DC Shared Universe idea Thread

[Zam]

Hello there, thanks for stopping by the thread!

Recent news and reviews have given me the impression that Batman V Superman has not met a lot of people's hopes or expectations. Now, I'm not here to critique the film, or endorse it, if you liked it that's fine, if you didn't that's also fine.

Rather than discussing the movies already made my intent here is to ask 'how would you create a shared live action DC Universe movie series?' These ideas can range from short concepts to whole scripts if you feel like it, the intent is simply to share and even discuss ideas.

I will also be offering my own take on the matter that will cover the broad strokes of the movies. Though I will note that if I existed in some Bizzaro World where I was somehow chosen as a writer for these I'd spend six months minimum doing research and hashing out ideas before working on a draft.

With that in mind I will now begin my DC Movie Layout and see where it takes us. I'll be switching between plot & background explanations throughout and will try to keep them distinct.

 

[Zam]

Wonder Woman: Invasion of Themyscira

Background.

One thing I realised early on when conceiving of these ideas was that due to her origin Wonder Woman actually 'can' be dropped into the DC timeline earlier than either Batman or Superman and it still make perfect sense.

This makes her movie the perfect one to introduce the concept, the 'First Avenger' of the DC shares universe, though obviously only Nazi's will be copied.

Plot.

The year is 1940, the Nazi's have turned Europe into a nightmarish bloodbath and are sewing chaos and terror over as much of the world as they can while fighting the allied powers. The United States of America is still on the fence about getting involved in the war itself, however intelligence offered by members of the Allies leads them to investigating the presence of a Nazi vessel in the Aegean Sea.

(I'd try to avoid narration and instead have conversation between the characters reveal exposition.)

The movie opens with Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor's both being briefed as they suit up in their combat gear for a battle. Wonder Woman is participating in either a tournament or fighting a monster that slipped out of Tartarus while Steve is preparing to fly an experimental stealth jet over the Nazi battleship.

This would be where the first major action beats of the film happen, Wonder Woman against a monster or her fellow Amazon's to show of her powers and skill along with Steve ending up in a dog fight with battleship because as it turns out, the stealth tech was not as good as advertised.

After her battle is done and Wonder Woman is engaging in some self-reflection she sees Steve's plane crash near/on the island and naturally goes to help.

The Americans have no idea where he went after going 'pop' on the radar.

However, the one in charge of the Nazi vessel, a large, barrel chested, dark hair man with a neatly trimmed beard and caveman brow watched Steve's plane crashing and then vanish confidently announces "We've found them".

Background.

Its Vandal Savage, the head of the expedition is Vandal Savage. I figured given his age and background he might actually have a decent amount of in universe knowledge about the Amazons. Thus after buying and manipulating his way up into the inner circles of the Nazi party he got himself a commission to search out mystical weapons.

(He may even have been Hippolyta's 'mate' (The one who killed her with a rock) but that may be tying things too closely together.) Though if he was I'd make sure to give Hippolyta an even larger role and maybe lower Steve's leading to a team up between them.

Vandal Savage however was the original plan, he is not necessarily the only one though.

Things began to shift a bit once I recalled the existence of the Baroness, or Paula von Gunther.

Which has led me to debate whether they are working together but he betrays her for his own ambitions. Or Savage stays nominally loyal to the Nazi party and they work together. Or Savage isn't present at all and finding the Amazons is the result of her research. Or the Baroness is not there at all. The overall villain plan would be largely the same however, if framed slightly differently based on the villain.

Whatever the case there would be some drama between the head, or heads, of the expedition and their crew either due to not trusting Savage, or sexism, though if Baroness and Savage are in command together the crew would prefer the Baroness to Savage finding him creepy.

Plot.

The middle of the movie would focus on character interaction, development and world building. Wonder Woman would have found Trevor, luckily for him the air bags were better than the stealth tech. She saves his life and they manage to establish a rapport (His mother's background may still be worked in here through some means) but they are quickly found out before Wonder Woman can build or give him a means off the island.

This leads to an open debate, Ancient Greek style, over seen by Hippolyta on what to do with him as they've been trying to stay separated from the world of men for a long time but now one of their soldiers has crashed there.

(I'd make it a point to portray the Amazon's attitude towards the world of men via exposition and interaction to basically be, "once betrayed, enslaved and brutally tormented for trying to do the right thing, twice shy". That is to say their attitude and desire for segregation, especially considering the time period would be portrayed sympathetically, but not without having its own issues/hypocrisies. While preferably avoid making anyone out of straw.)

Steve also wants to convince the Amazons to become allies of America and or join the war against the Axis Powers having seen their power and is overall a good representative. Unfortunately for him the USA, while better than many other countries is still a pretty far cry from one the Amazons would be fond of, especially as they are currently avoiding the war with the Nazi's.

(If she's in the film either as one of the main villains or the main villain) Things become complicated by the arrival of the Baroness, IE, a woman who holds a high military rank in the "evil" Nazi army Steve has told them about and who is both more knowledgeable of Amazon customs, allegedly due to idolising their history. At which point it becomes an issue of he said she said with many Amazons leaning towards the Baroness, though some are suspicious of how well researched she is.

Steve is naturally pretty ticked, Wonder Woman says she gets it but notes that if he'd landed on an island of all men who'd left society due to being betrayed and tormented by women and he had arrived, naturally they'd have sided with him when it's just going on a stranger's word. He has to acknowledge her point about that, though both admit that the Baroness could be a 'plant' once the communication mix up is covered.

During the night the Baroness, using either advanced technology that should not exist yet or magic, is able to sneak around forbidden areas looking for something, setting up the end of the film.

Background.

The villains plan is largely the same regardless of how things turn out. Their goal is to find a sceptre that will allow one of two thing (the latter being a new idea). If properly used, or magically altered, the sceptre will allow the user to summon and control the spirit of Antiope, Wonder Woman's aunt and easily her equal in power. Or it will allow for enforced control over all the Amazons via their arm bands save for Wonder Woman due to her origin.

If it is just Vandal Savage or he betrays Baroness I'd make it a point to draw a line of comparison between the exploitative 'relationship' between Savage and the person/persons he's controlling compared to Wonder Woman and Steve's willingness to help, rely on and trust each other.

Naturally this wouldn't carry over as well with Baroness doing it solo but her basically selling other women out into slavery as living weapons for Hitler still carries its own comparisons.

Plot.

Whoever the villain, Wonder Woman handles the heavy lifting battles against either her aunt or the Amazons and she sends Steve, (Possibly her mother and or a friend as well) to deal with the source of the problem and once the staff is knocked from the villains hands (after Woner Woman's epic super powered brawl has been sufficiently awesome) and destroyed. I'd probably have Steve use am invisible jet to blast the villain as they, A, cannot win in a straight fight, and B, they're likely hiding in a temple where no violence can take place or something, but which doesn't apply to Steve firing a missile.

The day is saved, the Amazons are bruised but alive, even if their home has seen better days and the villain is either dead, or locked away. Wonder Woman decides she is going to leave her home to fight the Nazi's, feeling they are a threat to not only her home, as they've proven, but the rest of the world and the rest of the Amazons support her decision. She and Steve leave the island and plan on making contact with the Allies/America.

Background.

Wonder Woman would eventually end up working for the United Nations and heading their Department of Metahuman Affairs. She'd be sort of like an urban legend in some circles, many countries uncomfortable with attributing some of her more impressive feats to fact due to her outspoken political views and Wonder Woman was pragmatic enough to play the long game when Nazi's needed their asses kicked. Essentially, she'd be 'known' but many details would have been filtered for the public and most would assume she has since passed away.

There might be a sequel or a stringer involving her speaking with, and being unimpressed by, a shadowy council of vagueness. Suffice to say they need her expertise and showing an image of 'Cheetah' or introducing Barbara Ann Minerva who'd end up pulling a villainous switch in a sequel.

So that's that, Wonder Woman, hero off the Second World War, agent for the united nations later in life and one day to be a founding member of the Justice League. Who knows, maybe Superman and Batman took some inspiration from their history books when deciding to become heroes? J

Also Wonder Woman should be played by a woman who actually has muscles or Superman should not get bulked out. That's my view and I'm sticking to it

 

[Zam]

Superman: Rising Star (It's a work in progress title)

Background.

This is where the inter-movie continuity would start showing up more, though mostly still in the background, but it would be about hinting at a wider plotline built up over the course of two/three movies.

Plot.

The movie would likely start with some form of crime in progress, maybe a high speed chase or a shootout with police when.

Look, up in the sky!

It's a bir-!

Wait, it's gone!

A blue and red blur starts zipping all over the place and suddenly guns are breaking or being hurled away, get away cars are dropped into the police stations car park or crooks are being piled up at the door of a bank and a bomb is being hurled into the sky or something to that effect. It is mostly from the public's point of view but to the viewers is clearly Superman taking care of business, but not stopping to chat.

After that we see the blur duck into a window, an alleyway, or some other none-descript location and march out as Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter who is a bit late for work but looking like he enjoyed a good jog.

This is where we get to see a bit of his daily life, meeting up with Jimmy, shooting the breeze, then them running into Lois who is already on the case of the red and blue blur. It shows he has a relationship with them, if mostly as office friends, though he's a bit closer with Jimmy and he and Lois snark a bit but it's generally professional, but pleasant.

However, at the scene of his latest daring so, Superman overhears some people talking fearfully or angrily about the red and blue blur, something he's been picking up on a bit more of lately. Others are happy, and some are very happy, overly so, like they're reading 'god is being active now maybe he'll get rid of those rowdy kids' happy.

Suffice to say it kills his buzz a bit and we get to see the profile the Daily Planet is building on him and the public perception of his actions so far. It is largely positive but layered with a dose of 'WTF is this?'

Once night fall hits he either swings by the Fortress of Solitude but finds his father's AI cannot offer much on the subject, and we get a look at the fortress and also some of Kal-El's "I'm not human" sense of alienation. However he doesn't dwell on it too long, instead opting to go see his parents exclusively as Clark Kent. (I find the distinction Clark draws between 'Clark' Reporter Clark Kent, Superman and 'the last son of Krypton' interesting and would try to work it in subtly.)

Taking inspiration from the animated series his parents advise that A, if he doesn't want to be Superman he shouldn't, but if he thinks he's doing the right thing he should be less secretive about it so people don't end up misconstruing his actions. He agrees but doesn't want to reveal his identity, both for his parents sake and because "I'd go crazy if I had to Superman all the time". (I did say I was taking inspiration

Thus he ends up dropping in to see Lois Lane and Jimmy and gives an interview to explain what he knows of his background, his motives and what he's doing. Namely, fighting crime and helping out in disasters (stopping a train from falling off a broken rail way, that kinda thing) because it's the right thing to do and that he doesn't really want anything save for people to know that he's here to help. The story hits the news, people are excited, Superman starts letting himself be seen more and gets a bit more of a 'friendly' persona by doing some more minor but still good things and is riding high. So naturally this is where the wheels come off.

Background.

Lex Luthor would not be the main villain of this story. Or more accurately, he would not be the prime and direct threat to Superman. Why would he? Superman hasn't done anything to offend him yet or screwed up his works. Yes he might be a bit bugged by Superman's powers but he's not the first 'metahuman' or alien Lex has heard of given the circles he runs in, this movie sets him up for future instalments though and he is pulling the strings.

Well, he's one of the people pulling the strings. As I said, this movie would hint at the 'Justice League movie' and would build on it a bit, Wonder Woman would likely be reference, make a cameo or even play a role in the sub-story. She's there to keep an eye on the new open super hero and report she likes the cut of his jib and to continue investigating stolen alien tech that was confiscated by the UN but has been ending up in specific government or business hands (Yes even Wayne Enterprises). That is the hook for the main villain of JL movie.

I'd probably want a sub plot involving Lois, Jimmy and maybe with 'Diana Prince' helping out with their investigation a bit while she also ensures Superman doesn't need help but otherwise letting him deal with problems to see how he does. (I do worry that could render any tension moot though so maybe just background references?)

Plot.

Lois, Jimmy and Clark, (possibly) a mysterious rep from the UN up on stage along with lots of other reporters, are all on hand for the reveal of Lexcorps newest invention. The world's first bipedal mech suit, large, in charge great for disasters and "defence" as it can hover, shoot, grab, smash, lift and is just plain old 'super' in pretty much everyway. (Clark grimaces)

Lex is evasive, and or BSing when talking about the power source and is eager to show off his latest toy to the public. Piloting the machine for the demonstration is none other than Mr John Corben, all American soldier, pilot, and generally great guy, but don't worry folks he's done this before and even has an AI to help him! Corben makes a scripted joke about it stealing a job he doesn't have yet, and or "stealing my job of being shot at" getting a sort of rehearsed laugh and showing he and Lex have worked together before. (He probably would get an earlier scene show he's a nice enough guy before this maybe?)

All seems to be going well until the mech starts stumbling a bit, the lights flash a different colour for a second, maybe green, and its suddenly gone off script and the cock pit view of Corben shows he can barely direct it anymore. "Diana Prince" and Corben want everyone out despite Lex being utterly convinced he can handle this, she probably helps Lois and Jimmy giving Clark a chance to jet.

Thankfully while off script the mech isn't hostile, yet, but it's not bothered about almost stepping on people and it is linking up with another mech on display. Superman sees the second one activating and doesn't wait, he smashes the inactivated mech in half then goes for the main one, intent on freeing Corben and stopping the would be rampage. He's winning until he cracks open its chest and finds a glowing green rock that saps his powers, leaving him helpless, Corben tries to help stall the machine and Diana likely does something to give Superman the edge he needs to win. However before truly off lining the mech activates its self-destruct sequence.

(Lex may lose his hair here if Mercy and or Diana can't, or won't, stop him from trying to get back in to take control of the situation.)

The mech explodes, thankfully not a huge blast due to safety protocols but the building is rubble, the machines damages and Corben is a brunt crisp that Superman flies to hospital.

Diana wants to shut the whole thing down and seal it off for the UN to investigate but Lex's money and connections are screwing that over, Lois is following her around sensing a story. Corben ends up transferred to a private practise owned by Lex and is suddenly not able to accept any visitors no matter what and security footage is disappearing. Mercy was handling this while Lex was recovering and kept Lois/Jimmy/Diana blocked from the scene much to their chagrin.

Lex, is pissed, he blames Corben for failing, Diana for taking control of the situation, Superman for blowing up his mech and generally shows himself to be a massive egotist who cannot and will not accept his own mistakes or failings. He was only able to scrounge half the tech and surveillance footage that he wanted, the rest being too damaged or taken by the Government which he is also worried about. See, the mechs were built half through his genius and half via alien tech he's been buying off the Black Market and now he's in hot water everywhere.

Deciding to blame it all on Superman he figures he can make him a scapegoat and try to get out of any public trouble by trying to make him look responsible for the mech going nuts "He has all kinds of powers, who is to say he couldn't have caused this?" But he also gets inspired seeing both the Kryptonites effect and Superman's strength, and decides to get in on all of these things at once.

Going to Corben he and Mercy convince a very delicious with pain and drugs Corben he can't be fixed normally and will die soon thanks to Superman damaging the cockpit (which was super reinforced to protect the pilot in case of self-destruction) He agrees, but they are lying and while damaged and burnt he 'could' have returned to something like normal life.

Instead though the surgeons and engineers, with Lex doing much of the work himself, begin cutting, tearing, reworking and fusing metal to his body that was salvaged or in storage. Suffice to say it's an unpleasant process. While this is going on Lois, Jimmy and (Possibly) Diana are gathering info, Superman is trying to deal with the public bouncing back and forth on him and then this nut job Mettalo shows up.

Suffice to say, being exploded, burnt, drugged, and turned into cyborg that's powered by a radioactive rock then told its all Superman's fault has not done Corben any favours. Lex wanted to frame Corben as the next, next step in warfare and peace keeping by having him defeat Superman, reveal him for a con, then kill him, though Corben is going off script due to drugs, pain and rage. (Lex is fascinated by the battle even while angry about his 'machine' disobeying him)

Suffice to say, Superman overcomes his concerns about Kryptonite and his failure with Corben that led him to doubt where he should be a hero, and wins (Likely using led) Diana, Jimmy and Lois uncover Lex's web of deceit, (Superman/Clark may have helped here as well of course) leading to Mettalo being locked away and semi-deactivated, Superman being loved by the public Lex fighting off court cases and shadowy government groups being ticked at him.

Elsewhere, in a lab at Wayne Industries, a Scientist/thief with a name tag Nigma or with a question mark themed tool is studying/stealing a metallic black box with the same lighting pattern on it as was seen on Lex's mechs, it then flashes to life. (cut to black)

 

[Zam]

Batman Worlds Greatest Detective

Background.

This is the movie that would be setting up the final dominos for the JL movie, by stopping one problem but uncovering something much, much larger that leaves Batman noting it's bigger than anything he's ever faced before.

It would take on more of a Noir mystery solving bent, with lighter actions scenes and stealth section peppered throughout along with showing both Bruce Wayne and Batman needing to take action to get things done.

Plot.

Rather than being an origin story this movie begins with Batman fighting Killer Croc or some other villain, defeating them and disappearing before the police can say much but with the bat signal shown in the background either just before the fight or just after. (Basically to show he's been at this awhile, it's maybe been a year since Superman's movie)

However solving this case hasn't left him feeling terribly satisfied as he feels there's something missing (if say it was a criminal/villain for hire stealing tech) or just because he's a bit, well, bitter, being Batman and all.

He and Alfred have some talks, reference, but provide no flashback to his parents demise and motivations and we get to follow Bruce in some of his daily, and nightly life which leads us into the real mystery of the film.

Namely, Wayne Industries tech has gone missing (thank you Riddler) but Riddler's dropped off the map for Batman and the police. Employees and certain divisions are behaving weirdly and someone has picked up on irregularities in the books, or even a lack of the usual irregularities born of human error.

End result, Bruce and Batman have to go on the hunt within Wayne Industries and out in the streets and in shipping warehouses to try and figure out all the little oddities and to see how they connect.

People turn up as robots, or under the control of ear pieces, a construction plant literally tries to kill Batman and the Riddler's riddles/messages are confusing at best and not in the usual way.

Background.

The main villain for the Justice League film is Braniac, who was destroyed somewhere in space by a group or individual some time ago but its fragments drifted through space, deactivated, but not vaporised. Many of them crash landed on Earth where people have spent the last few decades reverse engineering what they can, retrofitting bits and pieces or just plain trying to reactivate them with mixed results.

This however has all been helping Braniac slowly put itself back together. A fraction of it came to life in Luthor's mechs and planned to spread to the other mechs as well, however Superman's power convinced the fragment to scatter itself and reform in damaged and weaker parts to reactivate them if only somewhat and survive for later.

Riddler may be working with Braniac willingly, for help with his insanity and more importantly knowledge (whatever the case he's got a lot of neat toys, weapons and traps for Batman that will give him just a horrible night)

However I confess to being a little unsure as to Riddler's overall goals, Braniac's is to get Riddler to build him a body/ship that would be a body and to take control of certain key figures in Wayne Industries to help in the construction and acquisition of materials.

However Riddler may be just working for knowledge and help, borderline enslaved with manic messages and riddles being the only thing he can offer to guide Batman to the solution, or planning to fuse with Braniac.

The ultimate confrontation wouldn't change a huge amount just the context.

Plot.

Whatever the case the lesser machines and mind controlled people are stopped, the factory shut down and Riddler defeated before Braniac can come online. Riddler's brain is likely fried via Braniac or by accident on Batman's part.

But while that body is stopped Braniac has been working on back up plans, other labs, other companies, groups and locales and Batman only catches a glimpse of it all before the whole area off lines and sets to self-destruct. Suffice to say, Batman has a big enemy to fight, and may just have to go abroad.

And that's where the movie ends.

 

[Zam]

Justice League: The Movie

The basic idea behind this movie would likely take some cues from the opening episodes of the Justice League TV series and the animated Batman & Superman team up, but only in a few bits and pieces.

The overall idea is that all the heroes are looking at different parts of the same mystery and being drawn to the same locations.

Wonder Woman wants to know where all the alien tech is going and why certain important individuals and corporate heads are suddenly behaving weirdly.

Superman wants to know where other alien tech might be after determining Lex used it to make his mechs and Mettalo and has been following the case on and off since his first encounter with Mettalo.

While Batman is trying to find the robot that he stopped from coming online last movie and is raiding labs and facilities all over the place to do so.

(We learn Lex is around but either in prison, or running Lex corp thanks to a lot of bribery, but he's mostly in the background unless interrogated, otherwise its Mercy.)

Naturally the heroes cross each other's paths in uniform and out, getting along like a pack of raptors shove into a single tent in some instances and metaphorically fist bumping on others.

They manage to come together just in time though as Braniac has managed to activate and is prepped to fight any of them and has managed to take nuclear weapons and other military hardware out of play, possibly even after its gone.

The heroes have to fight it while pooling their resources, Wonder Woman's secret services resources, Superman's Fortress of Solitude, and whatever Batman has taken to the Bat cave, to create something that can stop the spread of Braniac. While also punching, lasering and launching missiles at it and covering for each other weaknesses. (Krytonite laser? Wonder Woman's got you covered. Missile you your bat plan can't dodge? Superman's there, and um…anti, Wonder Woman… something?)

One of them probably has to go inside to infect Braniac with a virus or something while the others open a path and cover for them. They eventually, collectively overwhelm Braniac from the inside out and destroy it and manage to stop its AI from spreading once its body is gone, isolating it into a single machine fragment and locking it away.

The day is saved, they determine they made a pretty good team and with entities like that around who knows when they'll be needed again and Wonder Woman may mention an idea that was kicked around a few decades ago about a team of heroes to protect world peace.

Thus is born, the Justice League.

(If the US's military is damaged that may be why they set up in the US, along with the UN being stationed there. Not to ally with the USA but present a collective power structure that is meant to protect the helpless, will make invading look unpleasant even if they technically are on "everyone's" side. Plus it will give the US extra motive to fund stuff like the Suicide Squad and Cadmus later on.)

 

[WyldCard4]

Hm...

First big problem I see in a decent DCish setting is Green Lantern. Having an unstoppable space cop who comes by even occasionally would be an important change for Earth. There's really no reason that Green Lantern wouldn't occasional depose a tyrant, stop a genocide, or free slaves. Any particular incident slipping through the cracks is justifiable with the Green Lantern having a large sector and lots to do, but if the sector is large enough where we don't even know we have a Green Lantern we get into questions of competence and motives. Most explanations seem to ring hollow or go against their ethos of order and benevolence.

Trying to figure out how Earth could have had a system such as plantation slavery, where for economic reasons not related to survival, humans were kept in severe violence enforced bondage, regularly kidnapped, rape was common if not institutionalized, African kingdoms took on warfare to capture slaves as a way of life? That is really hard if we have a Green Lantern Corp anything like how it is usually presented. Ending random evil systems that are wide spread on a planet's culture is exactly the kind of thing they are designed for, as well as preventing existential risk to any given species.

Second, I feel a Superboy period for Superman has always felt truer to the character than a Superman who began at eighteen or older. The generally "cool" Supermen feel like someone who wants to help, and who has to deal with distance of an alien heritage. A Superboy or at least a "Blur" operating for a while seems like a nice thing to have around, and is a decent reason to make the Superman movie come a bit later in Phase 1.

This all implies we're dealing with a bit more of a departure from the norm than your average film. The baseline for someone like Bruce Wayne is living in a world of rare but well known aliens and magic. He wants to become a symbol, to make the world better in every way he can. The idea of a normal human trying to live to standards set by Green Lantern or Wonder Woman would seem crazy, but there probably are decent precedents among the League of Assassins or similar groups of highly trained "mundane" individuals being able to enact real change.

Speaking of which, the League of Assassins is another thing one might want to string throughout movies, and could prove a decent counterweight to the existence of forced for order like the occasional Green Lantern actions. Being a important in this universe is very likely to force you into being drafted by some horrific conspiracy or killed because you are in the way.

I think the core linking problem is that you can have an interesting, dynamic, conflict ridden setting with most or all of the popular core DCU ideas, but it would very much be a self contained secondary world fantasy universe or alternate history. The concerns of Gotham are just not similar to the concerns of Detroit or New York or Chicago, and things only get more distant from there. If this means the DCU elements should be stripped down heavily, removed outright, or embraced is an open question.

 

[Zam]

First big problem I see in a decent DCish setting is Green Lantern.

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You raise a lot of good points here, and rather interesting one's from the perspective of alternative historical fiction and the sort of implications that would come from having space cops zipping about, Earth not being part of a wider interstellar universe always did feel kind of odd to me, but then so does the Green Lantern Corps never trying to fight Darkseid.

I confess I'm not 100%sure how the comics resolved the matter of there being powerful space cops around but them not dealing with certain historical ills. If someone were to try and keep things nominally similar to our own worlds development a mixture between a none interference with primitive planets clause and Earth being one of many planets initially too far out to be bothered with when they have a limited number of GLs and there's (for example) planet destroying psychopaths roaming the stars leading to it falling between the cracks for centuries could maybe work.

This all implies we're dealing with a bit more of a departure from the norm than your average film. The baseline for someone like Bruce Wayne is living in a world of rare but well known aliens and magic. He wants to become a symbol, to make the world better in every way he can. The idea of a normal human trying to live to standards set by Green Lantern or Wonder Woman would seem crazy, but there probably are decent precedents among the League of Assassins or similar groups of highly trained "mundane" individuals being able to enact real change.

Click to shrink...

I hadn't thought about the League of Assassins, but yeah they'd definitely be a group worth hinting at in the background, though probably best left for a Batman exclusive movie. Though I admit I never really thought Batman thought about 'mundane holding them self to super powered people's standards' when he, or the various other none super powered heroes, donned their uniforms to fight crime, but that may just be me.

Regardless I really do like the idea of the world looking very different due to all these historical changes and the knowledge of magic and super powers, it'd make for a fascinating world.

 

[WyldCard4]

You raise a lot of good points here, and rather interesting one's from the perspective of alternative historical fiction and the sort of implications that would come from having space cops zipping about, Earth not being part of a wider interstellar universe always did feel kind of odd to me, but then so does the Green Lantern Corps never trying to fight Darkseid.

Click to shrink...

The second part is addressed in that they tried, basically failed, and are running a Cold War ever since IIRC in at least some versions of the comics.

I confess I'm not 100%sure how the comics resolved the matter of there being powerful space cops around but them not dealing with certain historical ills. If someone were to try and keep things nominally similar to our own worlds development a mixture between a none interference with primitive planets clause and Earth being one of many planets initially too far out to be bothered with when they have a limited number of GLs and there's (for example) planet destroying psychopaths roaming the stars leading to it falling between the cracks for centuries could maybe work.

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I am unsure. If we have the Green Lantern Corp a bit more "localized" and expanding into the universe that could explain things. I think non-intervention and incredibly large sectors are the primary explanations in most DC lore, but it's usually not really addressed that well.

I think that I am relatively hung up on the GLC because it is very cool and the cool things about it imply things that need to be paid proper attention. All the details of the mythos that matter point to a very old, rightfully proud, effective organizatio

I hadn't thought about the League of Assassins, but yeah they'd definitely be a group worth hinting at in the background, though probably best left for a Batman exclusive movie. Though I admit I never really thought Batman thought about 'mundane holding them self to super powered people's standards' when he, or the various other none super powered heroes, donned their uniforms to fight crime, but that may just be me.

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I think the combination of the Nolan movies and the Arrow TV show as well as Young Justice all using the League in some major capacity is part of why I think they have narrative weight.

Regardless I really do like the idea of the world looking very different due to all these historical changes and the knowledge of magic and super powers, it'd make for a fascinating world.

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I agree.

Hm, Flash is hard to pin down as Barry and Wally have had some incredibly distinctive and contrasting interpretations recently. Hinging the shared universe on The Flash TV show would cause many, many problems, but trying to pull an interesting and distinctive Flash movie seems difficult. Aquaman has a lot of coolness in him, but there are also major humps in the fact that he is best known as a joke. I think Aquaman would need to be late stage. Martian Mahunter seems relatively easy, he shows up in the background a lot but rarely as a focus.

I think Kal-El's mythos needs to be nailed down very early on. Man of Steel Krypton IMO sucked, too drab and not alien enough. Does this version of Superboy train with a Legion of Superheroes? Is he the last, or are Kryptonian remnants a major recurring problem? I think a relatively mysterious Superman would be more interesting, probably drifting through other movies more than having his own franchise for a while.

Batman's biggest question is if we pretend he is a loner or not. His attraction of sidekicks is a major theme of his, but so is being crazy enough to dress up as a bat to punch criminals. I think that in a Justice League based setting trying to prop up various subsidary related franchises we need the interpretations of Batman and Superman who are quite social.

 

[Zam]

The second part is addressed in that they tried, basically failed, and are running a Cold War ever since IIRC in at least some versions of the comics.

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Ah I see, that's good to know, thanks, hehe, sorry I'm not an expert on DC lore

I am unsure. If we have the Green Lantern Corp a bit more "localized" and expanding into the universe that could explain things. I think non-intervention and incredibly large sectors are the primary explanations in most DC lore, but it's usually not really addressed that well.

I think that I am relatively hung up on the GLC because it is very cool and the cool things about it imply things that need to be paid proper attention. All the details of the mythos that matter point to a very old, rightfully proud, effective organizatio

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I think that would make sense, the universe is huge, the distance between Galaxies is large and getting people on-board with their system would be difficult, even more so if its not a species that is on a level that can at least understand the GL Corps so them not having reached Earth and their most recent representative coming about due to a mixture of expansion and necessity could make for a good intro movie.

I think the combination of the Nolan movies and the Arrow TV show as well as Young Justice all using the League in some major capacity is part of why I think they have narrative weight.

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I see, I haven't watched Arrow I'm afraid so I couldn't comment, though I have heard good things and they definitely fit into the background of the setting well, fitting given their nature.

I agree.

Hm, Flash is hard to pin down as Barry and Wally have had some incredibly distinctive and contrasting interpretations recently. Hinging the shared universe on The Flash TV show would cause many, many problems, but trying to pull an interesting and distinctive Flash movie seems difficult. Aquaman has a lot of coolness in him, but there are also major humps in the fact that he is best known as a joke. I think Aquaman would need to be late stage. Martian Mahunter seems relatively easy, he shows up in the background a lot but rarely as a focus.

I think Kal-El's mythos needs to be nailed down very early on. Man of Steel Krypton IMO sucked, too drab and not alien enough. Does this version of Superboy train with a Legion of Superheroes? Is he the last, or are Kryptonian remnants a major recurring problem? I think a relatively mysterious Superman would be more interesting, probably drifting through other movies more than having his own franchise for a while.

Batman's biggest question is if we pretend he is a loner or not. His attraction of sidekicks is a major theme of his, but so is being crazy enough to dress up as a bat to punch criminals. I think that in a Justice League based setting trying to prop up various subsidary related franchises we need the interpretations of Batman and Superman who are quite social.

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That is very true, I confess I left Flash and soemof the others out of my ideas, due to a mix of unfamiliarity save from the Justice League cartoon and due to Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman apparently being the 'founding 3' and also an attempt to juxtapose the ideas against the recent ones.

Aquaman would indeed be tricky, he might work better in a sort of Spiderman/Black Panther context, introduced in a movie rather than getting one to himself to get some of the general exposition out of the way without losing focus. Martian Manhunter can definitely fit in smoothly though, I admit I like the Justice Leagues and 'The Batman's' methods of weaving him in as someone who had fought some big enemy before and was trying to counter them on Earth before anyone knew they were a threat.

I did layout a plan for how I'd do a Superman movie up above, though I'm not sure if that's what you're asking about, sorry.

Great point regarding Batman, yeah balancing his insanity/isolation attitude VS the fact he has a pretty massive collection of allies would be tricky, even more so because some do in fact require, or would be aided by their own intro movie rather than being treated as already a part of the universe but even picking which one's would be hard.

 

[Morphic Tide]

Resurrecting a Thread for the sake of an Idea:

I've seen quite a few Lantern SIs, but I've seen that most are either fully canon Lantern types or are fully non-canon Lantern types.

My idea is as follows: Alternate Black Lantern SI, pre-Blackest Night, that is associated with the absence of the Emotional Spectrum rather than the negation of it. Essentially, it's apathy, not death. Only there's missing parts of the emotional spectrum that can't be described as mixes of existing things on it. Lust can be described as a mix of Greed and Love, for example. Sadness, however, can't be described as a mix of the emotional spectrum's things. It's not related to Fear, because it's what you feel after what you fear happens and the fear wears away. It can't be properly described as any particular thing. So they can't affect these emotions that aren't describable with the Emotional Spectrum, like sadness. Meaning they can always melt into a useless puddle of despair.

The way this theme of absence can manifest as different powers is by assuming the powers of the various Lantern Rings by burning up the associated emotion. They can only use Red Lantern abilities while angry, and it removes the anger with the use of the powers. Same for the other Lantern Ring power sets. The associated look I have in mind is that the white/grey parts of the Black Lantern outfit is replaced with the color you get by removing the color being used. So using Anger makes those parts cyan, as in #00FFFF in the hexadecimal color code we use. Greed comes out as a somewhat deep blue, #0080FF. Basically, whatever color is being used is displayed as it's inverse color, according to the result of subtracting the hexadecimal code for the color from White, representing absorption.

Another way it can manifest is by being "reflective." They can cause emotions on the DC Emotional Spectrum in others by "expending" their own and can basically "reflect" other Power Ring use, copying Green Lanterns when one is fighting them. But only when they are actively in contact with the power ring's effects. Not draining energy, but rather taking control of it when it's being used on them. The look here is that their "ground" state is a metallic grey, being a somewhat dark mirror. When they are reflecting a Power Ring's ability, taking control of the exact amount of energy used on them, they instead have a reflective version of the color, in the sense of a mirror that only reflects specific wavelengths. For example, when reflecting Will, their mirrored parts reflect only the green light around them.

The rest of the outfit remains black, though. The big deal about them is that they are basically a walking hard counter to every Power Ring in existence as the reflection type, even White and Black. Larfleeze shows up? Any attempt at making the SI His just gives a Greed charge to reflect back at Larfleeze. Or use on whoever the SI wants. Sinestro powered by Paralax shows up? All that Fear energy just gets bounced back until Sinestro has a mental breakdown. And they have a much bigger storage than normal Power Rings, so they can overpower even Larfleeze simply by having a bigger total charge to blow on one hit. Nekron shows up? Say hello to a Black that can kill you by reflecting your concept of Death right back at you. Sure, it probably takes hours of exposure to build up enough Death charge to do it, but it's conceptual Death, so it can kill what is already dead. Probably. If not, well, Nekron can hardly gain power by having raw Death thrown at them. And the SI can always heal their own injuries to generate Death energy to throw at people...

If they are the absorption type, then they have to think about it because they only no-sell forced emotions, not all the stuff going on. Maybe they can drain Power Ring charge, but need contact for it. Scarecrow's Fear Gas is liable to be in their tool belt, because it lets them build up a Yellow charge whenever needed. And Yellow is exactly as versatile as Green. Their counter to Nekron is of the form of eating the Death-based Power Rings being spammed all over the place, obliterating this antonym of the Emotional Spectrum in much the same fashion they obliterate the actual Emotional Spectrum. And, naturally, they can use this consumed power. Which they attain the ability to generate by healing people by way of eating the concept of Death. So they can heal a guy who was half-splattered, then inflict exactly as much lethality on the poor fool who did it. But only after Blackest Night, because before then, their Power Ring didn't have a point of comparison for Death-as-Black to consume it.

I mean, one can just as well have it be Logic, but that fits Grey rather than Black. Black is the utter absence of the Emotional Spectrum, which includes Will. So it has to be Apathy or Death. And you can hardly have setting-breaking stuff based on power from logic in DC of all places. It's far too silly a place for conceptual Logic to get you very far. And there's not much to do that's interesting with the idea of Logic-based power. What are you going to do, whip up the source code of the universe? You need some wicked math to pull that off. Largely because it's been mathematically proven that no single mathematical system can describe everything. There's always things that are true, but unprovable, and things that are able to be mathematically disproven, but are still true.