JLA: The Movie - How it should be done (Part 6)

This is simply a cast stock-taking post for our movie (trilogy which takes the form of one big adventure ala Lord of the Rings). Subsequently, I won’t ask the new readers to read the first five parts before reading the rest of this post. No, since this is a summary post, I’ll ask the newcomers to read the previous instalments AFTER reading this one.

So far, this is our cast:
Superman (Tom Welling) SUPPORTING CHARACTER
Batman (Christian Bale) SUPPORTING CHARACTER
Wonder Woman (Evangeline Lilly) CENTRAL CHARACTER
Flash – Barry Allen (Chris Pine) CENTRAL POINT OF VIEW CHARACTER
Green Lantern - Hal Jordan (Nathon Fillion OR Ryan Reynolds) CENTRAL CHARACTER
Martian Manhunter (Hugo Weaving – via either FX make-up OR voice, motion capture, and CGI) CENTRAL POINT OF VIEW CHARACTER
Hawkman (various candidates) SUPPORTING CHARACTER
Hawkgirl (Jessica Biel) SUPPORTING CHARACTER
Green Arrow (various candidates) SUPPORTING CHARACTER
Black Canary (Jamie King) SUPPORTING CHARACTER
Mister Miracle (James McAvoy OR Jake Gyllenhaal) SUPPORTING CHARACTER
Barda (Lucy Lawless) SUPPORTING CHARACTER
Booster Gold (Sean William Scott OR Jenson Ackles) CENTRAL POINT OF VIEW CHARACTER
Blue Beetle (James Roday) SUPPORTING CHARACTER
Orion (Jaoquin Phoenix) OPTIONAL SUPPORTING CHARACTER
Highfather (Anthony Hopkins) OPTIONAL SUPPORTING CHARCTER
Darkseid (Clancy Brown - via either FX make-up OR voice, motion capture, and CGI) CENTRAL CHARACTER
Desaad (Willem Defoe) SUPPORTING CHARACTER

Aquaman INCLUSION DOUBTFUL
Blue Devil INCLUSION DOUBTFUL

Okay, so both Aquaman and Blue Devil have INCLUSION DOUBTFUL stamped next to their names. What gives, you ask?

Here’s the deal with Aquaman. I’m not sure how to capitalize on Aquaman in a cinematic sense without doing what Marvel would do with Namor the Sub-mariner in a movie. Yes, I could figure it out, but I don’t want to force it.

The Blue Devil case is more complex. Firstly, I initially included Blue Devil in Part 1 (which was a post on directors and done tongue in cheek) to serve as a shaky-cam viewpoint character. Secondly, I included the original incarnation of Blue Devil – the stuntman with the FX exoskeleton mystically fused to his body. That version of Blue Devil goes on to join the JLA to secretly film their missions for profit. That was the direction I was thinking of when I included him. However, the current incarnation is a real demon and when playing with some else’s toys, you should use them without damaging them. DC would probably want any film version of Blue Devil to be more faithful to the current (and probably more marketable) version.

This is different to the Blue Beetle situation as that was different guy, different powers, and the same name. The Blue Devil situation is same guy (vastly changed), different powers, and same name. Also, the three incarnations of Blue Beetle (three different guys) all had distinctly different personalities and subsequently different followings while Blue Devil (the same guy) had the same personality (modified by events) throughout his career. So, with Beetle, I cherry-picked the version I liked (and I think is the most popular, anyway).This is fanboy guilt and remorse talking here. I'm not decided either way...Some help?

By the way, my initial pick of Jensen Ackles as Blue Devil works on an acting level, but I had forgotten how tall Blue Devil is (6 foot 8 inches compared to Ackles’ 6 foot 1). Such a height and muscle mass probably makes Vin Diesel more suited to playing a screen version of Blue Devil...Jenson I like for Booster Gold

At this point, I’d like to thank LissBirds for her invaluable input to these casting decisions. I could not have gotten this far without your perspectives, Milady.

After reading the recent Comics Alliance feature on the GL Corps, I’m tempted to expand the cast with one hero (some might say this omission was a HUGE oversight on my part): Green Lantern Raker Qarrigat.

It occurs to me that we DON’T really need an Emerald Twilight situation to force Raker to “seal his ring in a time bubble, relying on it only in case of emergencies lest his final 24 hour charge run out and leave him powerless to battle” Darkseid. We could do a little tweaking and it would tie into the very nature of the planet Apokalips and the technology of the GL Corps rings.

Apokalips is impossible to get to (kind of like the island on Lost) without a boom tube, which would point to a trans-dimensional shift one has to make. One of the often glossed-over parts of GL science is the link between a Green Lantern’s battery and the central battery on OA. In the movie, we could theorize that the barrier that makes Apokalips such an “exclusive destination” may also (for the most part) sever the link between the central battery on OA and Raker’s battery. Therefore, Raker would have to use his ring’s (and battery’s) diminishing charge sparingly.

Raker would only appear near the end of the second movie or in the third movie when Hal would lead a small team to Apokalips. Hal knows about Raker and that the Guardians have lost contact with him for almost a year (meaning his ring is running on fumes). What Jordan doesn’t know is that Darkseid has manipulated them into coming, because it will draw a rapidly weakening Raker out into the open (to make contact).

After meeting Raker and other resistance members, Hal’s team realizes their mistake. After activating a boom tube with Barda’s help, Hal asks Raker to come with them. A near powerless Raker refuses to leave, rather opting to continue helping the resistance on Apokalips instead.

Raker gets captured by Darkseid, but what the ruler of Apokalips doesn’t realise is that Hal and Raker switched rings before they parted. Ouch!

Casting note: We should cast an unknown as Raker Qarrigat.

Having our cast set (for the most part), you’ll see that it’s mostly JLA classic (Big Seven) with some additions plus a smattering of the Giffen JLI and a pinch of the modern league era. Sadly, no members exclusively from the Detroit league found a spot in the movie. There are some heroes who were unlucky not to be in the movie (e.g. the Atom and, one of my personal faves, Metamorpho).

It might not be obvious, but with such a large cast of heroes our JLA can split up into three groups at any given time. This will come in handy as most of the action takes place on Earth and Apokalips and New Genesis simultaneously.

A very late after-though:

After nailing down most of the cast, it was ONLY THEN that it occurred to me to look for other fan attempts at casting a league. *facepalm* Here are the most notable of these:

The most comprehensive cast was compiled by THEHAWK. I had come across this months ago, but lost the link. So, I’m pretty glad that I’ve rediscovered this little gem (hehe). The one that gets me is Ben McKenzie (from The OC who is super-puny) as the Detriot League’s Steel (who is super-muscular) and as you’ve read that character isn’t even in my movie, so the mere strength of my disagreement compels me to mention it here.

Another cast list was proffered by The Faust. The Faust is a pretty prolific “fan-caster” of comic book movies and makes some interesting choices. On the positive side, he includes a synopsis of his proposed plot and I’ll admit that next our Apokalips plot, his is my second choice. In fact, if we went in that direction, I’d go further a step and suggest a plot involving The Joining (from Batman: The Brave and Bold). However, I can’t agree with his picks for Aquaman, Hal Jordan, or Superman.

I found a pretty reasonable cast list from Comics in Crisis as well. This is a pretty sober list, except for suggestions of who should play Wonder Woman and Hawkman. The blogger also picked a cool non-JLA hero as the plot catalyst for the JLA to team up, although I don’t agree with the actor chosen to play this hero.

I also came across three other single-author lists. This one gets Superman wrong (I’m forever biased against this choice, I know), Hawkgirl incredibly right, and gives us an Aquaman I don’t recognise.

The other one has the perplexing suggestion of Leonardo Di Caprio as Aquaman! Yup, some choices are pretty insane.

Then there's this list with the same title but different actors.

Of course, even insane choices can remind you of another actor in a Kevin Bacon game sort of way. You know, you read the fan choice of Actor X as Superman. This guy’s nuts, you think. Actor X doesn’t look like Supes and none of his roles gives any hint of him being Kal El or Clark Kent material. But just as quickly, you think about a co-star of Actor X as the perfect Aquaman. Fantastic! I would have never thought of him if it weren’t for the crazy intertubes guy who suggested Actor X play Supes. So, we should pay attention to lists that in our opinion get it wrong.

I’ve also come across a non-movie-related, cast-the-league-into-the-archetypes discussion. Might help anyone involved in writing a superhero team movie where the source material (and membership) is vast and you’ve got no clue which heroes to include.

Another Justice League movie fan plot summary can be read here where one of the commenters even outlines his preferred plan for a four-part series of JLA movies.

All in all, I hope future JLA screenwriters would explore the interwebs for some inspiration. They don’t have to adopt the plots and casts in a wholesale manner, but they could always borrow a few clever angles. It’s pretty easy to do. All I did here to find all the above lists was Google JLA movie and the word cast and a few variations. Not hard to do at all.

Here that obligatory notice I usually put at the start of these posts:

For those first-time readers, please read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5 to see the rest of this fanboy thought experiment.

JLA: The Movie - How it should be done (Part 4)

The obligatory notice for first-time blog readers: If you haven’t yet, please read Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

The above has reminded me that I picture “JLA: the movie” not as a single movie but as a trilogy. However, not as three adventures in three movies but rather ONE huge adventure/mission cut into three movies (ala Lord of the Rings). Except that our third movie won’t be four hours and change long.

Some omissions from previous installments of this fanboy daydream:

Desaad

I kind of forgot about this guy when I thought about who could play Desaad…

Willem Defoe kind of sounds like Desaad (Check out Spiderman 1 if you don’t believe me) and wearing a hooded cloak he’d probably look like him as well. Desaad is a pretty interesting character from the perspective that he revels in chaos but he serves Darkseid who forges order in an absolute way.


Barda

How about Lucy Lawless (from Xena Warrior princess fame)? Can you picture anyone else playing the former fury?

Mr Miracle (Scott Free)

Obviously, it has to be someone shorter than Lucy Lawless and someone who’s into BDSM. Scott loves to be chained up. Barda has punched him on occasion and his typical reaction is to kiss her.

Okay, time to get a little more serious.

Ray Park may be a good choice, since Scott could be wearing a mask for most of the movie. Also, Mr. Miracle is a pretty graceful flyer (he needs to be flying standing or crouching upright most of the time) and Park has loads of physical grace. Lastly, Ray Park seems to be connected to a dozen masked superhero roles at any given time. So, what’s one more?


Who is XXXX?

I haven’t really decided yet, but there are some options with major implications for the story.

OPTION 1: XXXX is Orion

This may dovetail quite nicely with Darkseid being the villain of the story. I picture one or two Darkseid-Orion face-off scenes: the son defying the father. This choice will also allow us to explore the whole Apokalips-New Genesis history. Oh, and I’m not sure that Orion is known to the league before his try-out…

The same could hold for Apokalips – perhaps the heroes should be as shocked by the planet of the evil gods when they see it. Perhaps, they only have a vague notion of the planet. However, whatever we decide, Apokalips knows all about the league.

Who should play Orion? I have no clue, but let’s go Brit for this one.


OPTION 2: XXXX is Booster Gold

Who’d have thought Goldie would play such an important role. Booster knows the leaugue is about the face the Apokalips champions before he ‘tries out.’ He knows this, because he’s from the future and he’s a huge JLA fan…and history tells him that the JLA dies during the battle with Apokalips. Booster doesn’t know how they die exactly, but he wants to stop it from happening. Of course, he doesn’t how to stop it and he doesn’t share any of this with anyone on the team until the near the end of the first movie. Thanks a lot, Booster!

Who should play Booster Gold? There’s really no actor that screams Booster…Any suggestions?

I’m kind of leaning toward Option 2, because of my science fiction bias for time travel stories. I’m also of the opinion that a time traveler with only half of the whole picture would open up great story ideas. That and I don’t think Orion was well-written in the JLA comic. I know it’s not the character’s fault, but still Booster is more of JLA-fan favourite than Orion ever was.

Of course, choosing this route, we would still be able to introduce Orion in the second movie when some of the leaguers ask for some help from New Genesis, but are turned down for the most part. This is still open for debate.

Who should play Darkseid?

I know many might be screaming Anthony Hopkins, but who would play Highfather in the second and third movie? Unless Darkseid is all CGI motion-capture, that is. Then, he can do both roles. He’d probably want a dramatic scene between the both characters…could be arranged.

Again any suggestions for this uber-important role?

JLA: The Movie – How it should be done (Part 3)

If you haven’t, please read Part 1 and Part 2 first.

Most pressing issue: We don’t know who’s playing Martian Manhunter, Wonder Woman, or Flash.

But before we get to these decisions, we have to make casting choices for our alternates. By alternates I’m referring to those heroes who might make it into movie:

Hawkman:

Gerard Butler comes off tough and Hawkman (in his post JLA days) is one really tough, ruthless, and uncompromising geezer. But maybe, part of Butler’s tough persona comes from his Scottish accent which sounds pretty rough and earthy. Don’t believe me? Get a Scotsman to say the words, “The Earth.” It’ll sound like he’s saying, “the airrrth.” And, no, Sean Connery doesn’t disprove this, for the simple reason that many native Scots can’t place his accent. No really, where’s Connery from?

I'll save the airrrth!

Viggo Mortenson could also do the tough Thanagarian flyer. Think of Aragon from Lord of the Rings. Yes, Viggo is Katar!

Carl Urban (as seen in Pathfinder and other movies) could also pull it. Perhaps I’m just nominating too many dudes who are used to having facial hair on screen.

Sam Worthington (Terminator: Salvation; Avatar, and Clash of the Titans [upcoming]) is an Australian, so we know he can act. In addition, he has this understated toughness that just screams bad ass! It’ll be Katar with shorter hair if he gets the nod.

Green Arrow:

Bradley Cooper strikes me as Ollie in his heyday (ladies’ man-wise, anyway). He would make a goatee work. I could picture him clashing with Flash.

Daniel Craig (best known as the current James Bond) might be a good choice. He resembles Green Lantern Alan Scott more strongly to me, though.

Josh Holloway (from Lost) may have Oliver’s verbal explosiveness down and gets many resemblance points (with the possible exception of his longer hair).

I’ve actually just thought of how Green Arrow can be used to greater effect on the Apokalips part of the mission. Picture this: Wonder Woman is fighting about half a dozen Furies and is going all Amazon warrior on their butts. It’s not every day, Diana can unleash like this, so she doesn’t hold back. She knocks out a couple. One particular Amazon K.O. victim catches Oliver’s eye (not in that way!). Her name is Artemis. She has a bow and arrow that Oliver simply must have. After Barda or Mr. Miracle checks that it doesn’t have that nasty ‘Darkseid is Love’ subliminal turn to the dark side effect, Green Arrow takes it to use in their battle. Now, for those of you are unfamiliar with Artemis’ weapon, her arrows are called synapse shafts and with good reason. She once shot Superman in the back and, although I doubt it pierced his skin, he fell from the sky screaming like a little girl that got startled by a spider. Yes, Ollie is going to have fun with them arrows!

Black Canary:

Scarlet Johannson? Cameron Diaz? But do they have the moxie / spunk / attitude to play Black Canary?

A slightly younger version could be Kristen Bell (former Veronica Mars)– she’s got that sass that Black Canary should have. You know, someone who isn’t afraid to put even legendary heroes in their place.

Aquaman:

Aquaman would only work if the movie had a JLA home team and away team structure. In other words, there would have to be crises to averted on Earth as well as battles on Apokalips. Arthur would have to on the home (Earth-based) team, because if hunger dogs (slaves) have been made to fight over water on Apokalips, then I’m pretty sure that there isn’t enough of the stuff in which to swim.

Brad Pitt? Hey, if Brad signs up and demands to play Arthur, it might the only reason Aquaman is even in the movie.

Josh Holloway is also candidate for this role. Well, he did that aftershave ad for television that involved him diving into water and isn’t that what Aquaman does best?

The Atom:

We couldn’t an actor small enough...


NEXT, WE HAVE TO CAST THE SUPPORTING CAST:

Desaad:

Lance Hendriksen (Bishop from Aliens, Frank Black from Millenium) or that creepy actor from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers whose name I can’t recall.

ON TO THE BIG CHOICES:

Martian Manhunter:

He is the soul of the League. In terms of character, he’s a calm influence, a good leader, but also has other sides to him. Sometimes he comes off ‘all ET, but other times he’s straight out of aliens.’ This only occurs when necessary.
Hugo Weaving – Mister Weaving is a talented actor, but he’s also been mentioned as a possible Sinestro in the upcoming GL movie. Is there a rule about superhero double-dipping? Do the masses of make-up and CGI sequences required for both roles exempt him from such a rule?

David Boreanaz – As mentioned in Part One.

Zachary Quinto (Sylar from Heroes, Spock from Star Trek) – He might have the character-acting chops to pull it off.

Flash (Barry Allen):

Jason Statham looks like he should wear the Flash costume. I’ve never heard him speak in another accent, though.

Timothy Oliphant (from Hitman) might also make the grade. I can see him clashing with a Bradley Cooper Green Arrow.

Ben Affleck. No, seriously. When Mister Affleck emotes, he primarily uses the bottom half of his face and with flash’s mask covering the top half *...Yes, with Affleck we’ll need to add in Wally West eye-shields as well...

*Through the 1truegl’s independent study, he has found that Affleck uses the bottom half, Clooney uses the top half (special emphasis on eyebrow motions) and, by far the most confounding result, Keanu Reeves uses NEITHER top or half of his face to emote.

Chris Pine (Kirk from the latest Star Trek movie) could also do it.

After a quarter-minute of thought, my eye-shields comment made me realise that close-ups of the Flash’s eyes will be an important emotive device in our movie and Mister Pine brings a subtlety to the art of using the windows to the soul to bear his soul (can't believe I just wrote that!). I’ve never really thought about this until now, but in the comics Flash is often used to focus the attention of readers. Maybe, it’s his red costume. Perhaps, it’s the idea that when someone who can skim a room as fast as he can simply focuses on a single image, the reader knows that whatever Barry sees is important. When Superman or Batman is featured in such a comic panel, it’s generally a single emotion such as terror or shock, but Flash is usually given a multi-tonal emotion to convey. Or at least I’ve seen more Flash shots like this...

Barry Allen as Flash presents requirements of its own. For example, you need to cast an actor who would have great chemistry with Hal (Nathan Fillion).

Bloggers note: Actually, Mister Fillion has great chemistry with everyone. Heck, I don’t know a single person that doesn’t instantly like the characters he portrays. The man made brown a cool colour. Brown! He’d do the same for green, if given the chance.

Flash (Wally West):

Where are all the red-haired actors? Okay, so if Flash is Wally West, the speedster never takes off his mask.

Ewan McGregor?

Me play Flash?

I can’t seem to think of any fiery topped actors. Weird.

How about Robert Pattinson (from Twilight)? That’ll get another demographic in movie seats. Truth be told, I kind of see him as Gambit if they ever make X-MEN ORIGINS: GAMBIT.

But will my hair fit under the mask?

Question: What happens when Darkseid’s Omega effect collides with Speed Force inside a boom tube?
Answer: For one thing, Hal Jordan screams, “Barry!”

Wonder Woman:

Jennifer Connelly is the front runner here. Flowing, black tresses are a must for WW and Ms Connelly is blessed in that department. This may seem like a superficial requirement in many respects, but may I point to Blond Kate Bosworth as Brunette Lois Lane in the awful ‘Superman Returns’ or Jessica Alba’s dye-job in Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Cobie Smulders (Robin from How I met your mother) has also been mentioned as a candidate. Smoulders...er...I mean...Smulders plays a sweet Canadian in that show. Can she portray the role of ‘the amazon ambassador to man’s world’?

Evangeline Lilly (Kate from Lost) is quite familiar with physical acting, which Wonder Woman actress will have to do in spades. When I saw her on the very first episode of the first season of Lost, I remember thinking...There’s Wonder Woman in her ambassador / visiting lecturer outfit...folowed by...Wait, they crashed on Themyscira? The cleaned-up, off-the-island, Evangeline has an even greater resemblance to Diana. [Note to producers: Get the stylist from Lost (season 4 and 5)]. In addition, there’s a groundswell of support on the internet for her to be cast in the role, including petitions and fan sites. Did I mention Jennifer Connelly as the front runner? Maybe, there should be a rethink...

Morena Baccarin (Inara from Firefly and Serenity) might have actually been in contention for the Wonder Woman movie while Joss Whedon’s non-period movie script (as required by the Powers that be) was under consideration. However, then those same Powers decided to go with a period script. Last I checked, that is. Rambling a bit...Anyway, with Morena we’d have built-in chemistry with Nathan Fillion! That, and I have a MASSIVE crush on her – reason enough for any casting decision.

Actually, I have a crush on all the WW candidates.

The stylistic inconsistency in the artwork of Wonder Woman’s solo comic title has resulted in many varied looks over the years and may, to a small degree, explain the vast number of actress nominations one comes across for the role.

Question: Are we going to see any of the badass Wonder Woman who while fighting Medusa blinded herself and lopped off the Gorgon Queen’s head with an axe? For those not into mythology, looking into medusa’s eyes would turn someone into stone or some other sort of a statue (not 100% sure on that detail). Still, bad-ass, right?

In screenplay-related news:

I’ve had to fire a screenwriter yesterday, but I’m sure you’ll agree the transgression warranted such action. Here’s what happened (or rather what he wrote in the script):
HAL: “Barro’s back and streakin’ days are here again!”

Now, first of all, Hal would never call Barry ‘Barro’. Secondly, ‘Barro’ sounds like barrow (as in wheel-barrow). Lame. Lastly, and worst of all, I instantly recognised the line “Barro’s back and streaking days are here again!” as a deliberate cut-and-paste job from “Stretcho’s back and clobberin’ days are here again!” as said by Ben Grimm (a.k.a. Thing from FF) referring to Mr. Fantastic. Yet another Marvel infiltrator...The last time a Marvel fan screenhack got passed vetting, the Joker wound up killing Batman’s parents. Never again! Why do those ‘nutso true believer red team’ people always try to sabotage our efforts?

We’ve decided to have the movie’s opening set in Gotham, where the audience sees a chase scene from 1st person perspective as Batman (the chaser). Batman is running across the rooftops chasing the chasee (a running thug carrying a rectangular box under his arm in the alleys below). Batman jumps the dude from above, knocking the box from him and sending the guy crashing to ground. We cut to 3rd person perspective. Dude pulls a weapon on Batman. Batman evades and throws a batarang in one motion, dislodging the weapon from the thug’s hand, but not before the shot goes off. Not a gun, a laser or energy blaster. Luckily, as a result of the batarang, it goes high, only slightly touching the alley wall. Batman proceeds to lay this guy out, picks up the weapon, opens the box (marked with a weird insignia) to find an even deadlier-looking weapon inside, and turns around to see the alley wall completely scorched from the shot that barely touched it. We get a close-up of Batman’s face, which says it all: Can’t have that...not in my city!

Meanwhile in Central City, Barry Allen is processing a crime scene: Incinerated bodies, same insignia on a similar empty box, and general signs of mayhem. Hey, it’s movie. We’re expected to take some liberties.

While in Metropolis, Superman helps defuse a stand-off between the Special Crimes Unit and operatives using the same advanced weaponry. We find out that they’re Intergang members.

Later, at the JLA watchtower / orbiting retreat / JL embassy / JL satellite (take your pick of HQs), Blue Devil and XXXX have shown up for membership try-outs. We meet J’onn and then Wonder Woman. Superman, Bats, and Flash arrive and call a meeting to discuss the increased Intergang activity and where they could’ve gotten the advanced weaponry. Blue Devil and XXXX get brushed off by Batman. J’onn apologises and offers to reschedule, but Blue Devil offers his help. So, does XXXX. J’onn tells them that it won’t be necessary. That’s when the trouble starts...

Teaser: There are also a few scenes where J’onn sees the Martian god of fire (and death), H’ronmeer, in the fire pits of Apokalips. Is it real or in his head or is it part of a new gods attack strategy? I’m not telling...

In part 4: We find out who XXXX is and who’s playing that role as well as who should be cast as Darkseid!

Random things I discovered by sifting through deviantArt

Those of you who read this blog (commenters and lurkers alike) know that I’m busy looking for an artist or more realistically artists (as in a penciller, an inker, a colourist and a letterer) for my comic WIP. One of the first and largest venues I’m exploring is deviantArt.

The other day I came across this particular work, namely the back cover of Chris Irving’s The Blue Beetle Companion (2007). It’s sweet since it shows Dan Garret, Ted Kord, and Jamie Reyes in one image. Is it my imagination or is it only Green Lantern and Flash books that get to feature this kind of intergenerational or multi-incarnation images?

Another interesting thing I discovered in the comments section to this artwork is that DC did indeed create a scarab-esque Blue Beetle character called...well...Scarab. He’s the Blue Beetle of Earth-27 and he’s a mass of scarabs that takes on the shape of a man. I came up with a similar yet slightly more heroic and less monstrous version (called Blue Scarab) in my Why I should’ve written Ted Kord: Rebirth post.

On the same thread, I found the account of http://gl-of-cybertron.deviantart.com/  who, as the name suggests, has created images of autobots as Green Lanterns. There’s even a Sinestro Corps bot, if I’m not mistaken. As mentioned previously, I have a sort of ‘like-hate’ relationship with the Transformers franchise that can be summarised in timeline form as followed: Various lukewarm (often reboot-centric) animation series; One watchable CGI series called Transformers: Beast Wars, One fantastic CGI series called Transformers: Beast Machines; the first Transformers live action movie scoring an unspectacular yet passable 6 out of 10; a second Transformer live action movie called Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen that was 2 out of 10 awful. So, I liked this idea more from a ‘yeah, I bet the guardians of the universe would’ve given one of these giant robots a ring if they’d encountered them. Hey, if they can make a planet a GL...Also, I’ve always said that Hasbro (the toy company that owns the Transformers property) wishes that Kyle Rayner worked for them (judging from the wicked cool ring constructs that only Kyle can whip up and the freelance concept art he has done in his ‘normal’ life as a graphic designer/illustrator).

Some deviantArt news related to my comic WIP:

I’ve discovered a possible artist for my comic WIP. Well, at least someone who can make the short-list for the job, that is. I have to scout other venues on the Interwebs such as Digital Webbing, Penciljack, Concept Art DOT org, Getafreelancer, and Comics-hookups.

Hint to DeviantArt administrators: DA users should really be able to have sub-categories under “comic artist” category (e.g. anime, fantasy, cartoon, science fiction, and superheroes). It would also help if there was some demarcation between published comic pros (who I assume are way out of my price range) and up-and-comers as well as between pin-up artists and artists who can also do comic page panel-art. That would make my search much easier.

I’ve also discovered that a user on deviantArt has created a fanfic character with the same name as an organisation in my WIP. It’s a coincidence, but still it’s a little jarring. Perhaps, both of us are auditory namers (a term I just made up (but could already exist in science), meaning people who choose names for creations / children / places / days / whatever based on how it sounds to them).

Some non-deviantArt news related to my comic WIP:

I’ve discovered that DC has an obscure villain with nearly identical powers* to a hero I’ve created for my WIP. This is also the one character that I haven’t decided on a look for yet. So, I’ll do a Google and Google Image search for their character to make sure we don’t come up with identical looks.

* Note: I say nearly identical, because both my hero and their villain have two powers that should IMHO give rise to a third power that my creation possesses, but theirs doesn’t.

My writing for my WIP has ground to a halt for various reasons, including some festive season distractions, reworking the story length, editing and rewriting the pages already written, and most of all writing a Superhero team short story that was inspired by a current non-superhero horror anthology submission guidelines as well as a long expired set of non-superhero fantasy antho submission guidelines. I chose the short story format, because it’s much quicker for me to write and that’s the best thing to do when a story idea is dominating your thinking ahead of more important writing ‘assignments.’

Some non-deviantArt, non-comic-WIP news:

If you haven’t yet done so, go see Avatar. It’s one of the best Science Fiction movies I’ve seen (this year and possibly ever) and scores and 9 out of 10 on my opinion-meter. It blends Science Fiction with Fantasy in such a perfect mixture that the movie studio should be banned from making a sequel or a remake in 30 years time. I’ve always been more of fan of Science Fiction than of Fantasy, but have always had to admit that Fantasy’s world-building is often more instantly immersive and that is exactly what Avatar is. The 2 hours and change fly by (pun intended) and I was left marvelling at James Cameron’s ability to tell a science fiction on two levels. On a deeper level, you can appreciate the obvious themes in all their relevance (without being hit over the head with it ala District 9). On another level, Avatar has drama, characterization, awe-inspiring scenery, and lots of jaw-dropping fantasy and Science Fiction-style action. It also reminded me of the risks of what social science calls ‘participant observer’ research, media calls ‘embedded journalism’, and elements of what law enforcement calls ‘undercover assignments’...Mister Cameron*, take a bow. Also, Sam Worthington (Terminator: Salvation) and Zoe Saldana (Star Trek) are starting to reach my This-sci-fi-movie-can’t-be-bad-if-this-actor-is-in-it list. Miss Saldana said something very cute in an interview when asked whether she had preference for Science Fiction roles, where she answered, “Jane Austin is good, but Jane Austen in space would be great...”

* Note: James Cameron has a great talent for science fiction as director or creator-director (The first two Terminator movies, Aliens, Dark Angel) and I wish that he pursued projects in that genre exclusively. Unlike a lot of filmmakers, Cameron never includes 15-minute-long superfluous scenes where the audience is left thinking: That was 15 minutes of my life I’ll never get back...Way to break the momentum and tension...What the fudge was that about?

That’s all I have for you all. If I don’t post here anytime soon, happy holidays!

JLA: The Movie - How it should happen (Part Two)

As mentioned in Part One, Justice League America tops my comic-that-should-be-made-into-a-movie list. Lissbirds rightly pointed out that the securing the talent (cast, etc.) is the difficult part and going animated way seems to be the only the movie is ever going to be made. In fact, the last cancelled attempt at putting together a live action JLA movie I heard about seemed to have a mid-budget feel about it and had a largely unknown cast. DC obviously doesn’t know how hot this property is.

In terms of casting, I’d like to see Christian Bale as Batman and Tom Welling (from Smallville) as Superman. I did not at all like Brandon Routh’s portrayal of Superman in Superman Return (a movie I disliked a lot). Tom gives Superman more personality.

Martian Manhunter could be... David Boreanaz (from Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Bones)? Somehow, he’ll make all the make-up / green screen acting work.

That reminds me...I made a rather HUGE omission in my previous JLA the movie post:  the man / director /comic-&-movie-god who’ll pull all the threads together...drumroll please...Joss Whedon!

But wait, didn’t Whedon say that DC heroes are too god-like to make good comic-to-film-translations?

Okay, yes, he did.   That was before he saw my idea for the movie...hehe

But, that’s the great thing about the JLA: they’re a group of god-like figures whose individual sets of ethics differ and can be played against one another. You’ll have a hard time making a case for any one of them being heroically and/or morally superior to the rest.

Also, as already established, the JLA would be facing be the new gods of Apokalips. Who better to make the JLA seem less god-like than people who are?

Mister Whedon, are you ready to sign up? Yes? Well, bring along Nathan Fillion (from Firefly) to play Hal Jordan, will you?

That dude will make Hal bearable to audiences who don’t know Hal Jordan and won’t understand how well-intentioned behaviour only resembles douchery. He's also not scared to bear all for the camera ad let's face it, wearing Hal's costume is the next most...um...accentuating thing.

I'm sure this "audition pic" will carry SallyP  of Green Lantern Butts' approval and vote...

Okay, I’ll settle for the studio choice, Ryan Renolds, too.

I still don't know who will play Wonder Woman...decisions, decisions...

Then, it’s all set, Mister Whedon. We’ll see you on set, Mister Whedon. Thank you for being you, Mister Whedon. I’ll be quiet now, Mister Whedon.

JLA: The Movie - How it should happen

In an upcoming post, I’ll be discussing (read: making a fanboy case for) which superhero comics I believe deserve to be made into movies or television shows.

Of course, one of those is JLA.

This JLA will be a big-budget movie will only have the BIG SEVEN as its stars. By BIG SEVEN, I mean Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern (Guy Gardner – hell no!), Flash, Martian Manhunter, and as the seventh member your choice of Hawkman or Aquaman or Green Arrow or Hawkgirl (as a modern addition). Okay, I have somewhat of a crush on Hawkgirl – she’s spunky and her abs are sooo toned. Perhaps, a fully powered Black Canary as the seventh member would make sense from a power variety perspective. Maybe, a BIG SIX plus a few supporting heroes plus a few easter egg cameos. We’ll let the studio decide.

And, oh, they’ll be facing Darkseid and the might of Apokalips.

During my movie-imagining session, I began to think about the actual mechanics of such a motion picture and then it came to me: Guest directors!

Michael Bay – for the slow motion “Off-to-save-the-world” walks - as seen in Armageddon - that the JLA have to do before they open a can of hurt on the evil gods. Also, Mister Bay will handle all the big explosions and the fire pit scenes. They have actually attempted this to great effect in silhouette-form in the opening sequence of the Justice League animated series (the one before Justice League Unlimited).

Zack Snyder – for all the slow motion fight scenes the leaguers will have while Flash moves at normal speed. For the clumsy slow motion bondage scene between Batman and WW, where Bats has trouble unhooking his utility belt...Before he can succeed, Martian Manhunter ghosts in to call them to the watchtower monitor room...Okay, so I’m not serous about this one :)

Christopher Nolan – for all Batman’s SERIOUS conversations with his colleagues.

JJ Abrams – for all the multiple-hero scrambling combat scenes where three of them are fighting para-demons, while two are trying to save some hunger dogs from feeding the fire pits (implies collaboration with Michael Bay), while Darkseid unleashes some other threat against them...chaos. Mister Abrahams is also great choice, because about 20% of the movie will be shot in the “shaky-cam” style ala Cloverfield. Why? Well, these will be the parts that will be seen the eyes of Blue Devil, who will be in the middle of a try-out for JLA membership as well as simultaneously trying to get superhero footage for a reality-based movie. Of course, the JLA want to reject them, but then a crisis occurs...

M. Night Shyamalan – for the introduction of the eighth and newest JLA member and the subsequent revelation that he was planted as a traitor within the league by non other than Desaad!

James Cameron – for the climactic battle and finale. Darkseid gets blown into a fire pit...Batman uses a boom tube to deliver something especially nasty to the Apokalips champions...

Frank Miller – for the part where Batman plants a Kryptonite-induced smackdown on the Darkseid-controlled Superman (ala the Superman and Justice League series of a few years back). This is also the best way to show how bad-ass the JLA is – pit them against their most powerful member.

Notable cameos: Mister Miracle, Captain Atom (I ‘m totally straight when I say that I miss his shiny butt), Orion

Think: Legends meets JLI (the whole Apokalips saga) meets JLA (during the wonder woman leadership age – just so we get the Blue Devil motivation right) meets the current JLA era meets The Dark Knight Returns (for How to fight BAD superman tips).

Trust me. It'll work. We just have to keep Bay and Cameron's visions from clashing ... and Nolan's inner editor from killing Snyder's inner fanboy... and Miller's lawyers from slapping a restraining order on Snyder.

It. Will. Work.