ROTTEN TOMATOES: Justice League of America Plot Confirmed!

Justice League of America Plot Confirmed!

Also: Jeff Robinov seeking Wonder Man?

by Jeff Giles | October 09, 2007

We still don't know who will be starring in it, but the storyline for George Miller's Justice League of America movie has been revealed.

A recent issue of Entertainment Weekly contains an article about the production, including a plot summary, obtained from "an early version of the script," that breaks down as follows:

Seven original members of the Justice League -- Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and the Martian Manhunter -- are featured in an origins story about the superhero conglomerate. The plot revolves around villainous businessman Maxwell Lord and involves cyborgs called OMACs (One-Man Army Corps), who can take over humans and turn them into killing machines. There are epic battle scenes between Superman and Batman, as well as Superman and Wonder Woman, and League could spawn a slew of additional franchises if it's successful.

The production is apparently still on track for a February 2008 start and a summer 2009 release.

In related news, IGN Movies has obtained confirmation from Jessica Biel's reps that she is really, honestly, seriously no longer in negotiations to play Wonder Woman in JLA -- which isn't really news, per se, but it sort of dovetails with the hubbub surrounding a recent decree rumored to be made by Warner Bros. president of production Jeff Robinov. Read on:

We are no longer doing movies with women in the lead.

Robinov's reasoning for this, apparently, is that The Invasion and The Brave One didn't perform well at the box office, and they had female leads, ergo female-led films are box office poison. It's innovative thinking like this that earns Robinov the big bucks, folks.

Anyway, one of the sticking points in the Biel negotiations was supposedly a guarantee, or lack thereof, that she'd star in a Wonder Woman spinoff. Now, as Comics2Film points out, Robinov's comments would seem to indicate that Warners has given up on the project entirely -- or, at the very least, that women need not apply for the starring role.

Source: IGN Movies

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(1-20 of 85 posts) | Reply

Dread writes:
on Oct 09 2007 07:27 AM

Supes vs. Bats? I'm in.

(Reply to this)

Weicher writes:
on Oct 09 2007 07:40 AM

George Miller rules!

Besides, if they take Maxwell Lord from the JLI days (when you didn't know whether he was a good guy or a villain) and NOT from that piece of crap that was Countdown to Infinite Crisis, this is a hell of a character. By the way...

LISTEN TO ME, HOLLYWOOD... SAM NEILL IS MAXWELL LORD, IN THE SAME WAY THAT STING (AND NOT KEANU REEVES) WAS JOHN CONSTANTINE.

So don't screw this up by hiring another actor to do the job. Besides, Neill is Aussie, just like Miller.

(Reply to this)

SLADE775 writes:
on Oct 09 2007 07:48 AM

If this is really live-action, it will be a giant, awful, mess.

(Reply to this)

witherwings writes:
on Oct 09 2007 07:51 AM

Technically Superman could kill anyone because he's way too stacked, so what's the point of a "duel." Good grief. It's hard for me to like these superheroes alone much less together. Less compelling, less relateable, less believable. Potential garbage. As a writer, I wouldn't risk it.

Haha, yeah, the problems with those movies are the LEADS, yeah. Can we get any more dense? Maybe, just maybe the screenplay was wretched?

(Reply to this)

jacog writes:
on Oct 09 2007 08:00 AM

No more women in leading roles? Weird thing to say. They release stinkers that happen to have female leads, then blame the failure of the films based on the fact that the lead characters were female. Note to Hollywood... MAKE BETTER FILMS. Jerks.

(Reply to this)

blank blank writes:
on Oct 09 2007 08:02 AM

not be a chauvinistic pig, but movies with females in the lead really dont perform all that well at the BO. Elekra. Tomb Raider. im trying to wrack my brain for a movie that did really really well with a woman in the lead role. alien back in the 80s? bridget jones' diary maybe?

the only actress who headlined a movie that made more than 200 mil was nia vardalos. not halle berry, or julia roberts. my big fat greek wedding woman.

this isnt to say that movies with female leads are crappy. i dont think anybody is stupid enough to say that. but the big box office numbers are driven by men and pixar.

(Reply to this)

Dark Knight jr. writes:
on Oct 09 2007 08:07 AM

I think a JLA at this point is gonna be a disaster. The best Batman Superman duel was in the animated movie back in the ninties. But they did it realistically, and it came out too beautiful to be true. This movie is hanus. They're willin' to delay TDK to film this horse****. Am I the only one findin' this to be "rigo'ddamndiculous"??? They also said they's delay The Man oF Steel as well. Why are Warner Bros. suddenly on the crack-head level of logical choices? It makes no bloody sense, dammit. Plus, the actors portrayin' Batsy and Supes aren't gonna be playin' them in this movie. Meaning Bale and Routh out, two other co-existing Batman and Superman in. Does that make any flippin' sense? Ugh, Warner Bros. should be hanged for this catastrophe. NO JLA! Oh, and Witherwings is right, too. More characters, less development, less charisma, less enthusiasm. They should at least wait like three years after the last Batman and Superman movie. At LEAST... Oh, the horror...

(Reply to this)

jacog writes:
on Oct 09 2007 08:11 AM

Again, the movies you mention are awful. The problem is that the scripts are written by men, and men are often incapable of writing interesting female leads.

The Aliens series (well, 1 and 2) was successful because the films were decent. Terminator 1 and 2 are also good examples.

Hollywood seems to now be blaming all kinds of things for their crappy movies. Like canceling Gears of War because "video game adaptations are not a proven blockbuster genre". Noooooo, sorry there Hollywoodsuits... It's because you keep making crap that doesn't even look interesting in the trailers.

(Reply to this)

deneco4 writes:
on Oct 09 2007 08:12 AM

Why doesnt superman just wipe out all the bad guys? I mean...this is the stupidest movie ever. Superman is too powerful and just a bad comic book hero. They will stain the only GOOD comic icon right now...Batman. Batman would say "**** OFF" to superman.

(Reply to this)

deneco4 writes:
on Oct 09 2007 08:14 AM

And say what you want...but "Thirteen going on thirty" was a good movie.

(Reply to this)

Gimy writes:
on Oct 09 2007 08:19 AM

an epic battle between wonder woman and superman?? we already have that...its called the spears-federline custody case...

i'm wit deneco on the superman thing. like a REGULAR dude(batman) would stand a chance against a guy who's faster than a speeding bullet. it would be like a wrestling match between brian urlacher and wee man from jackass. nless batman wears a krypton rubber and pecker slaps superman...he really has no chance.

(Reply to this)

ShadowStar writes:
on Oct 09 2007 08:20 AM

Maxwell Lord as villain? Only one female member? OMACs?! This sounds terrible... Glad to hear that Superman will be fighting both Batman and Wonder Woman though. I REALLY hope they borrow some tips from the awesome JLU series. Bruce Timm is the master when it comes to DC.

(Reply to this)

Weicher writes:
on Oct 09 2007 08:42 AM

Again, why bashing a film before it comes out? George Miller is a very talented director. If Brett Rattner or Paul Wesley Anderson was directing... well, that would be a different thing. But this is not the situation.

So... please, let's wait and see.

By the way, the best Superman vs Batman fight (and story) ever is in Batman: The dark knight returns number 4. Frank Miller rules.

(Reply to this)

TombstoneLawDog writes:
on Oct 09 2007 08:48 AM

And now for something COMPLETELY different:

But for some innovation or creative burst we haven't seen yet, this movie will, in fact, SUCK RHINO #SS. Never have I heard/felt this much sorrow and resignation about a film project that I COMPLETELY agreed with. Why, for the LOVE OF ALL THAT IS F#CKING HOLY would they gene-splice this guaranteed failure together?

Maybe if we all piss'n'moan enough, they'll do something like Snakes on a Plane, but in reverse; because of internet clamor, they added a line for Sam Jackson "I've had it with these M-F'n snakes.." ..maybe if we all constantly insult 'them' for about a year, they'll bury this miserable project.

..Interesting argument, about female leads bringing no bank; Not sure how you support that when you consider that this is the first 'flop' for Jodi Foster in probably 20 years...

(Reply to this)

Altq42 writes:
on Oct 09 2007 09:20 AM

Seriously, i mean come on. If they are looking at x-men, and to some extent, fantastic 4 as successes of the super hero team formula, they need to realize that those didn't contain an American icon character like batman, superman or wonder woman. They were about the teams, not a collection of star characters. Say hello to the superhero version of Rat Race. Heres and idead: bring back Clooney as batman and make ocean's 11 in spandex. Leave our characters alone warner brothers!

(Reply to this)

andygates23 writes:
on Oct 09 2007 09:23 AM

Ummm, Flightplan and Panic Room.

(Reply to this)

photosuperstar writes:
on Oct 09 2007 09:49 AM

Sounds horrible. It'll have the Spiderman 3 curse where too much is stuffed into a film and it suffers.

(Reply to this)

witherwings writes:
on Oct 09 2007 09:57 AM

You know why movies with female leads suck? They don't know how to sell women apart from sex or motherhood. Women are more than sex and motherhood! Gah. I say this halfheartedly because I don't really know HOW to fix this problem, but there is a problem with how they generally portray women in films. I know because literature portrays women SO much better.

(Reply to this)

Lord of the Rings writes:
on Oct 09 2007 10:00 AM

I think Warner Bros. has a mess on their "production" hands. The "Justice League of America" movie well have to prove better for me to view it. But I'm excited to see Superman & Batman fight it all out.

(Reply to this)

witherwings writes:
on Oct 09 2007 10:00 AM

In reply to this comment (#1178284)
That's it, in my opinion. (Most) Men can't write women. There are a few very talented exceptions who tend to write novels more than movie scripts.

(Reply to this)

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