Justice League

It is but my personal opinion is that, comics being what they were, they didn't really have intelligent and well written stories back in the day. I'd take The Amazing Spider-Man or Spider-Man over Amazing Fantasy 15 any day. The latter is still very good even today but I just don't think it's as good as the movies.

edited 10th Aug '12 7:14:10 PM by Kostya

Okay, well there is a difference between the changes the new Spider-Man movie made and say...

Making it so that Sandman was actually the original killer of Peter's uncle.

Okay, I will admit that was a rather stupid decision. I don't like the idea of one of Peter's rogues gallery being his uncle's killer. I think it just being a random dude works better.

It's definitely on a case by case basis, especially with comics where certain storylines in comics are better than others - it's unfair to say the films outstrip the comics given that regard. As good as it is, I'd rather read The Long Halloween than watch The Dark Knight, but at the same times I'd rather watch The Dark Knight than read The Man Who Laughs. But in the end, I'd rather watch/read all three at the same time.

Anyways, random thought: I'd actually like to see them give Green Lantern another chance with a sequel. It's not that bad, and a lot of the things that were handled poorly could very well be fixed without having to reboot with a little diligence and the right writers.

In particular, I want to see that version of Sinestro as a big bad and that version of Carol become Star Sapphire. I liked the little spins they used for both of them.

The chances are low. They spent A LOT of money to make it, and it didn't get anywhere near that amount back.

The Green Lantern film was terrible, but in such a way that they would still be able to make a much better sequel. The script killed that film, a good scriptwriter would have made it at least better than average. The setup for the mythos was all very good. Sinestro was the best bit of the film, focusing the marketing on him, reminding people that they liked the character, would probably be the best advertising move any Green Lantern film could make while the 2011 film lingers in people's conciousness.

If they want a name to play Green Lantern, which I'm guessing they will, I don't think they'll get anyone better for the part than Ryan Renolds whichever Lantern they go for. I can think of 3 exceptions, two of which I don't think would consider a superhero film, and everyone is going to be put off from the role anyway.

edited 11th Aug '12 10:39:06 AM by C0mraid

Yyan Reynolds was a TERRIBLE choice for Hal Jordan, though. Kyle Rayner? Yeah. I can see that. Hal Jordan? Fuck no! Terrible choice.

I once saw the name of that George Eads guy from CSI being considered as Hal Jordan. I think he'd have been a nice choice, myself.

The movie's GL did end up being a kind of Hal/Kyle composite.

Reynolds was very much a Kyle Reyner inspired Hal Jordon. I always thought that Jenson Ackles would've made for a better Jordon.

To heck with John Stewart. Just make Hal Jordan black. Satisfies those who want a minority hero, and those who want Green Lantern to ALWAYS be Hal Jordan. Enough people are unfamiliar with him that it wouldn't make a difference to the public at large.

That... seems like a terrible idea. Not even mentioning how fans of Hal Jordan would react, it insults the intelligence not only of people who want John Stewart, but also patronizes people who would want a black hero in the first place. "It's alright, we'll just recolor this white hero black instead of putting any effort into character development. They'll eat it up and we'll get our minority hero." Hrm...

Before anyone brings up other successful Race Lifts, it's worth noting that few of those are actually done with the specific intent of satisfying people who want to fill some kind of racial quota, and those that blatantly are for that reason tend to suffer because of it. In Hancock, for example, Will Smith wasn't cast because of his race, and the movie didn't try to patronize us by claiming "hey, here's your black superhero!" Though some idiots did see it as that anyway. "Men in Black" did something similar, casting Smith because of the character he brought to J and not just because he was black (something that worked especially well for Heimdall - his actor was damn good as him).

Not to mention if you were going to make a change like that you might as well just make the movie about John Stewart. I've said it before and I'll say it again, making ludicrous changes just for the sake of it is a bad idea, indicative of bad writing, that rarely leads to anything good.

edited 12th Aug '12 12:18:48 AM by KnownUnknown

That's no better than killing Hal Jordan! There don't need to be arbitrary changes to the continuity!

Just keep it with Hal for now. Establish Guy and John as potential back-ups. Then have something happen to Guy. Just establish that Guy is there. Boom! John Stewart is set up to take over at a moment's notice. You don't have to have Hal die, either. Just have him pass the ring on. No big deal.

I'm not familiar with Green Lantern beyond a few episodes of the Justice League cartoon as a kid, so I understand how his powers work but that's it. Does Hal Jordan really have to die for John Stewart to appear? Can't they just have several human Green Lanterns and have the others busy with something so John Stewart's the only who can help at the time...and then have him decide to join the Justice League as a result?

I think they should just screw the whole movie, and do it with a new person. My personal vote is for John Stewart.

The funny thing is, most people doesn't even want the original, comics John Stewart, they'd want the JLU version. Talk about your Adaptation Displacement.

I still say they should pull an Incredible Hulk and make a new movie that may or may not be in continuity with the last one. I figure they'd use John Stewart if they were to introduce a new Lantern.

John Stewart makes the most sense. He was the Lantern after Hal, and imo has the most presence as a straight up hero (mostly because his character is very stable) of the remaining Lanterns - Guy is... Guy, and Kyle is very "coming of age"-ish.

Whenever I think a Kyle Raynor movie, I think of the whole thing being Spider-Man esque, with hims spending the whole time having to deal with the new power and responsibility, with John and Hal as mentors trying to teach him what it means to be a Lantern.

The main problem with the Green Lantern movie is they tried to make the character Hal, Kyle and Guy, all at the same time.

The main problem is the plot was rather boring IMO. I think for the next movie they should just ignore Earth and focus more on what's going on in space. That always struck me as the more interesting part of the GL mythos.

Well, a first movie would have to be heavily Earth based to establish the main character and his background for a general audience. You can play with the alien elements more heavily later on.

I'd have gone with sort of a Superman-less version of the origin featured in Superman The Animated Series, changing Hal's job back to being a test pilot. Maybe add some updated background bits from New Frontier.

I personally think that with the exception of Sinestro, most of the more interesting GL enemies are the Earthborne ones. Especially Star Sapphire.

I'd say that the movie's main problem was that it traded flash for substance - Hal's character was decent, but they didn't spend enough time developing him in ways that didn't involve just throwing him into new situations. Characters were introduced, like his family, and promptly never used again. In the end, his character feels like it ought to be strong but we don't really get to see why until right before the character development kicks in.

As a result, the movie feels decent, mainly because you can tell it almost could've been actually pretty good. But alas, it doesn't manage it. They were trying for an Iron Man situation while forgetting what made Iron Man so endearing - the character arc. It feels like a copy of Iron Man's arc with the substance involved cut off at several key points.

Also, the main villain... I dunno. Hammond just wasn't too engaging as a villain. Mostly because despite the great focus on his origin his actions were very muted, especially when Parallax got into the mix. And Parallax... oh man. Boring. Underdeveloped. Overemphasized. The titanic battle should've been saved for a sequel or something.

edited 12th Aug '12 10:37:21 AM by KnownUnknown

Parallax was a stupid choice for a first movie villain. He just doesn't have the human factor that most good villains have. To compensate they had to include a human antagonist but said antagonist never really made me care for him. They probably should have used someone else but I'm not sure who.

Parallax is also one of those things that should be saved for the end. The big finale. Its not exactly just another villain. Build it up. In the first movie, you have the Guardians say something cryptic about the Central Power Battery having some inconsistencies. Then in the second movie, you have the Manhunters damage said CPB, and show some yellow leaking out. In this movie, you broach the concept of Fear as an energy source with Sinestro and have him turn against the Corp. Good set-up for a climactic battle of a third movie there.

edited 12th Aug '12 11:10:36 AM by Zeromaeus

The way I see it, it should've gone like this:

• Movie 1: Abin Sur fights Parallax and dies. Hal gets the ring, Hammond studies Sur and gets infected with Parallax. While the Corps is still frantic about fighting Parallax, to the point of crafting the Yellow Ring as a last resort against him, Parallax himself doesn't appear except as a powerful, mysterious force throughout the universe. This gives the movie more space for Hammond as a villain and possible on Hal's character arc, as well as building the tension nicely.
• Movie 2: Sinestro puts on the Yellow Ring in fear of the Corps being too weak to face Parallax. Using it in secret, he becomes increasingly abitious and imperialistically insane, eventually creating a universal order to overtake the Guardians and rule/protect the Galaxy himself, unknowingly and eventually uncaringly strengthening Parallax as he increases fear's power. Sinestro mostly acts in secret and mystery during the movie, and uses the Star Sapphires - a rogue sect of the Zamarons bent on spreading the Zamaron power of love through the galaxy by force - to distract Hal from going to Oa by to thwart him by turning Carol into an insane member of their group to attack Earth. Hal eventually discovers that Sinestro plans to covertly overthrow the Guardians and it all leads up to a battle on Oa, in which Carol breaks through her alter ego and aids Hal. Sinestro's initial attack is defeated, but he and his Corps then runs into Parallax.
• Movie 3: Sinestro is now Parallax's thrall, and his forces now join Parallax. Strengthened by Parallax' power, they are nigh-defeatable. Hal must go throughout the galaxy to find members of other Lantern groups to help in the fight against him, including persuading Carol to take up the Star Sapphire power again. This introduces Blue Lantern power and ends with a titanic battle in space against Parallax and the Yellow Corps. Thus, we have a series where Parallax' power and legend is built up throughout all three movies and leads up to something, instead of the flat way he was introduced in just the one.

edited 12th Aug '12 11:33:35 AM by KnownUnknown