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So, it's official - Zack Snyder will follow Batman Vs Superman (or whatever it ends up being called - World's Finest, anyone?) with Warner Brothers' Avengers-beater, Justice League.
We feel we've slipped into Bizarro-world; one of the biggest movie studios on earth is making a big screen version of one of the greatest superhero teams of all time, and people see this as a bad thing?
So we thought we'd walk on the sunny side of the street - it's how we get our powers - and take a look at some of the positives. Starting with the studio…
Warner Brothers are responsible for the greatest superhero trilogy ever made
There's no denying it (but feel free to try in the comments), The Dark Knight Trilogy is the best superhero series ever put to film. And Warner Brothers banked it - their producers backed Nolan all the way, whether he was insisting on doing as many effects as possible practically, or taking risky casting decisions.
Let's not forget how controversial Heath Ledger's Joker casting was when it was announced - WB rode out that storm with faith in the filmmaker, it'll be the same here. But why do they have so much trust in Mr Snyder?
It's pretty simple, Man Of Steel made money. A lot of money - making it the most profitable reboot of all time. But that's not the only reason they're signed him up for the trilogy...
Zack Snyder understands the universe
(Image courtesy ComicBookMovie.com )
It's become pretty fashionable to bash Man Of Steel. Sure, it has a fairly small ( but loyal ) group of devotees, but they're very much in the minority.
Setting aside the major issues people had with that film - the third-act destructofest, Superman doing what he did in the comics and killing Zod - there's no denying Snyder knows how to make a superhero flick.
But, most significantly for Justice League, Man Of Steel proved Snyder knows his superheroes. The film is packed with subtle references to the wider world in which Justice League exists - Batman, Cyborg, Booster Gold and Green Lantern are all alluded to, which means that - without loudly announcing it - Snyder has already been carefully crafting the JL universe, in a fairly clever way.
But how successfully will he juggle the characters in that universe when they come together for the first time on the big-screen?
He made Watchmen
Watchmen is so ahead of its time it was satirizing Avengers before Avengers even existed. Not only did he successfully balance a team with as many strong personalities / conflicting characters as the Justice League , he did it whilst deconstructing a medium. That's a lot of plates to keep spinning.
Obviously Alan Moore gets full credit for creating that deconstruction in the first place, but Snyder took a project out of development hell, and delivered a movie that fanboys took to their hearts. He'll do the same with Justice League except, this time, it'll be with characters like The Flash and Green Lantern. That's genuinely exciting! Or at least, it will be, if they cast the right people….
It sounds like they're casting the right people
Batman-News (a hugely reliable source of scoops for any Batman related property) has confirmed that Jason Momoa has signed up for Man Of Steel 2 , which means he'll probably be a lock for the Justice League movie.
Early rumors - when he denied any involvement with the film - had him down as Aquaman, which is a good bet. Matt Damon is also rumored for that character, though we can't really see that happening.
We also think Mamoa would make a decent Hawkman, and an even better Martian Manhunter, but we'll have to wait and see if those - slightly less iconic - characters will make it into the movie.
The Rock's all but sent out an official press release confirming his involvement , and we have him down as Green Lantern. But, again, his Martian Manhunter would be amazing.
One actor / character we definitely know will be in the League is Ray Fisher, who'll be bringing Victor Stone aka Cyborg to the big screen for the first time.
Fisher is a safe pair of hands, with a theatre background that includes Macbeth, To Kill a Mockingbird and a lead role as Muhammad Ali (who has fought Superman in the past, lest we forget).
And then there's Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman. Snyder's movies are full of well-cast strong women, and Gadot is already in training to deliver one of the most iconic women in comics.
Considering the tortured journey that character has had to hit the big screen, we're just glad she's involved. And the next step is a lead role in her own solo movie, please.
Snyder's 300, Watchmen and Man Of Steel should settle people's nerves when it comes to Snyder's casting nous: all of those films featured leads perfect for their roles, without necessarily relying on banner names.
Snyder can condense a lot of information into a short period of time/film
One of the coolest elements of Watchmen is the opening credit sequence, where Snyder manages to pack in a graphic novel's worth of back-story / exposition into a brief (and awesome) montage.
Considering the wealth of information he'll have to pack into these two films, without the luxury of Marvel-style solo-flicks, that's a blessing.
We can't think of anyone better to deliver a smart, entertaining Justice League movie within the studio system. Disagree? Tell us below!
