Superhero compendiums

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In case you didn't know, work is underway at Warner Brothers on a live-action Justice League movie - based on the decades-long DC Comics series, in which the world's greatest superheroes unite as a team to fight the greatest threats to Earth.


Details are still pretty sketchy regarding the Justice League movie, but there are a handful of definites amongst the many, many rumours. The following bits and pieces of information were plucked from SuperheroHype and Ain't It Cool News:

- George (Mad Max, Happy Feet) Miller will be directing.
- The film will include Justice League icons: Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash (apparently both Barry Allen and Wally West), Green Lantern, Aquaman and the Martian Manhunter.
- Christian Bale and Brandon Routh WILL NOT be playing Bats and Supes in the movie. Miller is intent on casting young unknowns to "grow into the roles", and frantic auditioning is underway.
- At this point the plan is to start filming in February 2008, with a 2009 release date in mind.
- You can read some (supposedly) spoiler-ish stuff here and here.

On the topic of superhero compendiums, work on Watchmen - the film adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's graphic novel, probably the greatest superhero-focused text EVER written - is cruising ahead. There's a director's blog up on the official Watchmen site, and you can see director Zack (300, Dawn of the Dead) Synder hard at work with the creative team in the Watchmen production's "War Room".

Watchmen is set for worldwide release in June 2009. Let's hope that when that happens audiences will realise that it was superhero TV series Heroes that stole wholesale from Watchmen (written in the mid-1980s), and not vice versa.

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