I fear DC is making some bad moves with their movie properties, moves that may cost them years of good films as well as millions of dollars in lost revenue. DC have the golden ticket right now thanks to The Dark Knight’s incredible success and they seem to be in an incredible rush to just get things up on screen as well as make sure all of them have the same dark themes as The Dark Knight.

These are mistakes in judgment that seem to be peppering DC editor Dan Didio's career. From the blunder of the yearlong Countdown, which made a mess of Final Crisis to Batman RIP to his current blunder of taking Jim Shooter off of Legion Of Superheroes to give it over to Geoff Johns, Didio seems like the poster boy for bad decisions.

Currently he’s adding to his title by rushing into production a Green Lantern movie as well as trying to fast track The Flash. I’m not sure why he would do this when nobody is sure what is happening with Batman 3, Superman or Wonder Woman. These are the big three, the ones mostly likely to pack non comic book readers into theaters. DC has a much harder road to travel than Marvel because the DC characters are largely peripheral in the eyes of the public save for the big three.

Your average person on the street has as much chance of not knowing whom Green Lantern is as they do of knowing. With a crapshoot like that why risk the future of the character’s movie potential just to try and compete with Marvel. Why not take a page out of Marvel’s playbook and then make films like Dark Knight, that would be a win, win situation.

First off get Nolan to do Batman 3, whatever it takes. Appeal to his ego, appeal to his bank account, send him hookers and cocaine; just get him to do it. I would have the villains be The Riddler played almost serial killer creepy by Crispin Glover (not Johnny Depp) and The Penguin (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) as a vicious, evil bastard bent on taking over Gotham’s crime world while Batman is public enemy number one.

I’d get that movie on track as well as figuring out what they are going to do with Superman. Personally I think the world would easier forgive continuing with the last film and just making the next one better as opposed to trying to totally re-boot it.

Let Brandon Routh remain as Supes but re-cast everybody else, especially Lois Lane. I’d also hands down have it involve Doomsday who arrives on Earth to destroy it, with only Superman in his way. Granted they would have to play fast and loose with the storyline but I’d say have Superman killed three quarters through and return at the end to save the day. I’d also introduce Brainiac as the mastermind behind bringing Doosmday to Earth to test “The Kryptonian” who loses and Brainiac enslaves the Earth. Brainiac could be played brilliantly by Christian Berkel (Downfall, Valkeryie) and Doomsday would just be a miracle of CGI technology.

To me it’s Superman where we can start meeting some of the other characters in the DC Universe to generate excitement about those films. During one part of Doomsday’s rampage Lois Lane is about to get smashed by falling debris when something whisks her out of the way. Lois finds herself pulled to the top of a building by none other than Batman (yes actually Christian Bale) who says something funny or intense to and then swings off to help others. At another point introduce the actress playing Wonder Woman by having her save some kids from Doomsday and Brainiac’s wrath.

I see Amy Adams (Enchanted) as Wonder Woman; she’s hot and new enough that nobody would instantly see her as a celebrity playing a superhero. There could even be funny moments where we don’t see the hero but know that they had been there. Have a bunch of people telling a reporter how when Doomsday tossed their car a huge green hand caught it. Show the “news footage” which is a huge hand that is obviously made by Green Lantern’s ring and then see him fly away.
You could even have The Flash whiz by and save some people but never show him. It would be a cool way to intro those characters without casting them. Later in the film Batman and Wonder Woman could appear on a rooftop with Superman where they discuss how some threats may be bigger than they can handle individually. Have them discuss a Legion idea but have Batman say “I work alone” and swing off.

Now you have Wonder Woman in the mix, so it would be time to launch her movie, which should be almost a spy adventure thriller. Have Wonder Woman already in America as Diana Prince, an agent for the Government. Steve Rogers is their top undercover man who Diana secretly loves but keeps at a distance because of her relationship with his dad in World War II.
Let Wonder Woman’s origin be told slowly through flashbacks during the film, don’t waste everybody’s time with another origin story. When Steve goes missing Diana launches into Wonder Woman mode to find him and uncovers a plot to start small wars across the world so rich corporations could become richer. Have Wonder Woman kicking the crap out of small armies; she has to be seen as a bad ass.

Diana Prince could even have a friendly relationship with a pilot named Hal Jordon, with an appearance by Green Lantern towards the end of the movie. To me Mark Ruffalo is a perfect Hal Jordon. Handsome but not pretty, a great actor but not too well known and just about the right age. Now you have working films for all of the big three in DC comics and an intro to the character of Green Lantern. I’d even go so far as to make a combo movie involving The Flash and Green Lantern going up against Martian Manhunter who they think is an alien invader.

Have a series of circumstances point to Manhunter but at the end they all band together to take out the real culprit. Interestingly enough a guy recently linked to the Green Lantern movie I think would make a better Flash is Ryan Gosling. He has that thin, runners build and he is great at being cocky and quick with the one-liners. He can also emote so The Flash won’t be 100% silly. I think Martian Manhunter would be a two man job with Hellboy player Doug Jones (Abe Sapien) as the body and James Bond himself Daniel Craig handling the voice.

Based on how these movies do then you go for the huge Justice League Movie and make it epic. In my view Lex Luthor (re-cast from Kevin Spacey) would be trying to reawaken Doomsday to destroy Superman. During his quest to bring Doomsday back Lex discovers the frozen body of Sinestro in deep space. When Luthor awakens him Sinestro agrees to use his vast knowledge to help awaken Doomsday as long as Lex promises him a shot at Green Lantern. The Sinestro/Green Lantern history can be played out in Flashbacks from both the Green Lantern movie and this one.
During the course of their research Sinestro is able to replicate Doomsday so it becomes an army of them all under Luthor’s control. When they are finally unleashed on the world Superman realizes he can’t do this alone and calls upon Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter to help out.

Within this movie you can hammer out the relationships between all of the players, have incredible action and really do something epic that nobody has achieved yet. I realize this would be a cost giant but in my view the Justice League movie would only happen if the other films had success in the ballpark of The Dark Knight. The way I have it laid out if the other films didn’t do as well then you skip the Justice League movie.

If Superman kicked ass but Wonder Woman didn’t then you don’t do a Green Lantern movie or another Wonder Woman flick. The cameos from other heroes would still be cool but not necessarily a lead into the Justice League.

I understand this plays fast and loose with the actual DC World History but Hollywood is gong to do that anyway. I just feel that Didio is rushing to get films made because The Dark Knight did so well without thinking it over. Rushing into Green Lantern without solving the Superman and Wonder Woman movie issues is just plain dumb. You have to lay groundwork, appeal to what the non-comic book reader is already familiar with and then hit people with lesser-known characters.

DC Comics has a wealth of rich and amazing heroes that are bursting to get on screen. Over the last several decades DC has not been able to pursue film versions of their heroes the way Marvel has but that is changing. It’s true Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk did well for Marvel but neither of them could touch the success of The Dark Knight. If Didio and DC are smart they will build on that to create dominance in the world of comic book inspired movies but they have to be patient.

Rushing to make a quick buck hasn’t worked for them thus far and I don’t think it ever will.

So:

2010 Superman and Batman 3
2011 Wonder Woman and Green Lantern
2013 The Justice League

Who’s with me!?