Friday, October 26, 2007

Justice League Hooo!

More Exclusive Story Info About the Justice League of America Movie!

Posted by Patrick on 10/23 at 04:42 PM
JLA Justice League Alex Ross

Our JLA source has returned. After listening to the rumors that there had been a leaked draft of the first 14 pages of the Justice League of America screenplay floating somewhere out there on the internet, our spy laughed and said that the real JLA script was nothing like that. In fact, our dude/ette on the inside told us precisely what happens in the first 14 pages of the authentic Justice League of America screenplay and wanted you to know what you can expect in the real deal.

Whereas the fake script opened on Green Lantern flying a jet fighter, the real Justice League of America script begins on a much grander and somber note: Superman walking on the rooftop of a cathedral. He is there as well as five other members of the Justice League (Aquaman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter) because they are paying their respects at a funeral, grieving over the loss of someone that we don’t know as of yet. If you’re thinking that the deceased is Batman because he’s not in attendance, you’re wrong. The funeral is a public event and as such Batman doesn’t show up until after all of the cameras have gone away. For now, the rest of the League is under the media spotlight, each of them showing their respects for the deceased by wearing black. For example, instead of the his traditional red and blue costume Superman is wearing an alternative black-on-black costume. Maybe it will be like the black costume that Superman wore after returning from the dead in the comic books.

And then we cut back to six days earlier in Central City…

Detective Barry Allen and his wife, Iris, are eating lunch at a superhero themed restaurant. The pair are watching a television showing Wonder Woman addressing the United Nations. Barry makes a comment clearly showing an infatuation for Wonder Woman to which Iris promptly shoots him down.

And let’s stop it right there for a moment and examine what we just learned: The Flash in the Justice League movie is married. That throws a big monkey wrench into the recent news that younger actors were auditioning for the part of The Flash, doesn’t it? I can’t imagine seeing a 19-year-old Barry Allen married in a JLA movie, can you? Of course not.

But it all will make sense by the end of the film, trust me.

From here we cut to the introduction of the Brother Eye satellite, a sleek, state-of-the-art surveillance satellite in orbit and owned by Wayne Industries. Batman sits in the Batcave, watching Barry and Iris enjoy their lunch. We see him adjust the controls and the image shifts to architect John Stewart (a.k.a. Green Lantern) sitting in his office unaware that he is being spied on. Batman flicks the dial and the image shifts again to show us Wonder Woman in the U.N., then to Aquaman and finally to the Martian Manhunter under his human disguise as Central City Detective John Jones. Batman hears a noise behind him and closes down the interface just before Alfred appears to speak with him about Bruce Wayne’s upcoming business meeting with business tycoon Maxwell Lord.

There you go Bat-fans: Alfred is in the JLA movie—or at least he’s in the script right now.

As Batman and Alfred depart the Batcave they don’t see the computer switch itself back on or the override for the Brother Eye program accessed remotely. Whomever is using the device resumes spying on Detective Jones/Martian Manhunter.

Jones is working police cases at the station when someone drops off a package on his desk. Upon opening the parcel a fine white powder explodes in his face. Zooming in we see that the powder are actually zillions of some kind of molecular-sized robots, nanobots. They settle on the Detective’s skin and the result is that the Manhunter loses control of his ability to change his shape. As shocked coworkers gaze on him we see Jones change his shape into a beautiful woman wearing a bikini and then into a mountain gorilla followed by a small child, a python and then into a ball of fire before he finally is able to regain some control and morph into the humanoid green guise we know as Martian Manhunter. Distraught and fearing for the safety of the others J’onn J’onzz flies off at great speed heading for a location in Colorado. Barry Allen manages to get a glimpse of the Manhunter streaking through the sky and has to excuse himself from Iris as The Flash rushes off after J’onn.

And so ends page 14 of the script.

Of course I had a million questions to ask the source and I got the answers that I wanted. They were very candid about what happens to the JLA on page 44...and on page 73...and at the end of the script. The same huge spoiler/twist, the one I referred to as an “Empire”, is still in there and I won’t be the one that blows it. In fact there are a couple of surprises that haven’t been mentioned by me or anyone else yet which tells me that the people making the JLA movie want to surprise us. I say let them have that opportunity. Will you get to see plenty of superhero fights? Sure including battles between OMAC robots and League members. The ending is pretty eventful and what goes down has major ramifications on the lives of at least two Leaguers. I’m pretty sure that some of the fanbase of one particular JLA superhero is going to be angry over what happens at the conclusion of the story regarding a heavy decision that the superhero(ine) has to make that comes as a suggestion from one of the film’s villains. Yes, I did say villains, plural.

The closest superhero movie that we’ve seen to this JLA movie, as its laid out in the screenplay, is probably the first X-Men except there’s no room for introductions to the League heroes. We pick up the story right away and so the audience has to but who Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern and the rest of the team are. There are small character building moments that can serve as background information on some of the League’s lesser known heroes, like Martian Manhunter, but there no room to recount Superman’s origin or how the League formed. They are already assembled at the start of this film and have been working together for some time as evidenced by their presence in the world.

Thanks to our source for keeping us informed and giving us hope that this movie has the potential to be a major superhero movie event. If you want to know more, show us by getting involved in the talkback below. Maybe we can persuade our source to let loose with more info…

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