A vision for how they should have adapted DC Comics heroes in the 2000

[Tyler Yates]

Will there be sequels to Superman?

 

[Vaibow]

Yes, you have put a good effort here.
But does that mean I can't have another view on something? Do I need to have the same opinion as you?

of course not, but you can at least try to understand what I am saying before passing comment... which again, you have done.
anyways... good luck with the rest of the thread.

 

[Airwings]

good luck with the rest of the thread.

Thank you!
You could always drop by another time if you have more ideas.

 

[Airwings]

Will there be sequels to Superman?

You are welcome to the thread

Unfortunately, I can't tell you about films to come. There must be a surprise factor. Hope you understand.
Did you like my vision so far? Is Superman Reborn the best film yet on the list?

 

[Airwings]

After wrapping the shooting of Minority Report in the summer of 2001, Cruise had got even more conceptual ideas:

What if Batman had superpowers?
What if there was magic in Batman's world?

Of course those things couldn't work without changing the character. But there are a lot of DC heroes, of almost every kind.

This is when Cruise really started jumping from studio to studio, suggesting they should make comic book adaptions. He was pulling strings for the genre to become something big.

Now, it was DreamWorks Pictures' turn

Back to an idea, what if Batman had superpowers? This question was what started the process of adapting the next hero in line.

Atom

It includes both the golden age and the silver age version.

Ray Palmer is a scientist and university professor. Albert Pratt is a student.
When Palmer succeeds in shrinking objects, and later himself, he decides to work for the good. He uses his invention to be a hero, with the name of Atom.
When he's tiny, he still has the strenght of a normal-sized human. Thugs don't get the chance to see who beats them up.

They altered Pratt for the film. As usual, he's the "scrawny kid".
But he's into comic books here, a nerd. He's even come up with a character on his own, also called Atom. It's a hero who's unaffected by any kind of radiation, and can re-shape that energy into a punch, and it's described how this can be acchieved in the real world.
How?
With advanced scientific calculations, quantum physics, and other mumbo jumbo not many ordinary people understand.
The thing is, Pratt appears to be an even more brilliant mind than his professor when it comes to science and physics. It's not hard for him to figure out who this new "hero in town" is.
Pratt accuses Palmer for stealing his ideas, his work. He rises up to be a kind of bad guy when he actually becomes his comic book creation. But he's not a real villain, and he will regret his ways in the end and redeem himself.
For the film, they went with two actual villains. Just to have a faster pace in the story.
It's a bit of a B-actioner, with surprinsingly good acting for the genre, and decent special effects.

Cruise wanted Christian Slater to play the lead, he could bring a certain energy to the hero. The studio did not. They went a safer, more conventional route for the scientist element in the film. Cruise had to sigh at their actor choice "Please don't turn this into Inspector Gadget!"

Atom (DreamWorks Pictures, 2004)
shot in Philadelphia

Directed by Renny Harlin
This was what they could get for a property like this. He was atleast interested. It would be a bad idea to turn him down and look for someone else, they could end up with an even worse director.

Written by Steve Meerson, Tom Benedek, Rusty Lemorande

Music by Lalo Schifrin (incl a theme)

Costume design: Heidi Kaczenski

Ray Palmer: Matthew Broderick
Albert Pratt: DJ Qualls

Jason Woodrue/Plant Master: Steve Martin (a serious role)
Bertram Larvan/Bug-Eyed Bandit: Jean Reno

A couple of known TV actors are seen in small supporting parts
Patrick Duffy appear as a chief of police. John Stamos as another university professor.

For Atom's look, wouldn't you say the first pic shares something similar with the second

 

[Airwings]

"What if Batman had superpowers - part 2"

Let's go further than Atom. Could there be such a thing as a character who does detective work, is really good at it, and also has extraordinary non-human powers?

Yes, there is.........

Could this work? Wouldn't it be silly for an actual film?
One had to tread carefully here. Even the name Elongated Man itself could become the butt of jokes.
Elastic Man could have been a somewhat better alternative, but it was already taken (a british comic strip).

20th Century Fox held the rights and they were unsure of a title like Elongated Man but went with it anyway. However, they didn't want to be firsthand tied to the film so gave it to another company, to take care of the production and also the distribution. Fox would only help finance the project a little, behind the scenes.

There was a fear that the character would be compared with Plastic Man, which in turn has a similar tone as Jim Carrey's The Mask. It felt important to get rid of any of these comparisons.
Therefor, Elongated Man was treated more as a crime fighting concept with a bit of a noir feel (as long as that was possible) and a few sci fi elements.
It's a tale of a private eye who becomes a metahuman vigilante, and then a hero.
There are some fun moments but the film is not in any way comedic.

Eel O'Brian (he's Plastic Man) actually appears in the film, though only as the crook he originally was. He's a minor bad guy who leads a burglary ring with some companions. He also get that famous shot during a heist but doesn't get any powers. After that incident, he only continues his appearance in the film with the goal to take down the hero.
Is this a case of taking too many liberties? Or is it fan service to include Eel in the film?

Let's head to Baltimore!
(It's called Opal City in the film, DC always have their own names)

Elongated Man (Amblin, 2004)

Directed by Simon Wincer
Written by Paul Alden Robinson, William Goldman, Peter Krikes
Music by Charles Fox (incl a theme)
Costume design: Durinda Wood, Bob Miller

Ralph Dibny: Anthony Michael Hall
Sue Dibny: Kristy Swanson

Noah Kuttler/Calculator: Treat Williams

Eel O'Brian: Luke Perry


Of course there are cameos too. It was a thing for the 2004's superhero films and would continue for a while.
Skeet Ulrich, Corey Feldman and Edward Furlong are a part of Eel's gang.

Robert Hays appears as the mayor.

Amblin even got Larry Hagman and Joan Collins onboard. Believe it or not!
They star as a rich married old couple who's home gets robbed.
The veteran actors from the classic TV shows Dallas and Dynasty liked that they were to work together. They had fun filming their scenes.
They smiled and waved while walking along the red carpet at the opening, and Collins let Hagman kiss her on the cheek.

Bill Cosby was at one point also suggested to cameo but he was never asked about it. Amblin didn't want him (for obvious reasons). What a pity he was the man he's known for today! If he had been a good guy, an appearance by him would have been welcomed. Don't you think so?

Now, about the suit. There have been different looks in the comics but the original is used for the film.
When coming up with a good design, they looked at some good examples of costumes in the past, to get inspiration. The choice of material is important. It's not far fetched to see how the ones below could influence a live action Elongated Man

 

[Airwings]

All these cameos make me wanna go back to Cruise's (and my) Superman Reborn and adjust it.
I have a cameo to add there, and will do so in not too long

 

[Airwings]

I wanted to bring up the popularity for the various films here.
I tried to find numbers for home video rentals but it seems those lists aren't uploaded.
So for DVDs, I just go for the TV productions because they never had a cinematic run.
NBC released them both on DVD during 2004.

Wonder Twins (TV series, 2000)
It was the 20th most rented/bought DVD of that year (2004)

Blue Beetle (TV film, 2000)
Reached the 18th spot on the same list

And that's it. I will not go further with any of the other DVD releases. You have to imagine were the other films ended up on the list.
Let's say it's a few notches above their Box Office spots, because the films would have been become a part of recent pop culture by the time the DVD was released and more people wanted to check it out.

This leads me to the more interesting topic, how the films fared at the cinemas, world-wide.
A lot of web pages have published year-by-year summaries but these have differences even for the same year. I decided to go with Boxofficemojo, it appears trustworthy.
I notice the numbers are based on the year of release. For instance, LOTR opened December 19th but its only at the 2001 list with on the numbers of its total cinematic run (some months into 2002).
It's not at the 2002 list at all, despite that's where it logically would draw the bigger audience.
I will do the same for my "alternative reality" DC films.

Let's start with the year 2000, the highest grossing films among those released that year. Here's where my Superman comes in.
I decided to not have any numbers for how the films grossed, or what the production costs was for each film. I will only post the chart, and my films are in italics
I remove X-Men because it never happened in my reality (it was at 9th).


1. Mission: Impossible II
2. Gladiator
3. Cast Away
4. What Women Want
5. Dinosaur
6. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
7. Meet the Parents
8. The Perfect Storm
9. What Lies Beneath
10. Superman Reborn
11. Scary Movie
12. Charlie's Angels
13. Erin Brockovich
14. Unbreakable
15. Gone in 60 Seconds
16. Chicken Run
17. Vertical Limit
18. The Patriot
19. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
20. Miss Congeniality

It's not really that bad to alteast be among the 10 highest grossing films.

 

[Airwings]

I take the 2002 list as well.
(Spider-Man gets removed from its 3rd spot)

1. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
3. Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
4. Men in Black II
5. Die Another Day
6. Signs
7. Ice Age
8. My Big Fat Greek Weeding
9. Minority Report
10. Catch Me If You Can
11. The Green Arrow
12. Chicago
13. Austin Powers in Goldmember
14. xXx
15. Scooby-Doo
16. Lilo & Stitch
17. The Ring
18. 8 Mile
19. The Bourne Identity
20. Red Dragon

It could seem it's not really that successful, but look at all the films it did beat at the box office. Even Bourne, which became a franchise

 

[Frodo]

Wow! Great thread Airwings!

I didn't realize you had started it ! It's really in depth and it's gonna take me a while to go through all of it, but I really like what I'm seeing!

Good Job!.

 

[Airwings]

Wow! Great thread Airwings!

I didn't realize you had started it ! It's really in depth and it's gonna take me a while to go through all of it, but I really like what I'm seeing!

Good Job!.

Oh, thank you !!

Take one post at a time, and enjoy it at a slow pace. This is a kind of heavy read.
And the best thing is that this happened, these films are real.
Well, that's not true but you should think that way because it makes this all that more awesome.

You can comment on every previous post you want. It won't hinder the progress forward.
I'm taking it slower with the presentations this week. Need to recharge because this is draining.

Before the journey is over and all films have been described, I will go back and add filming locations. For some films, I've mentioned which real-world city that were used as a backdrop for its hero but for not all of them.

 

[Airwings]

Time for the highest grossing films of 2003 (in my alternate world)
This time, the list needs to be adjusted because a few films need to go. No X-Men or Hulk, no Pirates of the Caribbean (it didn't happen either, Depp became Bruce Wayne instead).


1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
2. Finding Nemo
3. The Matrix Reloaded
4. Bruce Almighty
5. The Last Samurai
6. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
7. The Matrix Revolutions
8. Batman: The Caped Crusader
9. Bad Boys II
10. Something's Gotta Give
11. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
12. The Village
13. Brother Bear
14. Love Actually
15. 2 Fast 2 Furious
16. American Wedding
17. Scary Movie 3
18. Elf
19. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
20. S.W.A.T.

For the first years, the cinematic DC films end up in the middle of the list. I have to be realistic about it. They won't become most successfull films by default. Each of the adaptions have to prove their worth.
Yes, they are still drawing an audience. Half of them even get one of the weekly number one spots (or second spot) in America.
Supes, GA and Bats are the more successful adaptions so far.

To get some perspective on the 2003 list. the cult film Kill Bill vol 1 didn't come any higher up than 27th spot, and it was still considered a hit to some people.

 

[Frodo]

“This is why Superman works alone”

Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin (1997) is a real letdown when it comes to superhero films.
After the big flop, Warner Brothers decide to sell the rights to all DC characters except Superman and Batman.
The "Superman works alone" line got stuck in Tom Cruise’s head. He got obsessed with the idea of a new Superman film. It’s been ten years since the last one so it could be time for another attempt.

He heard talks about Tim Burton, or possible Kevin Smith, being involved with a Superman project. It went back and forth, and there was some confusion with who's gonna do it.
He only knew he wanted to get there first.

With the recent success of Jerry Maguire and him just signing on for a Stanley Kubrick project, his words might mean something in Hollywood. He’s also in early pre-production stages of a second Mission: Impossible. He’s a star! He’s Tom Cruise!
He might get a Superman film to happen.

Cruise made sure to get his hands at the rights to the scripts floating around. He looked through them.
It had some untraditional ideas for the character. He scrapped most of it, but kept a few things:

*Clark's relationship with Lois, is it only friendly or might there be love?
*Superman dealing with a little self-doubt, he's already been a hero for several years.
*He hasn't found out he's from Krypton yet, but he will

These were interesting thing to explore.

He also liked one of the possible titles: Superman Reborn
This was pointing to a new franchise for the character.

He contacted Warner Brothers and said he's planning to make a Superman film, he will he in charge for delivering a script to them, hoping the studio would be on. WB were happy they could finally get Superman off the ground again.

Cruise hired some writers to develop his ideas. He went with some guys who's been involved in older sfi fi films and TV shows. He wanted a little old feel to his Superman. "Classic sci fi" as he described it.
What the writers later delievered didn't live up to his expectations.
In talks with the studio, both parties agreed to find new writers. The ones chosen had as a collective a bit more experience with blockbusters. These could also talk Cruise out of some weird ideas, like Superman encountering Santa Claus.
Yes, that would be ridiculous.
But it could have been possible in some sense as the story takes place around christmas and the film was out in December. Just not working for a Superman film though

But who should direct? It needs to be a guy with a name. Someone with experience in film-making. Not just anybody.

Cruise thought for a while about this.
He called his Maguire director Cameron Crowe because he liked doing that film.
“If you do Superman, I’ll star in your next project”.

Crowe was too busy with writing a story about his younger self and couldn't find time for Superman.
(Cruise still appeared in Vanilla Sky later on, but that’s another story).

Superman is a true American hero, he stands for the “American way” among other things. That means a director with a big portion of Americana could do the character justice.
The king of big American blockbusters at that time was still Steven Spielberg, sort of. The director was approached but he lacked interest in the idea, instead he offered to work with Cruise at something else.

Who else could do it? A director with dramatic weight could be good too. Perhaps someone like Sydney Pollack or Barry Levinson (whom he worked with before)?
And then there was Lewis Gilbert who helmed the most sci fi themed and fun Bond films with those big sets. But he had already said he would retire soon.
Neither ended up doing it. They felt it was not a good time for another superhero that short after B&R
Luckliy, he found a director in the end.

The set designs suffered from the same problems as the writing. The first guys didn't satisfy him or Warner Brothers. New ones had to come and do some upgrades.

The cast turned out quite interesting. Cruise made a lot of calls, A LOT OF CALLS.
Half of the approached actors agreed to be onboard this project.

And of course he was to play the lead himself. He was a major star and this was his project!
The actor managed to do both this film and Mission: Impossible 2 at the same time. Quite an achievement.
As the usual Cruise way, he really went into the character and gave his all in the performance. Both for Clark and Supes. There weren't any typical Cruise manners here, like the laughter. He played the character more straight, albeit with warmth and likability.
And when the story asked for it, he could be intense as well.
Nobody could ever claim he failed at it. No matter what they think of the film as a whole, no matter if they dislike the actor.
In the year 2000, Tom Cruise was Superman

Awesome. If there was anyone who could light a fire under WB to get them to get a Superman project off the ground , it would be Tom Cruise.

Even then, Cruise had alot of clout , and even a skittish studio like WB was at that time, would get the move on. They wouldn't want to pass up the opportunity to work with Cruise and revive one of their flagship franchises.

I've also felt that Cruise resembled Chris Reeve .

I'm also intrigued by the idea of Cameron Crowe doing a Superman film.

 

[Airwings]

The 2004 list

No matter how unsatisfying this appears to be, it's still quite remarkable that these (to the general audience) little-known DC properties managed to acchieve this.
There has to be a beginning for everything, and one shouldn't expect to be at the top from start.


1. Shrek 2
2. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
3. The Incredibles
4. The Passion of the Christ
5. The Day After Tomorrow
6. Meet the Fockers
7. Troy
8. Shark Tale
9. Ocean's Twelve
10. I, Robot
11. National Treasure
12. Van Helsing
13. The Bourne Supremacy
14. The Polar Express
15. Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason
16. Howl's Moving Castle
17. Elongated Man
18. Fahrenheit 9/11
19. Atom
20. Booster Gold

I can mention that The Aviator ended up outside of the top 20 summary, despite doing good.
EDIT: And that's why Scorsese got a disliking for the genre. Three CBMs beat him

 

[Airwings]

Awesome. If there was anyone who could light a fire under WB to get them to get a Superman project off the ground , it would be Tom Cruise.

Even then, Cruise had alot of clout , and even a skittish studio like WB was at that time, would get the move on. They wouldn't want to pass up the opportunity to work with Cruise and revive one of their flagship franchises.

I've also felt that Cruise resembled Chris Reeve .

I'm also intrigued by the idea of Cameron Crowe doing a Superman film.

Thank you Frodo!

It will be interesting to see what you think about all these alternate films.

Your profile says you became a SHH member back in 2004. That's a very long time.
But it would mean you were here already when some of the first DC films were adapted (in my reality). Especially 2004 was an interesting year.
Too bad they aren't real and you don't remember them

I've expected a lot of backslash for this. You know "Heck, Cruise can't be Superman! You're crazy!!" LOL
But the fact is, Cruise is a leading man actor.
Maybe he shares a similar look with Reeve. Then you should see who I picked for Jor-El.
Someone who could pass as his on-screen father.

You're right in your analysis of Warner & Cruise.
Even in my vision, they don't know what to do with their superhero projects unless someone comes to show the way.
In this case, Cruise turned out to be the right one.
If the studio had listened to someone else, it may have turned out bad.

Cameron Crowe was the only director who didn't turn the project down because it's a comic book movie. If he hadn't been busy, he might have helmed the film.
But others (Spielberg, Levinson, Pollack, Gilbert) based their response solely on the genre of the film.

 

[Airwings]

2004 had started out great for CBMs with Depp's Oscar nomination.
The studios behind the year's slate of new superhero films, liked how the adaptions have turned out. Good stories, good cast, overall good films.

By that year, Hollywood have started to become obsessed with success. More than ever before.
It needs to be said that neither of the films performed that bad, the numbers were quite good.

Disney in particular was not satisfied with how Booster Gold had fared. Barely making the top 20 of the year, equals ending up at the 100th spot.
No, that doesn't make sense but the Hollywood system was starting to become sick.
The thing is, every film being made that has blockbuster potential (such as CBMs), needs to top the box office, or else it's a failure.

Cruise got some backlash from Disney.
DreamWorks was a little concerned too.
He responded that the recent DC adaptions have been of minor characters and that one couldn't expect those heavy blockbuster numbers from the start. What's important is to make good films.
Among the studios involved, especially Disney "was really satisfied with how their superhero adaption had turned out, before its opening".

The BG film's DVD rentals and sales in Nov-Dec didn't make top 10 either.
Was there a crisis for the genre?
At the end of 2004, Hollywood had to step back and think more than once about the future progress of superhero films.
Several other CBMS were slated for next year, but then what?
Cruise was involved in the usual way for the upcoming films. Finding writers and designers, suggesting actors and directors. But that's all.
He said the studios need to work more closely with the creative people in each project, having a dialogue with them, assist them. It should be clear what each side need from the other. Raise the standard. Demand more from the creative process, and if possible, give more creative freedom.

This lead to Cruise becoming the Godfather of the genre. He was given the role of more than a consult of superhero films. From that point, he was put in charge for the quality of the films.
This was for films planned for the late 2006 and onward. Which haven't entered pre-production yet.
However, if the 2005 films fail to get big, then Hollywood will cancel all of the adaptions beyond that.

Cruise took this very seriously and started preparing for a major project, a property that wasn't planned yet. Then he got some people onboard and pushed them to create something big.
It started to film during the summer of 2005.
More about that film in a future post

Tomorrow, I will present a film that opens in March 2005.

 

[Frodo]

After B&R, neither Blue Beetle was the first DC live action adaption.

Mark Hamill donning a hero costume as Dan Garrett in a TV film, was a part of NBC's idea to make adventures about comic book characters. While Blue Beetle was a latter add to the project and meant for a little older audience, something even more family-oriented had been on the mind for a few years. It was released on TV already during the spring of 2000.

If you've seen Super Friends, you know about

Can you believe it? It's Wonder twins!

The story behind the production goes as far back as very early 1997. This was even before Schumacher's last Batman flic came out.
NBC had success with the comedy series 3rd Rock From The Sun.
They got an idea to make something with the superhero twins. Why not update the characters for the 1990s?
Even at that early stage, lead actors were considered.
Natalie Portman was only suggested at one of the meetings, but not asked to audition.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt on the other hand, he was approached and got a little briefing.
He thought it was hillarious that he was asked to play another alien who comes to earth.

There was no script yet and the idea was put on ice for a while after the B&R distaster. It did take some time before the project really took off.
Kiddie stuff like Zenon and Small Soldiers were coming toward the end of the decade. NBC guessed there might be some interest for WT, there could be an audience.
Atleast on TV. There's a risk that a film wouldn’t draw enough people.

Things started moving faster when NBC heard Cruise was in early stages of preparing a Superman film. THIS was the right time!
WT was a one-shot that happened for no reason other than to entertain families with some adventure. No continuing, no second season.

When looking at the final result, there are nods to the style of the West and Wards Batman series, but with a faster pace that suits the 90s. A more modern feel.
You won’t like it but this WT adaption is tonally (not story-wise) a combination of Schumacher’s last Batman film (on a 90s TV budget), Billy Zane’s Phantom, and Nickelodeon’s Henry Danger.

To give a short summary of the plot:
Zan and Jayne are two performers in a galactic circus. They're on vacation, along with their pet monkey, and decide to spend some time on Earth. They try to blend in, even attending high school.
They find human science and technology intriguing, despite it being centuries behind what the're used to.
The twins are soon caught up in teen drama. And when getting their hands on a comic book, they find that their "skills" are actually seen as super powers here on Earth.
When they leave, they have learned a lot about humankind and what it means to be a hero

Wonder Twins (TV-series by NBC, 2000)
shot late 99/early 00, broadcasted in April-May

5 episodes a 30 min

Created/produced and written by Peter Hewitt, Ted Nicolaou and Kenneth Johnson (each of them directs at least one episode)

Co-writer: S.S. Wilson
Story and script consultant: Michael Allin

Music by Shuki Levy (incl a theme)

Costume design: Emma Porteous
Costume consultant: Donfeld

Set design: Danilo Donati, Rochelle Moser

Zan: Gregory Smith
Jayna: Mila Kunis
Red Flag (the villain): Erik von Detten

Here's inspiration for costumes, and it might be difficult to see how these opposites can be combined. It's mostly about fabrics and materials. It's still typical Wonder Twins suits.

Here is what influenced the set design in the scenes set outside of Earth, including the circus

I could totally see this happening as a late 90s, early 00's teen action/ comedy , adventure series.

If Not NBC, I could certainly see the WB aka The CW picking it up, though, they'd probably want it to lean darker ala Roswell, Dawson's Creek, Season 1 of Smallville, etc,.

 

[Frodo]

Warner Brothers had looked at the finished Superman Reborn a month before the release.
They were satisfied with the quality of the film and the talent of everybody involved.

Then, the day after the opening in December 2000, they called Tom Cruise back in the office and told him that Batman is going to be next project. He said they could just go ahead.
WB wanted him to help in getting the right approach because he did mostly well when assemblin the creative people for Supes, and they're unsure how to do it without him.

Cruise felt like he was a little split here since he was already involved with Green Arrow for MGM/Orion.
He agreed to give suggestions for designers and writers, and added that's up to the studio how they should continue with that.

The director matter was another problem for WB.
Cruise said that the character should return to his noir setting. People have to feel that they can take Batman seriously. Ditch the camp!
Sydney Lumet could do that. Francis Ford Coppola would be even better, but he has to be convinced that he's the right man for this.

The film was entering pre-production during 2001.
This time, they were going to show the origin story. How the family had just seen a fictional The Phantom film (no Zorro this time), they get robbed in an alley, the boy lose his parents and grow up to be Batman.
As New York is used for Metropolis in Superman, Gotham City is obviously Chicago!!!

The word were out about the upcoming film. It got attention before they even started filming.
Someone got a passionate interest for taking on the lead and called Cruise
"I want to be Batman!"
"Don't call me, buddy. I'm not in charge! Let Warner know you want the role"
That guy was Johnny Depp.

In this alternate scenario, the Pirates of the Caribbean films never happened.
Batman became Depp's comeback that year, and he was nominated for an Oscar. This was a real boost for the superhero genre.
Don't worry. He didn't act funny here. Bruce Wayne isn't Jack Sparrow.
The actor played the role straight and showed a rare seriousness, something that was later seen in Michael Mann’s Public Enemies.
Batman made sure Depp didn't evolve into a joke in Hollywood.

WB really went a long time back in time for the look of the new Batman. To the earliest design.
One has to look back sometimes, in order to move forward.

How would that suit have looked in live action?
The answer is in the pic right below.
Look at the body suits underneath all the armour and you will know.
Gone were the thick, heavy rubber outfits of Schumacher's films.

What kind of Batmobile should they go for? It needs a retro feel just like the suit.
Something similar to this was considered for a while before they ditched the idea

In the end, they went with a tweaked Phantom Corsair. Thankfully!

The plot however isn't only based on older comic books. There is some inspiration from The Long Halloween (the film takes place around the holiday), but it didn't follow that particular storyline much.

A rivalry grew between this and the previous year's Green Arrow. People started bickering about who's the best masked crime fighter.
Can be compared to the eternal Star Trek vs Star Wars discussion.


Batman: The Caped Crusader (2003)
Directed by Jonatan Demme

Written by Rospo Pallenberg, Stephen Tolkin, Steven E de Souza, Channing Gibson

Music by Jerry Goldsmith (incl new theme) (incl. re-arr of Elfman’s theme, just to pay homage once)

Costume design: Julie Weiss
Set design: Ken Adam

Cast list
Bruce Wayne: Johnny Depp
Alfred Pennyworth: Alan Oppenheimer
Gordon: Scott Glenn

Black Widow: Gena Rowlands
-A serious take on the 66's villain
(Robert Wagner wanted to be in the film too, so they wrote a new character for him. He played Widow's dead husband in flashbacks - and as an illusion, because she's crazy)

Mayor of Gotham: Peter Weller

Young Bruce Wayne: Logan Lerman
Thomas Wayne: Bill Paxton
Martha Wayne: Geena Davis

Very Interesting.. I thought Depp would have made a great Batman in the early 00s, and I felt after Sleepy Hollow, that if Burton wanted to recast the part, he would probably go with Depp.

I like the idea of doing a serious take on Black Widow. Dini was able to change everyone's image of Mr. Freeze from the 60s series ,so Black Widow could take a facelift as well.

She's obscure enough a character that the GA wouldn't need a convincing that she was a credible villain. She'd basically come as a blank slate as opposed to a character like Catwoman which everyone knows and has their expectations about.

 

[Airwings]

I could totally see this happening as a late 90s, early 00's teen action/ comedy , adventure series.

If Not NBC, I could certainly see the WB aka The CW picking it up, though, they'd probably want it to lean darker ala Roswell, Dawson's Creek, Season 1 of Smallville, etc,.

I could see it too. It's not too much of a stretch to imagine.

Would you have preferred a more serious take?
I think of it having 90s teen actor style (Sawa, JTT etc), mixed with 90s sit coms, mixed with 90s high school films (excluding the sex jokes)

Wonder Twins being the very first *new* DC adaption of many, post Schumacher is kinda crazy to think about, isn't it?
But since the idea was tossed around for a few years, the twins work as a bridge between the older Dc films and the new ones.

Btw, do you know why the creative people for this and Blue Beetle were of the vintage kind?

(because NBC had heard Cruise was going for that with Superman, and they rushed to get before him)

 

[Airwings]

After wrapping the shooting of Minority Report in the summer of 2001, Cruise had got even more conceptual ideas:

What if Batman had superpowers?
What if there was magic in Batman's world?

Of course those things couldn't work without changing the character. But there are a lot of DC heroes, of almost every kind.

This is when Cruise really started jumping from studio to studio, suggesting they should make comic book adaptions. He was pulling strings for the genre to become something big.

Now, it was DreamWorks Pictures' turn

Back to an idea, what if Batman had superpowers? This question was what started the process of adapting the next hero in line.

Atom

It includes both the golden age and the silver age version.

Ray Palmer is a scientist and university professor. Albert Pratt is a student.
When Palmer succeeds in shrinking objects, and later himself, he decides to work for the good. He uses his invention to be a hero, with the name of Atom.
When he's tiny, he still has the strenght of a normal-sized human. Thugs don't get the chance to see who beats them up.

They altered Pratt for the film. As usual, he's the "scrawny kid".
But he's into comic books here, a nerd. He's even come up with a character on his own, also called Atom. It's a hero who's unaffected by any kind of radiation, and can re-shape that energy into a punch, and it's described how this can be acchieved in the real world.
How?
With advanced scientific calculations, quantum physics, and other mumbo jumbo not many ordinary people understand.
The thing is, Pratt appears to be an even more brilliant mind than his professor when it comes to science and physics. It's not hard for him to figure out who this new "hero in town" is.
Pratt accuses Palmer for stealing his ideas, his work. He rises up to be a kind of bad guy when he actually becomes his comic book creation. But he's not a real villain, and he will regret his ways in the end and redeem himself.
For the film, they went with two actual villains. Just to have a faster pace in the story.
It's a bit of a B-actioner, with surprinsingly good acting for the genre, and decent special effects.

Cruise wanted Christian Slater to play the lead, he could bring a certain energy to the hero. The studio did not. They went a safer, more conventional route for the scientist element in the film. Cruise had to sigh at their actor choice "Please don't turn this into Inspector Gadget!"

Atom (DreamWorks Pictures, 2004)

Directed by Renny Harlin
This was what they could get for a property like this. He was atleast interested. It would be a bad idea to turn him down and look for someone else, they could end up with an even worse director.

Written by Steve Meerson, Tom Benedek, Rusty Lemorande

Music by Lalo Schifrin (incl a theme)

Costume design: Heidi Kaczenski

Ray Palmer: Matthew Broderick
Albert Pratt: DJ Qualls

Jason Woodrue/Plant Master: Steve Martin (a serious role)
Bertram Larvan/Bug-Eyed Bandit: Jean Reno

A couple of known TV actors are seen in small supporting parts
Patrick Duffy appear as a chief of police. John Stamos as another university professor.

For Atom's look, wouldn't you say the first pic shares something similar with the second

Now we come to the next concept idea from Cruise:

"What if there was magic in Batman's world?"

That actually meant, what if Bats mastered magic himself. It would be quite different. Imagine Dark Knight using a wand, not gadgets.
I think Harry Potter was some inspiration here. It was a very popular character around that time.
The step from a boy wizard to a superhero isn't that big after all.

You might have already figured out that next DC property to get adapted is.....

Zatanna

No Hollywood studio had the rights. That could be a problem. Zatanna belonged to

ABC, the TV channel,

The production values required for a film were a bit too much for ABC to handle.
They were convinced to do it anyway, but needed help from a studio. Paramount agreed to come in and assist in doing the film so that it could suit a cinematic run, but only if ABC marketed and released the film as mainly their own project, while the studio was billed as secondary.

There was going to be a very different tone here compared to previous DC films.
Several horror directors, one after another, showed interest in helming the film.
One of them said it would be nice to do something that isn’t full horror. “If I’ll ever do another genre, and if it's then a comic book film, it would be Zatanna! Definately!”
But of course some of them would suit Batman too. And I might get back on that later.

Shooting started during the spring of 2004.
In the film, Zatanna is a part of a family of classic stage magicians and illusionists who performs on theatres.
The story is somewhat tweaked for the film
An actual witch, Allura, dislikes how they fake magic for the purpose of entertainment and decides to break up the family. She puts a spell on the father John Zatara so that he must avoid his daughter, or she will die.
Zatanna's younger cousin Zachary is made an older brother in the film. The change is because they wanted a specific actor for the role (who then turned the role down, what a pity!)
The brother is cursed by Allura to forever have bad luck.

This evil-doing litterally splits the witch in half, one that remained good while the other became an evil sorceress.
On her journey, Zatanna finds out that she actually can do real magic. She's a descendant of a race called Homo Magi.
She has to travel through the shadowy side of the world which is hidden from ordinary people, and she encounters many strange beings.
It's a darker CBM. But there's a bit camp too.

Hollywood has a thing for doing similar types of films in pairs: Volcano and Dante's Peak, Armageddon and Deep Impact.
Zatanna's "twin" is, tonally, without a doubt Nolan's The Prestige.

Who played the hero?
Charisma Carpenter was such an obvious choice, maybe a bit too obvious. The character needs a bit unexpected element to it.
Charisma was also, in 2004, becoming a tad old to play Zatanna in an origin story.
Someone like Rachael Leigh Cook is more of a "real" actress than Charisma (sorry for saying that) and would bring more to the table in her portrayal. She could be a good choice if the writing suited her.
Then there's Christina Ricci who's both obvious for the role and could bring something. Two factors for the price of one. With her, they had found the right one. No-one would be as good.

Ricci was close to signing on for the role but had to drop out. That was a loss. With her, it could have become a bigger success.
To be honest, it went on to get better numbers than Elongated Man (previous year's most successful superhero film). But not by a stretch.
Without Ricci, ABC almost went with one of the "lesser" choices for the role, then.
But Cruise suggested a good replacement that, like Ricci, could also bring two elements with her for Zatanna.

Zooey Deschanel

ABC had to change the character's look for the film. Zatanna should not run around in transparent long stockings. She was given a pair of leather pants instead.
One of the costume designers had done some work on Burtonverse before. That could affect Zatanna's looks in a certain direction (but without giving her Keaton's batsuit, lol).
There is a Mandrake The Magician vibe to the Zatanna family, especially the father. This had to be altered quite a lot to not have him as a clone of Lee Falk's hero

Zatanna (ABC, 2005)
filmed in New Orleans

Directed by Don Conscarelli
Produced by Paul WS Anderson

Written by Everett DeRoche, Alan Brennert, David Loughery
Chris Carter was hired as a script consultant to stear the story to the mystery genre, which made the not hired horror directors green with envy.

Music by Dana Kaproff (incl a theme)

Costume design: Abram Waterhouse, Mary Vogt

Zatanna: Zooey Deschanel
Allura (villain and ally at the same time): Ally Sheedy
John Zatara: Peter Cullen
Zachary: Wil Wheaton

The cameos continued, and this time they have to go lenghts to just include some actors in front of the camera. It started to feel a bit forced, but it's still fun
Lukas Haas (ABC's first choice for Zacharary) appears as a Homo Magi guy
Noah Hathaway (a rare return to acting) as the ghost of a wise native american, in one of Zatanna's visions

The others were more of glorified "extras"
Melissa Joan Hart sits in the front row during a stage performance, early in the film, and we get several glimpses of her (ABC did a desperate nod to her Sabrina)
Devon Sawa as a random friendly person in the street

 

[Airwings]

Very Interesting.. I thought Depp would have made a great Batman in the early 00s, and I felt after Sleepy Hollow, that if Burton wanted to recast the part, he would probably go with Depp.

I like the idea of doing a serious take on Black Widow. Dini was able to change everyone's image of Mr. Freeze from the 60s series ,so Black Widow could take a facelift as well.

She's obscure enough a character that the GA wouldn't need a convincing that she was a credible villain. She'd basically come as a blank slate as opposed to a character like Catwoman which everyone knows and has their expectations about.

Thanks
Your applause gives me strenght.

It makes so much sense for Depp to replace previous Bat actors, both in reality and in my vision.
But I thought my idea would get as much backlash as "Cruise is Superman".

I'm sure BW could be a good villain. But they would need to do a lot of work on her. We must believe an elder woman could pose a threat to Bats.

I noticed that two of the Ken Adams pics have vanished from my 'Batman set design' post.

Here they are again.

 

[Frodo]

Now we come to the next concept idea from Cruise:

"What if there was magic in Batman's world?"

That actually meant, what if Bats mastered magic himself. It would be quite different. Imagine Dark Knight using a wand, not gadgets.
I think Harry Potter was some inspiration here. It was a very popular character around that time.
The step from a boy wizard to a superhero isn't that big after all.

You might have already figured out that next DC property to get adapted is.....

Zatanna

No Hollywood studio had the rights. That could be a problem. Zatanna belonged to

ABC, the TV channel,

The production values required for a film were a bit too much for ABC to handle.
They were convinced to do it anyway, but needed help from a studio. Paramount agreed to come in and assist in doing the film so that it could suit a cinematic run, but only if ABC marketed and released the film as mainly their own project, while the studio was billed as secondary.

There was going to be a very different tone here compared to previous DC films.
Several horror directors, one after another, showed interest in helming the film.
One of them said it would be nice to do something that isn’t full horror. “If I’ll ever do another genre, and if it's then a comic book film, it would be Zatanna! Definately!”
But of course some of them would suit Batman too. And I might get back on that later.

Shooting started during the spring of 2004.
In the film, Zatanna is a part of a family of classic stage magicians and illusionists who performs on theatres.
The story is somewhat tweaked for the film
An actual witch, Allura, dislikes how they fake magic for the purpose of entertainment and decides to break up the family. She puts a spell on the father John Zatara so that he must avoid his daughter, or she will die.
Zatanna's younger cousin Zachary is made an older brother in the film. The change is because they wanted a specific actor for the role (who then turned the role down, what a pity!)
The brother is cursed by Allura to forever have bad luck.

This evil-doing litterally splits the witch in half, one that remained good while the other became an evil sorceress.
On her journey, Zatanna finds out that she actually can do real magic. She's a descendant of a race called Homo Magi.
She has to travel through the shadowy side of the world which is hidden from ordinary people, and she encounters many strange beings.
It's a darker CBM. But there's a bit camp too.

Hollywood has a thing for doing similar types of films in pairs: Volcano and Dante's Peak, Armageddon and Deep Impact.
Zatanna's "twin" is, tonally, without a doubt Nolan's The Prestige.

Who played the hero?
Charisma Carpenter was such an obvious choice, maybe a bit too obvious. The character needs a bit unexpected element to it.
Charisma was also, in 2004, becoming a tad old to play Zatanna in an origin story.
Someone like Rachael Leigh Cook is more of a "real" actress than Charisma (sorry for saying that) and would bring more to the table in her portrayal. She could be a good choice if the writing suited her.
Then there's Christina Ricci who's both obvious for the role and could bring something. Two factors for the price of one. With her, they had found the right one. No-one would be as good.

Ricci was close to signing on for the role but had to drop out. That was a loss. With her, it could have become a bigger success.
To be honest, it went on to get better numbers than Elongated Man (previous year's most successful superhero film). But not by a stretch.
Without Ricci, ABC almost went with one of the "lesser" choices for the role, then.
But Cruise suggested a good replacement that, like Ricci, could also bring two elements with her for Zatanna.

Zooey Deschanel

ABC had to change the character's look for the film. Zatanna should not run around in transparent long stockings. She was given a pair of leather pants instead.
One of the costume designers had done some work on Burtonverse before. That could affect Zatanna's looks in a certain direction (but without giving her Keaton's batsuit, lol).
There is a Mandrake The Magician vibe to the Zatanna family, especially the father. This had to be altered quite a lot to not have him as a clone of Lee Falk's hero

Zatanna (ABC, 2005)
Directed by Don Conscarelli
Produced by Paul WS Anderson

Written by Everett DeRoche, Alan Brennert, David Loughery
Chris Carter was hired as a script consultant to stear the story to the mystery genre, which made the not hired horror directors green with envy.

Music by Dana Kaproff (incl a theme)

Costume design: Abram Waterhouse, Mary Vogt

Zatanna: Zooey Deschanel
Allura (villain and ally at the same time): Ally Sheedy
John Zatara: Peter Cullen
Zachary: Wil Wheaton

The cameos continued, and this time they have to go lenghts to just include some actors in front of the camera. It started to feel a bit forced, but it's still fun
Lukas Haas (ABC's first choice for Zacharary) appears as a Homo Magi guy
Noah Hathaway (a rare return to acting) as the ghost of a wise native american, in one of Zatanna's visions

The others were more of glorified "extras"
Melissa Joan Hart sits in the front row during a stage performance, early in the film, and we get several glimpses of her (ABC did a desperate nod to her Sabrina)
Devon Sawa as a random friendly person in the street

Awesome. Zatanna is a property that WB hasn't ever truly exploited much beyond the animated realm and I think one episode of Smallville.

A young Zooey, at that time, would make a great pick for Zatanna .
ABC as the network is also another interesting choice given it's where Lois and Clark aired .

It's the kind of network that could strike the balance between being a bit darker yet being family friendly at the same time. It would also probably have a bigger budget than say a WB show around that time would have.

 

[Frodo]

Thanks
Your applause gives me strenght.

It makes so much sense for Depp to replace previous Bat actors, both in reality and in my vision.
But I thought my idea would get as much backlash as "Cruise is Superman".

I'm sure BW could be a good villain. But they would need to do a lot of work on her. We must believe an elder woman could pose a threat to Bats.

I noticed that two of the Ken Adams pics have vanished from my 'Batman set design' post.

Here they are again.

View attachment 43093

View attachment 43094

I think you're probably right in that fans would backlash and say , " Edward Scissor hands is Batman?!".In the end though, I think Depp would have proved doubters wrong .

I also really dig Ken Adams work from The Spy Who loved me and I think he could make a great Batcave and even a legion of doom lair.

 

[Airwings]

Zatanna and her world of magic expanded the superhero genre.
For that character, she was born with it inside her
But what if more could be explored about the supernatural? There's the kind of magic related to objects, like the totem in Vixen.
Couldn't it also be claimed that there is cosmic magic as well? Would it be above the Earth-based kind? Stronger even?

The ideas were tossed around back in 2002.
DC Comics had several different characters related to one single object, The Cosmic Rod.
Should all of them be adapted? Wouldn't it be too many similarities?
Could two or more of them be mashed into one single character? There were many questions.
When a character named Stargirl was published in late 2003, the plans moved forward quickly.
She was the latest bearer of the rod.

But what about the previous heroes related to the object? Should they be crammed together in an opening montage, similar to how they did for LOTR?
All these various obscure star characters from different eras in comic books belonged at this point to

A fitting symbolism with the cosmic background and the overseeing eye.

CBS did a temporarily joint with a major film studio for this.
Which one?
Universal, of course.

The adaption was going to be an anthology film so that each of the rod bearers would be included. That's for the best.
Stargirl was the one with the most screen time. DC Comics said they need to include her that much so the comics would sell better.

The film turned out a bit massive in format, despite being a collection of shorter stories. It's fast paced, family friendly and fun. The different segments tie into each other in one way or another.

I mentioned that horror directors were interested in Zatanna. They couldn't all be involved on that.
To make up for it, Cruise asked a couple of them if they had interest in taking part in this project and mix the usual typical superhero stuff with another feel. It didn't have to be exactly horror, just something else.

This the first DC adaption of a minor character that cross the border to A-level film (by the 2005 standard). The others always had a B-vibe somewhere.
You might suspect Green Arrow wasn't really A either, but its adaption actually was up there with Supes and Bats. I meant all the other films.

I have to point out that they changed Stargirl's suit from the comics and had it cover the whole upper body. No bare belly here! It wouldn't look good in a major film.
They also changed the word rod, to staff.

For the various roles, most actors were handpicked without an audition.
Dominique Swain showed interested in playing Stargirl but ended up in another role.
Anna Paquin was promoted by Universal but she was unable to dye her hair blond due to other commitments.
Mischa Barton was chosen in the end because she had exactly the right look and charisma for the role. The very american teenage girl kind of thing. She could also tune in to the Melissa Joan Hart vibe because that's who the writers mainly had in mind while adapting the character for the film. But the actress had to fight with Fox to be able to star in this while she was still a regular on O.C.

Star-Spangled Heroes (CBS/Universal, 2005)
filmed in Washington DC

Directed by Stephen Sommers
Produced by Sean S Cunningham, Tobe Hooper
Written by Bruce A Evans, David Saperstein, Lawrence Konner
Music by Dennis McCarthy (incl the different themes for each hero)
Costume designs: Marlene Stewart, Michael Kaplan
Set designs: Roger Christian

Segment 1 - "The Earthly Staff"
Ted Knight: Stephen Dorff
Brainwave: Rick Moranis
Here we see a golden age-esque heroic suit, and the how the the gravity belt and the energy staff were created by a space engineer, who later starts a heroic path.
The name Starman is replaced by Spaceman here because they wanted to save it for another segment

Segment 2 - "Star-Spangled Kid"
Young Sylvester Pemberton: Rory Culkin
Pat Dugan: Brendan Fraser
Gloria Pemberton: Claudia Wells
John Pemberton: Ilan Mitchell-Smith (CBS talked him into doing this cameo)
Rich boy obsessed with comic books fights crime in a superhero costume with his family's chauffeur

Segment 3 - "Skyman"
Sylvester Pemberton: Jonathan Jackson
Doctor Weerd: Jon Lovitz
The boy becomes a real superhero as an adult, with the help of Ted Knight's inventions

Segment 4 - "Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E"
Young Courtney Whitmore: Shailene Woodley
Pat Dugan: Brendan Fraser
Dugan's stephdaughter becomes the next Star-Spangled Kid, and he joins her in a robotic armor
Gerard Christopher does a cameo as a cop

Segment 5 - "The Cosmic Staff" (co-directed by Hooper)
Prince Gavyn: John Robinson (a bit of a Kamandi vibe)
Princess Clryssa: Dominique Swain
Mn'torr: Barret Oliver (his ONLY return to acting)
After an attempted murder on him, the potential heir to the throne on another planet is saved by a mystic sorcerer who gives the young prince a cosmic staff that can channel his dormant mutant powers.

Segment 6 - "Starman" (co-directed by Cunningham)
William Payton: Macaulay Culkin
Deadline, the assassin: Mark Wahlberg
Young man gets struck by powerful cosmic energy, develops superpowers. Gets a price on his head.

Segment 7 - "Stargirl" (co-directed by Hooper and Cunningham)
An older Courtney Whitmore (Mischa Barton) finds the cosmic staff and becomes a full-fledged superhero. Then she fights Sam Kurtis (Stellan Skarsgård) & The Royal Flush Gang (a crime society which have been hinted at in the previous segments)

 

[Airwings]

Awesome. Zatanna is a property that WB hasn't ever truly exploited much beyond the animated realm and I think one episode of Smallville.

A young Zooey, at that time, would make a great pick for Zatanna .
ABC as the network is also another interesting choice given it's where Lois and Clark aired .

It's the kind of network that could strike the balance between being a bit darker yet being family friendly at the same time. It would also probably have a bigger budget than say a WB show around that time would have.

Zatanna would definately be interesting if the character is taken seriously.

Zooey is a really special actress with her onscreen presence. It's elegant, and some quirks
It feels like has a distance to the roles she play, like she knows it's just fiction but still tags along and does a note-worthy performance. Zooey could be the modern Roger Moore
Maybe Ricci would have suited the role too. Doesn't she really becomes her characters in a more intense way than Zooey?

ABC would make it interesting. But the film never aired. Thanks to Paramount's involvement, the project did cost more than a TV production would have done in 2005, and the film was put up on cinemas