It's been hard not to notice his week that, somewhere deep in Warner Bros. studios, there are a bunch of executives and writers trying to bring a lot of DC Comics characters to the screen. They've been trying to do this for years, of course, but the news has been coming fast and furious this week, with the big news that they've been assembling a Justice League film for months in their efforts to have their own Avengers, and then that a Green Lantern screenwriter has been developing a Wonder Woman film simultaneously. It's clear DC is aiming for a similar tactic to the one Marvel took, developing movies for their main heroes while building up to a huge team-up that, if everything works out, sets as many box office records as The Avengers did.
What's stopping them from that world domination right now is Christopher Nolan, who is in charge of Batman for now and is producing Superman: Man of Steel, and while totally encouraging of those characters, he's not the kind universe builder who would get this done. But the other person who's really keeping this plot from working right now is fictional: it's Hal Jordan? If you think back really hard, you might remember that last summer included Green Lantern, a wildly expensive comic book adaptation starring Ryan Reynolds as Hal Jordan, the test pilot who's bestowed a magical ring of energy that can help him control the universe. The movie was not a huge flop, but it was a creative bust, without the kind of fan fervor that helps build franchises.
But Warner Bros. would be crazy to let one pesky movie stand in their world-building way, and now Variety reports they're still weighing their options of how to move forward. They pretty much have two choices: stick with Ryan Reynolds and hope a second film (or a presence in a Justice League movie) would work out this time, or ditch Reynolds and start all over again with the character. It would be an admittedly crazy pace for a full-fledged reboot-- can you imagine getting an entirely different Green Lantern origin story in like summer 2014?-- but if they simply bring in a new actor to play Green Lantern in the Justice League movie, it would be exactly what Marvel did for the Hulk. It's hard to remember now, but there was complete fan outrage when The Incredible Hulk star Edward Norton wasn't brought on for The Avengers, and the role was cast with Mark Ruffalo instead. No, really, it was an outrage. Of course, Ruffalo's performance turned out to be one of the highlights of The Avengers, and if there's anybody left clamoring for Norton to come back, they're clearly fighting against the tide.
DC could probably pull off the same thing with Green Lantern-- even defenders of that movie didn't seem too attach to Reynolds in the lead role, and the excitement of putting together a Justice League movie at least could help fans forgive a lot. It's a shame for Reynolds, but maybe a great opportunity for another upcoming actor. So, who do you want to see be the next to don the power ring?
