An Open Letter About A Better Justice League Movie

Dear Warner Brothers and people who want a better Justice League movie,

My name is Luke Herr and I am the editor here at Nerdcenaries. In my free time I also write comics and lead projects.

I’ve heard that you’ve had issues with the Justice League script and honestly, I can understand why. You have these big properties that you have movie rights to but everywhere you look, Marvel is leading the way. Avengers was huge and the setup films for it have also been hits. You guys have to throw your chips onto The Man of Steel and from the way it looks now, I have doubts about the movie.

So instead of doing a series of solo movies building up to a team film for the big Justice League members, you can squash that jazz. I brought on Ziah Grace and Peter Winsky and we developed a sure fire Justice League movie that will allow room for growth and excellent success.

First off – you need the core Justice Leaguers – Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. The first two EVERYONE knows who they are. Don’t waste our time with another origin movie. And for Wonder Woman, well DC has like 5 origins for her. Don’t get into that. It doesn’t matter.

Now these core League members should be gods among men. They need to be shown as these forces of might and good. You don’t need to show them coming together – they are good! Why do we need to explain how they got together? What else would they do?

No, the conflict here comes from what I like to call Featured members. This is going to be a war on 3 fronts (and I’ll get to the story later). Superman is the spirit of the team, he is the symbol incarnate of truth, justice and the American way. He does the hard jobs that other people don’t want to do. He doesn’t do it for the glory – so you stick him with Booster Gold.

Booster Gold if you don’t know him is a disgraced athlete from the future who came back in time for the glory of being a superhero and to make money. Heck, you can just have him be a glory hound for this movie with technology and do a spinoff film about his origins (please see my Booster Gold film pitch). Superman and Booster Gold and maybe some background members will be saving people, away from the news crews, doing the unsung work. Booster will have issues with it but can ultimately turn out to be a real hero! That is front 1.

Front 2 is Wonder Woman. She is going to be the brawns of the team. She’ll be leading the offense against the enemy with a team of other heroes like Aquaman – the dude rules over the oceans for a reason – he is badass. But the Featured hero for Wonder Woman will be Kyle Rayner, the Green Lantern.

The Green Lantern film didn’t do well. Having a test pilot playboy who ruins lives does not make for a sympathetic hero. Kyle Rayner is an illustrator, he is a dream and all of a sudden he is facing the oncoming horde. He is fighting fear and despair on the battlefield. It is up to Wonder Woman as the leader to get him through the fight and to inspire him. It is about standing up to fears and insurmountable odds because that is what being a hero is all about.

Front 3 is the brain trust and the Featured hero here is going to be Lex Luthor teaming up with Batman. “Wait,” you say “but Lex Luthor is a bad guy!.” Luthor is a villain, but he is also a public face. He is a genius. He is a shrewd businessman. In a lot of ways, he is a tainted reflection of Batman. Luthor has a background with the heroes but he is willing to fight to the invasion that is going on here – it is the least a hero of the common man can do. But he has his own agenda – sneaking Batman’s files on the Justice League members.

So now you have the fronts – but what is enemy?

Rumor is Darkseid was supposed to be the villain for the movie. Hey, I freaking love Darkseid and the New Gods but you do not just toss evil incarnate into the ring for round 1. No, this enemy is an army of robots who appear in the Nevada National Security Site after a weapon test. That security site is about an hour from Las Vegas with homes and buildings in between. These robots – they devour metal and weaponry and convert it to fit their needs. A bit of an inversion on the “Dark Heart” episode of Justice League Unlimited. But the thing is behind these robots is Metron, one of the New Gods.

Metron is the god of knowledge. Neither good nor evil. Ultimately he seeks to attain all knowledge, to test space and time. And here – he is testing the heroes of Earth to see if they are even worth assisting. He knows that Darkseid is out there and these robots – if Earth can defeat them, he will share his knowledge. This is a test for Earth, a weird and dark Silver Age style lesson.

Wrapping up the team is the Flash – he serves as the convoy between the fronts and to a degree as the narrator – running between the sides. And there is Martian Manhunter, who doesn’t know if humanity will trust him. He normally leads the team from space but here when the satellites stop working, he has to see if people will trust him.

So you have a movie that launches 3+ characters, gives you room for background characters (more toy money, more movies), gives you a different aesthetic – fighting robots in the desert and near Las Vegas means the right director can have a field day with shots and scenes to make a movie that is its own.

And I want to see Sam Mendes on the film. The guy who did Skyfall and Road to Perdition. Avoid the nerd bait directors who have too much on their plates. I love Jorts and Wright and a lot of these other guys but we need something beautiful. We need a movie that can capture heroism and beauty in the scenes, not simply the clang and violence.

And I mentioned sequels didn’t I?

Film two – Luthor has the Justice League files and the New Gods show up on Earth. When League members start getting destroyed, the New Gods are put on trial. It is a “JLA: Tower of Babel/Justice League: Doom” story that lets you add in supervillains for a hero/villain fight which no live action movie has done well so far and you have the New Gods! (Which means a lot more to me than you but these are some of Jack “King of Comics” Kirby’s best creations – and better yet – More spinoffs.

Film three – Final Crisis. Darkseid takes over Earth, turns heroes evil, it gets balls ass trippy and beautiful at the same time. It is the cinematic explosion ending that would make Return of the King look like the Rankin Bass Lord of the Rings movie and ultimately – humanity saves the world and good defeats evil.

So this is my pitch. It seems weird but it gives you more room, more time. Characters can be developed in the film and you can see who catches on. You have a logical and progressive growth, room for extra movies and the freedom to make your own mark.

Also if you are interested in this pitch, give me a call and I will be happy to help with scripting.

Luke Herr

Luke is a writer and an aspiring professional comic writer who is also the editor in chief of Nerdcenaries. He currently is working on a graphic novel called Prison Spaceship.