While Marvel is continuing to put out films as fast as Hollywood can make them, DC Comics is trailing far behind. Sure, the new Batman films are a hit, but Batman has always been popular even when his films were horrible.
So where are all the new DC feature films? Why aren't we seeing any trailers for characters we haven't yet seen on the big screen? You would think that being owned by a major media outlet would make it easy for DC Comics to produce dozens of high budget feature films, but what have we seen in the past ten years? A Superman film, two Batman films, a Watchmen film, and that horrible Catwoman movie.
So without further adieu, here are the top five DC superhero properties that could use a big screen adaptation
5)
Wonder Woman - Although I'm almost certain that any attempt to do this would end up with something like She-Ra meets Xena, it makes me sad that the most iconic superheroine doesn't have nearly the exposure of her male counterparts. There is nothing inherently bad with Wonder Woman, but she has a lot of baggage that can make her difficult to write. The character concept is inextricably tied to feminism, and it's hard to make a feminist blockbuster action film without either being preachy or shallow and innocuous. I'm guessing that they'll go with the latter.
4)
The Flash - Another one that has never received the big screen treatment, Flash is fairly recognizable to a mainstream audience and uses a power that we haven't seen much on film. With decent effects, super-speed should translate really well to film, but the costume probably wouldn't. The other challenge is with the villains. Who do you go with? Professor Zoom? Gorilla Grodd? Mirror Master? Trickster? Vandal Savage? Captain Cold? For a film like this, I would gloss over the origin story and focus on Barry Allen as an "everyman" superhero who uses super-speed to balance the demands of work, family, friends, and crimefighting.
3)
Captain Marvel - In his heyday, Captain Marvel was more popular than Superman. The story revolves around an orphan boy who is gifted with a magic word which, when spoken, changes him into the superhero, Captain Marvel. Its kind of like Harry Potter with a superhero twist. In the right hands, it could be just as popular. Captain Marvel has some of the goofiest enemies, which could add a lot of good humor into this superhero adventure. The great William Goldman (The Princess Bride, The Stepford Wives, Butch Cassiday & the Sundance Kid, Chaplin) wrote a script, but I doubt this will be used.
2)
Green Lantern - When I think about it, there are few superheroes that would translate as well to film. It has a simple origin (a human test pilot is inducted into a league of intergalactic police) and a simple power (projection of green force fields). You'd start off with something vaguely resembling Top Gun and end in a place that's a bit more like Star Wars. Besides, the lantern powers would actually look better on film than in the comics.
1) A new
Superman - I covered this in my previous
posts, but it's good for another go. The biggest problem with the previous films is that they are rooted in a hokey conception of the past. Even the Christopher Reeves films had an old fashioned, 1940's attitude about them. The next Superman film has to be something new and fresh. You have to reintroduce Superman in a way that makes people feel like they are seeing him for the first time. And, to an extent, they are. Times have changed and the Superman for the 21st century shouldn't look like Superman of the '70s films, '40s serials, or '50s TV shows... and there is a new generation that hasn't seen any of those.
DC Comics has finally canceled the WildStorm imprint.
