and would pretend to be Bruce in Gotham while Bruce traveled the world learning various skills. Bruce has helped J'onn establish a new civilian life as John Jones, but needs J'onn's help with some new mission that makes J'onn decide to be a public hero, especially thanks to Superman.

Then you do a Green Lantern/Flash movie, a street level focused film where Batman, Green Arrow and Black Canary all work together, a Trinity film that introduces Wonder Woman while having her work with Superman and Batman, an outer space adventure with Superman, Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter that establishes the DC Cosmic scene, a Batman / Captain Marvel film where Ra's Al Ghul tries to awaken some ancient evil like Sabbac, Ibac or Oggar, a Captain Marvel / Wonder Woman film that explores mythology and magic (possibly introducing Aquaman, Dr. Fate, Vixen and/or Zatanna), a Captain Marvel / Superman film, a science hero story with the Flash, Atom and other heroes, etc.

All of which leads to a Justice League film where they all have to come together to thwart some menace that has been playing up in the background. Not Darkseid, he's got to come into play later. But something where a lot of the heroes introduced need to come together to fight off some menace. Maybe go with the traditional Apallaxian invasion storyline, use Starro the Conqueror, push Brainiac as some large menace, or even make it a supervillain team that makes the heroes realize they need to form a League to stop such menaces.

Then depending on the success here you can do solo movies to flesh out characters, explore the history with a JSA film, do a Justice League / JSA crossover film, a Titans film, etc.

Basically, start the DCEU off by creating connections between heroes and keeping that going until you've got the groundwork for a proper Justice League film. And then keep going from there. Then you can push for something where the League, the JSA and the Titans all team up for some cosmic menace.
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Scots Dragon
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Re: Re-Pitch the DC Cinematic Universe

Post by Scots Dragon »

Given the success of Wonder Woman, and a desire to keep that one in continuity since it's basically the best one, I'd do it as a period piece, setting it in the 1930s against the backdrop of the rise of World War II and build up to the Justice Society instead of the Justice League. Maybe take snippets from Darwyn Cooke's New Frontier and John Byrne's Superman + Batman: Generations going on past the 1930s-1940s into the era of the Justice League.

I would try and embrace the concept of legacy as DC Comics most allows for.
Formerly known as Narsil on the ATT and Ronin Army forums.
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Voltron64
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Re: Re-Pitch the DC Cinematic Universe

Post by Voltron64 »

Ares wrote: Sat Sep 21, 2019 7:14 am My opening pitch would essentially be a World's Finest film, trying to do justice to the idea of Superman and Batman being on the big screen together for the first time.

Both characters origins are a part of American pop culture by this point, so I would handle this largely in the Opening Credits sequence, giving us quick glimpses of the characters past, images of a rocket ship crashing on Earth, an orphaned boy in an alley, a young man working on a farm with a tractor balanced on one shoulder, another young man studying hard in a class, a college boy learning journalism, a young man in a secret temple learning martial arts, etc. Culminating in newspapers with headlines about the newly emerged Superman and the rumors of the mysterious Batman.

Maybe have the opening be a homage to this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f82CEtjgE_0
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Woodclaw
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Re: Re-Pitch the DC Cinematic Universe

Post by Woodclaw »

Ares wrote: Sat Sep 21, 2019 7:14 am My opening pitch would essentially be a World's Finest film, trying to do justice to the idea of Superman and Batman being on the big screen together for the first time.

Both characters origins are a part of American pop culture by this point, so I would handle this largely in the Opening Credits sequence, giving us quick glimpses of the characters past, images of a rocket ship crashing on Earth, an orphaned boy in an alley, a young man working on a farm with a tractor balanced on one shoulder, another young man studying hard in a class, a college boy learning journalism, a young man in a secret temple learning martial arts, etc. Culminating in newspapers with headlines about the newly emerged Superman and the rumors of the mysterious Batman.

The film itself would try to be a stand-out, classic superhero film. Superman gets an opening scene of saving people from some disaster (like catching an airplane), then goes stop some bank robbers, complete with bullets bouncing off of his chest. Batman shows up to stop one of his rogues like Two-Face from pulling off some weird crime, beats up the thugs, saves the innocent victims, vanishes mysteriously.

Not sure about the villain, but it would have the classic "fight then team up" aspect, only since it's fairly rookie versions of both heroes it's less "Batman has a plan for everything" and more "Batman makes clever use of his tools and the surroundings to hold Superman off for a time until they come to an understanding". Then we get to see them talk/interact, discuss their origins, work together in both superhero and civilian identities, have Alfred comment on what a polite young man Mr. Kent is, etc. Film ends with them realizing they can't handle all of the world's problems on their own, but there are rumors and reports of other superheroes out there. Maybe they should look into it.

From there, launch a brand of films called "The Brave and the Bold" that would take an established hero and use them to introduce audience new characters. So you'd get a "Brave and the Bold: Superman and Green Lantern" where it opens with some alien kaiju that both Superman and Green Lantern show up to fight. Hal explains his origin, there's a deeper plot about what caused the alien to show up, they deal with it, and part as friends.

Then you have a Brave and the Bold: Batman and Martian Manhunter where it's revealed Batman discovered a badly injured J'onn in his early days (J'onn was badly scarred by a fire after serving in the JSA, possibly due to the atomic bombs dropped in Japan), and that Bruce not only helped J'onn regain his sanity, but J'onn helped teach Bruce about detective work, and would pretend to be Bruce in Gotham while Bruce traveled the world learning various skills. Bruce has helped J'onn establish a new civilian life as John Jones, but needs J'onn's help with some new mission that makes J'onn decide to be a public hero, especially thanks to Superman.

Then you do a Green Lantern/Flash movie, a street level focused film where Batman, Green Arrow and Black Canary all work together, a Trinity film that introduces Wonder Woman while having her work with Superman and Batman, an outer space adventure with Superman, Green Lantern and the Martian Manhunter that establishes the DC Cosmic scene, a Batman / Captain Marvel film where Ra's Al Ghul tries to awaken some ancient evil like Sabbac, Ibac or Oggar, a Captain Marvel / Wonder Woman film that explores mythology and magic (possibly introducing Aquaman, Dr. Fate, Vixen and/or Zatanna), a Captain Marvel / Superman film, a science hero story with the Flash, Atom and other heroes, etc.

All of which leads to a Justice League film where they all have to come together to thwart some menace that has been playing up in the background. Not Darkseid, he's got to come into play later. But something where a lot of the heroes introduced need to come together to fight off some menace. Maybe go with the traditional Apallaxian invasion storyline, use Starro the Conqueror, push Brainiac as some large menace, or even make it a supervillain team that makes the heroes realize they need to form a League to stop such menaces.

Then depending on the success here you can do solo movies to flesh out characters, explore the history with a JSA film, do a Justice League / JSA crossover film, a Titans film, etc.

Basically, start the DCEU off by creating connections between heroes and keeping that going until you've got the groundwork for a proper Justice League film. And then keep going from there. Then you can push for something where the League, the JSA and the Titans all team up for some cosmic menace.
That's not a bad plan, but I think that introducing characters through small cameos or secondary roles might be a more effective idea (like Marvel did with Hawkeye in the first Thor movie).
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