Fan-Casting DC's JUSTICE LEAGUE: Part 8

Click here to review Part 7.

So far:

Batman has come to Metropolis.  Publicly, Bruce Wayne is meeting with Lex Luthor about a joint project their companies are working on, while privately, Batman is hunting for John Corben and the kryptonite he stole from S.T.A.R. Labs Gotham.  Clark Kent is going to LexCorp to cover the Wayne/Luthor meeting for The Daily Planet.

Lex Luthor (James Nesbitt) greets Bruce Wayne (not Ben Affleck) and Lucius Fox (Ernie Hudson) and notices that Bruce is wearing sunglasses indoors, and maybe Bruce's expensive suit is a little unkept.  Luthor assumes Wayne is hungover, while Bruce assures him the city is just sunnier than he's used to.  Luthor goes on a rant about how awful Gotham City is and how he's not surprised so many of its citizens become homicidal maniacs.  "I mean, you understand, Bruce," Lex says, "your father put everything into that city and it killed him. Tell me you don't want to wake up some days and throw acid in someone's face."

Throughout the brief bout of smalltalk, it is clear that Lex thinks little of anyone else.  He's barely civil to Lucius, complimenting the his reputation while putting down Wayne Enterprises.  Also, throughout the scene, a parade of staffers circle Lex like satellites, occasionally approaching him with a glass of water or something to sign or…whatever.  The impression is that everything is moving around Lex, that he is the center of the universe.

Where Lake Shore Drive meets the other LSD.

(I see Luthor's office looking like an egg.  One wall is a curved floor-to-ceiling window with a panoramic view.  The rest is smooth, sterile, with holographic projecting technology, digital screens, lights, all sorts of things to stimulate his mind.  Actually, I see it a bit like the Cloud Gate [right] at Chicago's Millennium Park.)

Lucius cuts through Lex's self-adulation and reminds him of the reason for their visit.  With a word from Lex, the office is holographically transformed to a construction site.  Bruce, Lucius, and Lex are thrust into a three-dimensional presentation for automated construction drones.  The machines are programmed for construction and excavation projects.  The project was conceived as a joint venture utilizing advanced AI technology created by Lucius' team and the steel and manufacturing from LexCorp.  Wayne Enterprises provides the software, LexCorp the hardware.  (Like the space station mission, I need to come up with a name for the robots or this project, but I haven't thought of one yet.)

Bruce and Lucius concede the presentation is a nice bit of advertising, but they came to see the actual product in action.  Lex grumbles, irritated at their lack of enthusiasm.  He'll take them to the factory where the drones are being constructed.

At some point during this scene, Bruce and Lucius are introduced to Mercy Graves (Sanaa Lathan).  We first saw Mercy talking to the treacherous Commander Blake, but this is her real introduction, the first time we know who she is and how she's connected to other characters.  Mercy Graves is Luthor's chief personal assistant, functioning like a majordomo.  Mercy is beautiful and intelligent.  She makes an impression on Bruce and Lucius.

Lex, Mercy, Lucius, and Bruce leave the corporate tower.  Lex's private limousine is parked in front, with a chauffeur opening the door.  Clark Kent (Jon Hamm) and Jimmy Olsen (Kevin McHale) are arriving at the same time; Jimmy is first to notice Bruce and begins taking photos of the men on their way to the limo.  Staffers and Guards keep Clark and Jimmy at arm's length.  Clark identifies himself to Lucius and Bruce and tries to get a comment from or interview with Lucius.  Lex Luthor is quick to insult Kent in front of the others, to ridicule his small town background and potentially libelous stories about LexCorp.

Lucius tells Clark he's on a tight schedule while he's in town but maybe they can talk over the phone later.  Bruce says, "I'm up for an interview."  Record scratch.  Everyone stops and stares slack jawed at Bruce, except for Jimmy who continues to shoot pictures the entire time.  Bruce shakes Clark's hand and says he reads his paper every day.

Bruce: "Lucius, you go on with Lex.  Kent and I will follow you."
Clark: "We'll have to take a cab because I don't drive."
Bruce: "That's okay. I've got a ride."

The Lamborghini Reventon: Because even the rich
get spoiled driving the Batmobile.

Up to this point, Lucius has been a little peeved, while Lex is positively dumbfounded.  But as Bruce mentions having his own car, a sleek, super-expensive sports car races up and stops behind the limo.

A young driver steps out and hands Bruce the keys and title to the car.  Lex Luthor asks Bruce since he arrived when he's had time to buy a car.  "Ten minutes ago," Bruce says, "while we were upstairs talking about how awesome you are.  Meet you at the factory."

Bruce gets behind the wheel with Clark next to him.  He asks Clark if he minds taking the scenic route and then pulls away from the curb, fast, speeding past Lex and making sharp turns.

(There are countless ways to show Superman and Batman meeting for the first time, but I thought I'd go perhaps against expectations by having them meet unmasked before meeting in costume.  They would know each other by reputation.  Clark would have reason to interview Bruce for an article, so why not turn the tables and have Bruce initiate the interview.  Bruce, after all, would want the lowdown on Lex and Metropolis, and who better to get it from than one of the city's best journalists?)

Bruce tells Clark that whenever he travels, he likes to get a feel for the terrain, hence the car and the need to drive himself and explore the city before going to the LexCorp factory.  Clark asks Bruce why he would go into business with Luthor; they have different business philosophies and "morals".  Bruce pumps Clark for dirt on Lex based on his reporting, and it becomes clear to Clark that Bruce is the one asking the most questions.

The scene ends with Bruce driving into the industrial part of the city and stopping in front of the factory.  Bruce thanks Clark for his time and hands him the keys.

Bruce enters the factory.  In the lobby, an aid tells him the others are waiting for him down a level.  Bruce and the aid get in the elevator.  Classic trope--just before the door shuts, a hand reaches through and holds the elevator.  Bruce instantly recognizes John Corben (Michael Biehn) get on the elevator.

Corben, of course, recognizes Bruce Wayne, too.  The two size each other up; Bruce notices Corben carrying a lead-lined case.  Corben breaks the silence, asking Bruce what brings him to Metropolis.  "Working on my suntan," Bruce replies.  Corben makes a comment about Gotham, but when Bruce asks if he's been there, Corben lies.  When the elevator door opens, Bruce and the aid step out, but Corben rides it down another floor.

To Be Continued…

Fan-Casting DC's JUSTICE LEAGUE: Part 7

Click here to review Part 6.

So far:

Batman captured Mister Freeze after he broke into S.T.A.R. Labs, but Freeze was merely a distraction while mercenary John Corben stole the labs' sample of kryptonite.  Aboard an orbiting space station, Commander Blake placed alien star-seeds in the the station's escape pods and sent them to the surface before sabotaging the space station.  Superman saved the crew, as the star-seeds began to spread, possessing the people who found the escape pods.  Batman learns that John Corben is bringing the stolen kryptonite back to Metropolis.

Act II: Metropolis (mostly)

The North Atlantic Ocean.  Calm seas are suddenly interrupted as an object shoots up from under the waves.  Superman (Jon Hamm) is carrying one of the space station's escape pods on his shoulders.  He lifts it up, up, and away, turning and flying the pod back to the coast.

Pictured: symbolism!!!

At the Middleton Space Center, a group has gathered just outside a massive hangar.  The group is composed of engineers and technicians in coveralls, a few lab techs in white coats, and some uniformed security guards.  Doctor Saul Erdel (Bob Gunton) is in charge.  There's a flatbed truck parked next to the crowd.  The driver is looking up at the sky.  In fact, all of them are looking up at the sky.  One of the security guards gets a call over his shoulder-mounted radio: "Big Red is inbound."  Another second and one of the engineers points up at the sky.

Superman descends from the clouds with the escape pod on his back.  The crowd applauds as he settles the pod as carefully as possible on the back of the truck.  Superman confirms with Dr. Erdel that that is the last of the missing escape pods.  We get a look inside the hangar and it's full of the other escape pods that were launched from the crashing station, all recovered and brought back to MSC.

Superman says he scanned for lifeforms inside just like all the others, but it wouldn't have mattered because by the time they found this one it had sunk to the bottom of the ocean.  Erdel has had a busy couple of days answering questions about the crash, and this latest detail is more troubling still.  Why did the pod sink?  They're designed not to do that.  Superman shows Erdel the reason: a small hole, apparently burned through the side of the escape pod, which allowed it to take on water after it landed in the ocean.

As Superman points out the damage, we here the click of a camera, and a voice asking Superman if he knows what caused the damage.  Elbowing their way through the crowd of technicians are Lois Lane (Jennifer Carpenter) and Jimmy Olsen.

Jimmy Olsen (Kevin McHale)

For The Daily Planet's ace photographer, I wanted a young actor who could plant one foot in the realm of Geek and one in the land of Punk.  Someone not conventionally handsome, but who has a great big gee-golly smile.  A power nerd, essentially, from the Zach Braff School of Trying Too Hard To Be Likable.  I think Glee's Kevin McHale has that part nailed once he gets out of the wheelchair.

Lois identifies herself to Erdel and fires off a bunch of questions about what brought the space station down, what happened happened to the escape pods, etc. while Erdel orders security to escort her and Jimmy from the base.  Resisting the guards, she asks Superman what he thinks brought down the station.

Superman: "Doctor Erdel's team is looking into it, and when they find out the cause, I'm sure I'll read it your newspaper."
Lois Lane: "Any other comments for the record?"
Superman: "Your hair looks nice today, Miss Lane."

And boom! Superman is off.

A pair of security guards walk Lois and Jimmy to the gate and watch them leave.  When they get to the parking lot they find mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent leaning against Lois' car.  Clark tells Lois that he's here to steal Jimmy away for photos of the Wayne/LexCorp meeting he's covering.

Lois: "You think you'll get a quote from Lex after the last three pieces you've wrote about him?"
Clark: "Maybe I'll get something from Lucius Fox."
Lois: "Another Lex Luthor story.  You're obsessed with him."
Clark: "If Superman didn't exist, the people would worship Lex Luthor."
Lois: "But Superman does exist."
Clark: "And how do you think Lex feels about that?"

Cut To: Metropolis

Where Gotham City is dirty streets, Metropolis is sterling silver.  Gotham's old, gothic buildings crowd each other, closing in, like a canopy enveloping its citizens in its own darkness.  Metropolis' glistening cityscape reaches up like hands trying to pull down the sun.  Gotham is Old World.  Metropolis is the City of Tomorrow.

At the center of Metropolis is LexCorp Tower, corporate headquarters of LexCorp.

Bruce Wayne (Richard Armitage) and Lucius Fox (Ernie Hudson) walk through a grand foyer in one of the upper floors of LexCorp Tower.  They're flanked by a couple of young, unimportant staffers from both corporations.  The foyer is luxurious, borderline ostentatious, with statues/busts and homages to the man himself.

A pair of attendants open the massive double doors to Lex Luthor's office.  Standing before Bruce and Lucius is Lex Luthor.  He says, "Welcome to the future," and whether he's referring to the city, the office, or himself is open to interpretation.

Lex Luthor (James Nesbitt)

Lex Luthor is egotism in a suit.  He might be the smartest man on the planet, but Lex sees himself as the only genius in a world of six billion Cro-Magnon men.  He cannot even gloat about his latest scientific breakthrough because the world is too stupid to understand, and in the time it would take him to dumb down his language to make you comprehend, he could invent something newer and better.

Lex Luthor could cure cancer today but he doesn't care.  He's not invested in saving anyone he can't use, and the vast resources of his intelligence must be focused on his unshakable goal: the death of Superman.

Lex Luthor will tell you the reason he hates Superman is that Superman can't be trusted.  He'll tell you the alien's presence is a danger in the same way any invasive species ultimately wreaks havoc on an ecosystem.  He'll tell you humankind will never achieve the next level of evolutionary success as long as we depends on something like superman to protect us.  Those are just rationalizations, really.  The truth is Lex Luthor hates Superman because he's jealous.  Because Lex Luthor has achieved all a man may achieve in this life… and people still look up in the sky for inspiration.

When I started thinking of actors I would want playing villains of the DC Universe, James Nesbitt was one of the first actors who came to mind.  I thought he was terrific in Jekyll, even when the show's quality wavered as schizophrenically as the character Nesbitt portrayed.  His dual performance shows me he has all the qualities needed for Lex Luthor.

To Be Continued…

Fan-Casting DC's JUSTICE LEAGUE: Part 6

Click here to review Part 5.

So far:

With the help of Catwoman, Batman learns that the man who stole a sample of kryptonite from S.T.A.R. Labs is a mercenary named John Corben.  Bringing Corben to justice will mean following him to the city of Metropolis.  Superman saved the deep-space observation station from crashing on Earth.  Unbeknownst to anyone, the space station was sabotaged by its own Commander.

Montage.  We see some of the jettisoned escape pods from the space station, now on the surface.  One is being picked up by a freighter in the South China Sea.  One has crashed into the jungle, taking down a mile-long streak of trees.  One is half-buried in the desert, similar to the droids' pod in Star Wars.

The freighter crew opens up the hatch and looks inside.  The captain sees the empty cargo container.  In the jungle, a group of rebel forces cautiously approach the escape pod.  In the desert, a bedouin tribe similarly discovers the pod.

Yeah, f***ing Starro!

Back to the freighter, the Captain looks around the supposedly empty escape pod.  He doesn't see something crawling on the ceiling above him.  It's a tiny dime-sized starfish-looking creature.  This is a star seed, part of Starro.  The little seed drops down on the back of the ship captain's neck and imbeds itself in his skin, attaching to his spinal cord.  Almost instantly, the captain's mind and body are taken over.

We jump all around to star seeds jumping and attaching to the people who find them.  There are dozens of star seeds in each escape pod.  They crawl out of the pods and spread out in a wave.  We see every crew member on the ship possessed--those who resist are attacked by the others.  The rebels and the bedouins are all taken over.

(This montage could possibly come earlier, maybe breaking up the Catwoman scenes, but I don't know.)

Cut To: Middleton Space Center.

Commander Blake (Thomas Kretschmann) rests in the medical wing, hearing his test results from a doctor or nurse.  He had to fake his tests or doctor the results but I'm not going to explain how right now.  He brushes away the nurse and sequesters himself in a private corner of the wing, maybe a closet or something.  Once isolated, he drops the human disguises and changes to his natural form, that of a pale-green Martian named Commander Blanx.  He opens a freaky high-tech portable comm device that doesn't look human.

On the screen is another Martian, this one female and beautiful in her exotic pale-green alienness.  She is identified in this scene as Bel Juz, but we'll later meet her as Mercy Graves.

Bel Juz/Mercy Graves (Sanaa Lathan)

Mercy Graves was originally created for Superman: The Animated Series as Lex Luthor's chauffeur and bodyguard.  I've promoted her a bit to Luthor's executive assistant, and even more still, a treacherous Martian Jezebel, though that secret will be revealed in the third act of The World's Finest.  In the cartoons and comics, Mercy was white, but I tossed that out for Sanaa Lathan.

Remember how good that Aliens vs. Predator movie was?  Of course, you don't--it wasn't!  But Lathan was nice to watch.  She has played a woman in power and a woman of deadly purpose, and for the dual roles of Bel Juz and Mercy Graves, she'll play both.

Commander Blake and Mercy speak over the phone or computer.

Mercy: "Commander.  It sounds like your mission succeeded."
Blake: "I'm alive."
Mercy: "Thanks to Superman.  You sound disappointed."
Blake: "My sacrifice was supposed to consecrate this wretched planet in preparation for the Master's arrival."
Mercy: "The Master needed to see the danger the Kryptonian poses.  Now he's given me permission to destroy Superman.  And you get to be alive when He comes to break this world."

Cut To: On the outskirts of Gotham City lies stately Wayne Manor.  Sunrise.

Alfred Pennyworth (Ian McElhinney), Bruce Wayne's butler, emerges from his quarters and shuts the door.  Alfred is dressed in the formal wear of his station.  He takes us on a visual tour of Wayne Manor that shows how grand and cavernous its rooms and corridors are.  The house feels like a museum.  Alfred enters the master study of his former employer, Doctor Thomas Wayne.  On the wall behind the desk is a grand portrait of Thomas and Martha, Bruce's parents.  Alfred takes a moment to acknowledge the portrait, as if communicating with the pair.  Then he turns the hour hand of the grandfather clock until a hidden level is switched and the clock slides away, revealing the secret entrance to the Batcave.

"You should really consider updating to the Batcomputer 6,
Master Bruce. It fits in your pocket and it has Instagram."

The Batcave is as large as any of the halls of the mansion above.  Alfred's silent walking tour continues, leading us past an armory of weapons and gadgets, different model Batmobiles, and assorted trophies from the Batman's adventures.  It ends with Alfred stepping up behind Bruce (Richard Armitage), who is seated before a bank of computers.

The screens all show different images or stories of Superman.  Some screens show a loop of poorly-shot cellphone camera footage of Superman taking off.  Security camera footage shows Superman foiling a robbery at incredible speeds.  Some screens show news headlines and articles.  Most if not all of the articles are written by Lois Lane.  There's one really good quality photo of Superman leaping up, about to take flight, but looking back at the last moment, as if looking directly at the camera.  And smiling.  The photo credit is James Olson.

Alfred tells Bruce that he informed Lucius Fox that Bruce would be joining him in Metropolis.  He says his luggage is all packed, and some of the other "gear" is being shipped to the safehouse/s as per the instruction.  Alfred says he double checked the safehouse's security because Bruce hasn't been to Metropolis is a long time.  Bruce doesn't comment on that.

Alfred asks Bruce if he knows if Superman is really an alien.  Bruce tries not to rise to that either.  He and Alfred kind of argue as Alfred challenges Bruce for never investigating Superman (or any of the others that have popped up in the last few years).  No matter how Bruce tries to deflect Alfred's questions, the older man keeps coming back, nipping at him, wanting an answer.  This conversation might name-drop Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, or Aquaman, or it might refer to any of them not by name.

Alfred presses him on the matter because Alfred genuinely believes Superman could help Batman.  He thinks partnering with Superman could make Batman's mission easier, clean up Gotham faster, do it safer.  Alfred might even reveal his true concern as a flippant remark about Superman's butler not having to worry about him getting shot every time he leaves.

I'd like to see Superman
brood better than me!

The conversation ends with Bruce a little rattled.  He doesn't like talking about Superman or other superpowers, doesn't even like thinking about them.  But he better get used to it if he's planning to dress up as Batman in Superman's city.

(The point of this scene and the scene with Lucius before is to show Batman in a light that most fans aren't used to seeing him in, which is uncomfortable and insecure.  Batman is is uber-calm and collected in Gotham City; it's his playground.  But the thought of people with actual superpowers is unsettling to him because he cannot comprehend that.

Batman's arc throughout the three movies is going to be accepting the other superheroes, learning to trust them and finding his place among them, then ultimately uniting them and keeping them together after the crisis is over.)

And that's essentially the first act of the movie.  It could use a few more short dialogue scenes, maybe more with Gordon and Alfred, but that's the gist of it.  That's the Gotham section; the rest mostly takes place in Metropolis or Middleton Space Center.  We haven't really gotten to know Superman/Clark or Lois yet, but I don't want to spend too much time on them because I want a clear delineation of the different worlds the characters inhabit, and Bruce's journey from Gotham to Metropolis is part of that.

To Be Continued…

Black Canary in Deck-Building Expansion

Cryptozoic is the publisher of the popular DC Comics Deck Building Game!

At the latest Gen Con, the company announced the release of their first expansion set: Heroes Unite.  Where the original game allowed gamers to play as the seven heroes from the New 52 Justice League, the new set introduces a different, somewhat surprising lineup.

Now players can have fun with Shazam!, Nightwing, Batgirl, Hawkman, Booster Gold, Red Tornado, and Black Canary.

Bleeding Cool broke the news on their site with some interesting details.  And being Bleeding Cool, they got half the story months ago and jumped to a wrong conclusion.  They originally thought this lineup was a new Justice League International.

I don't know why they would be, but this lineup would make a really fun team to read.  Nightwing and Batgirl are Batman surrogates.  Shazam! is your Superman.  Black Canary, Hawkman, and Red Tornado represent the iconic satellite era.  And Booster Gold… is popular, I guess.

Fan-Casting DC's JUSTICE LEAGUE: Part 5

Click here to review Part 4.

So far:

Someone stole a sample of kryptonite from the S.T.A.R. Labs in Gotham City.  22,000 miles above Earth, an orbiting space station monitors movement at the edge of the solar system.  Commander Blake secretly sabotages the station, ejecting its escape pods, which each carry a mysterious cargo.  Superman catches the falling space station and saves the crew.

Pics of Kanye and Kim's daughter
in a solid gold onesie on page 4.

The rescue is intercut with shots of Lois Lane (Jennifer Carpenter) writing the story and the headline popping up on The Daily Planet's website.  We see it picked up by television news, and a montage of footage showing Superman (Jon Hamm) shaking hands with the Middleton Space Center's mission director, Dr. Saul Erdel.  We see Commander Blake interviewed.  We see the space station wreckage.  We also see reactions of people watching the new.  Lois Lane, Perry White, and other reporters at The Daily Planet.  Lex Luthor watching from his office in LexCorp Tower in Metropolis.  And John Jones watching the footage somewhere on the street as the news is broadcast on a large screen outside a building, like in Times Square.

(I'll get to who plays Lex Luthor and John Jones later when they are officially introduced.  The problem with this montage is when and how to establish our change of setting.  Lois, Lex, and Jones are in Metropolis, when before this we've spent all our time in Gotham or in space.  A nifty title card identifying the city would be useful, but equally confusing since we're jumping right back to Gotham now.)

The news montage concludes with Bruce Wayne (Richard Armitage) and Lucius Fox watching the news in a Fox's office or a conference room in the Wayne Enterprises building in Gotham.*

Lucius Fox (Ernie Hudson)

Following Morgan Freeman is a tall order for anyone, but Ernie Hudson has the most critical quality in taking up the role of Lucius Fox: affability.  Hudson is likable, and you want to watch what he's doing.  Since the days of Ghostbusters (1984) and The Crow (1994), he has consistently popped up in big and small screen projects, but for the life of me, I haven't seen many of them.  This was mostly a nostalgic choice.

Lucius Fox is the CEO of Wayne Enterprises, managing the business so Bruce Wayne can bounce around the globe, cultivating his playboy facade.  Fox knows the truth about Bruce, though, and he also functions as a weapon smith and tech guru for Batman.  Because, y'know, running a billion dollar corporation affords him a lot of free time to design Bat-planes!

So Lucius and Bruce are watching the coverage of Superman saving the space station in Lucius' office. They trade idle speculation on the source of Superman's powers; Lucius "modestly" acknowledges his own mechanical genius, while admitting he couldn't replicate those powers for Bruce without putting him in an exo-suit the size of a car.

They talk of Lucius' upcoming business trip to Metropolis.  Wayne Enterprises is involved in a joint venture with LexCorp to produce automated drones for construction and excavation.  Lucius is going to the factory in Metropolis to survey the product.  Bruce tells him to watch Lex Luthor and the numbers very closely.  He doesn't trust Luthor; he knows Lex wants to militarize the drones and sell them to the Army.  (Maybe Lucius plays the Devil's advocate and asks Bruce to consider what an army of Bat-drones could do for protecting Gotham.  Bruce shuts that idea down hard.)

As they leave the office, Lucius asks Bruce why he doesn't join him on the trip.  Bruce says he doesn't like Metropolis.  "Everyone likes Metropolis," Lucius says.

Bruce: "It's too…"
Lucius: "Clean?"
Bruce: "No."
Lucius: "Bright?"
Bruce: "Lucius."
Lucius: "Happy?"
Bruce (pause): "Antiseptic."

They get into the elevator and Lucius asks about Bruce's plans.

Bruce: "I'm meeting someone tonight."
Lucius: "Business or personal?"
Bruce: "With this one… I've never been sure."

The elevator door closes and we--

Cut To: Catwoman sneaking into a penthouse apartment that night.


Catwoman/Selina Kyle (Katie McGrath)

I wasn't a big fan of BBC's Merlin series, but I could watch every episode for Katie McGrath.  The actress who plays Catwoman needs that power.  She needs to steal the show for all five minutes she's on screen.

Catwoman is all sexuality.  Whether she's playfully drawing the Dark Knight out of his armor with just a whip and her eyes, or vamping in a skintight leather bodysuit, every move Selina Kyle makes is part of a game.  McGrath can play cunning, deceitful, wanton--the smartest person in the room who's crazy-sexy and she knows it.

We meet Catwoman breaking into a lavish suite that occupies the entire top floor of a skyscraper.  She effortlessly sidesteps the security alarms, laser motion sensors, etc. and finds the wall safe.  Without much trouble, she opens the safe and withdraws a handful of jewels.

Batman's shadow falls over her.  She's surprised to see him, but won't show it for more than a fraction of a second.  She attempts to justify her thievery that the rich man who bought these jewels for his mistress is a bad guy.  Maybe they're blood diamonds or whatever.  Batman calls her on it, asking if she plans to fence the jewelry and give the money to children in need or something.

"I'm getting mixed signals from this chick."

After a bit of flirting and fighting and flirting whilst fighting, which may involve fleeing the penthouse after tripping the alarms and chasing across rooftops, Batman tells her he needs to know the name of the thief who broke into S.T.A.R. Labs the night before.  Catwoman tells him to give her a week.  Batman wants the name tonight.

Cut to Catwoman strutting through a loud night club.  This should be as racy as it can be without making the movie inappropriate for kids.  So instead of strippers, women might be dancing in cages (perfectly appropriate for all ages).  Catwoman walks in like she owns the place, making a direct line for a guy in the back.  People notice her.  Musclemen and bodyguards get her in way.  She disarms and immobilizes them all without breaking stride.

(I hear Roxette's "The Look" playing loudly in the club during this scene.)

Catwoman finds her target, a shifty-looking snitch, wraps her whip around his neck and drags him into the manager's office, again without ever losing momentum.  She kicks the door shut.

Back to Batman and Catwoman on a rooftop.  She shows him the file of the man he's looking for on a tablet or smartphone.  She reveals he's an ex-military mercenary named John Corben.**

John Corben/Metallo (Michael Biehn)

Metallo is my favorite Superman villain, and failure of imagination is the only explanation I can think of why he hasn't appeared in any of the six Superman films to date.  He's a cyborg with the brain of a killer named John Corben, and his cold mechanical body is coated with synthetic skin.  Sound familiar?  (Before you accuse me or DC of ripping off the King of the World, understand that Corben's story predates James Cameron's film by a couple decades.)  Now take all the good stuff you know about the Terminator and give him a heart of kryptonite: that's Metallo!

For the purposes of this story, John Corben is former Special Forces turned mercenary, and perfectly human.  For now.  I'll get into the Metallo-ness of his persona when that part of the story presents itself.

Did you catch those references to The Terminator and James Cameron before?  Totally intentional, as was the decision to cast  Michael Biehn as Corben.  Biehn is a veteran of three Cameron films, he's played a soldier in those and other movies, but mostly it's the Terminator connection that tickles me.  Ah, the sweet reversal of the all-too-human hero of the first Terminator becoming a very Terminator-like villain so many years later.

On the roof, as Batman reviews the file on Corben, Catwoman points out that his presumed base of operations is Metropolis.  Catwoman asks Batman if he's leaving town will he bring her back something shiny to play with.  Batman says, "Behave yourself, Selina," leaps from the roof with cape spread like wings, and glides away.

To Be Continued…

* The scene with Bruce Wayne and Lucius Fox is presumably the only scene in Gotham City set during the day up to this point.  Depending on the windows and natural lighting in the office, though, I would want the outside to appear overcast or even rainy.  We're in Gotham for most of the first half hour of the movie and I want to clearly define it as the Dark City in contrast to Metropolis that we'll spend most of our time in for the rest of the film.  Metropolis will have lots of daytime scenes, and even at night, it's brightly lit and flashy--something Batman will hate.

** At one point, I thought of making the thief Carl Sands, also known as Shadow Thief, but I chose Metallo because I wanted moviegoers to know Superman has more enemies than Lex Luthor and General Zod.

Fan-Casting DC's JUSTICE LEAGUE: Part 4

Click here to review Part 3.

So far:

Batman captured Mister Freeze and returned stolen technology to S.T.A.R. Labs.  Once there, he discovered that Freeze's heist was a ploy to distract the police while a second criminal stole the lab's stock of kryptonite.  The lead scientist tells Batman that kryptonite comes from outer space.

Outer Space.

An advanced deep-space observation station hovers in orbit above Earth.  It's manned by a crew of half a dozen or so, led by Commander Blake.  Initially, all we'll know about Blake is that he's kind of shifty, and he has some nefarious goals.  By the end of the first movie, we'll see he is actually an shape-changing alien named Commander Blanx.

Commander Blake/Blanx (Thomas Kretschmann)

Thomas Kretschmann is one of those actors who turns up in tons of movies and TV and looks familiar but you can't really remember where you saw him before.  That makes him perfect for a shape-shifting sleeper agent who becomes the vanguard of an alien invasion.  Also he's German so, y'know, bad guy.

One of the junior crew members reports to Blake about some unidentifiable movement at the fringe of the solar system.  He's convinced there's something out there, but Commander Blake discredits his report.  After the briefing, Blake sequesters himself on a different part of the station.  We see him do some secretive stuff, placing mysterious containers into escape pods, and then entering a password into station's computer.

A few moments later, the station is rocked by a series of catastrophic explosions.  Blake pretends to be  surprised and orders the crew to the escape pods, but the pods have already launched and are heading to the surface.  They crew is cut off, separated, but Blake and a few make it to a secure part of the station as it tumbles out of its orbit and begins to plummet toward Earth.  As the crew brace for atmospheric reentry, convinced they're all going to die, one of them looks out the nearest observation port and sees hope racing up to meet them.

This one's for all the super-foot fetishists out there.

The orbital space station conducts scans of local- and deep-space before transmitting its data back to the surface.  That data is received at the Middleton Space Center, a large complex that looks and feels a lot like the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida.  (I wish I had a name for the space station/project, but at the moment I can't think of anything like this from the DC Universe that I could repurpose.  If anyone reading this wants to suggest something, leave a comment and I might incorporate your idea.)

As the scenes aboard the space station unfold, both before and during its catastrophic accident, we intercut with scenes at the space center.  Maybe a title card flashes across the corner of the screen, saying: Middleton Space Center, 30 Miles South of Metropolis or something.

Dr. Saul Erdel (Bob Gunton)

The Mission Director for the project is Dr. Erdel.  Erdel's role in DC Comics was very short-lived, but linked intimately with the origin of the Martian Manhunter.  I'm changing that origin, though, so the role of Erdel is a lot more… Well, I won't beat around the bush.  The character is pretty radically altered, so much that I'm basically using his name only as fan-service to the nine Martian Manhunter fans in the world.  I picked Bob Gunton because I like his look for a NASA-type mission controller, but really so many great actors could do this part.  For more diversity, I could also see Miguel Sandoval or Richard Gant in the part.

Erdel and everyone in the control room at the MSC are watching when the space station begins to come apart.  They look on helplessly.  Then one of sensor operators shouts up to Erdel that he's got an unidentified object on an intercept course with the space station.

Cut back to the space station, falling.

Daa-da-da-da-da, DAA-daa-daa!

Like a second son cresting over the curved horizon, Superman (Jon Hamm) races up from Earth to catch the falling space station.  Big action scene as Superman must slow the massive station's descent as parts of it continue to explode and break up in reentry.  Most of the crew is in the command pod/bridge, but one unlucky crewman (the same junior officer who reported movement on the fringe of the system) was caught in a different part of the station.  A wall collapses and the crewman is sucked out into the vacuum.

As Superman struggles to wrangle the space station, he sees the crewman spinning off.  The man is already caught by Earth's gravity, so he's falling and starting to burn up from atmospheric reentry.  Superman grimaces and abandons the space station to its fall.  He flies over and catches the crewman.  As the heat and friction begin to scorch the young man, Superman counteracts the burning with his freeze breath.  I have no idea if this science works out or not, but I'd love to see it.

When they're low enough that the crewman isn't in danger of burning up, Superman throws the man on his back and tells him to hold on tight.  Then Superman races back to the still-plummeting space station.  With the man on his back, arms wrapped tight around his neck, Superman grabs what's left of the space station and begins to halt its fall.  The remaining crew inside the bridge might be able to see him through the observation port.  They're equal parts panicked and awestruck at the circumstances, all except Commander Blake.

"Thank the stars my Pa wasn't ashamed of my powers
or you'd all be dead!"

With a healthy dollop of explosive debris and wreckage strewn across the landscape, Superman manages to bring the space station's control pod safely to the surface near the Middleton Space Center.  The crew is hurt but alive.  Emergency Rescue vehicles are visible in the distance rushing toward the survivors.

What might be cool, as long as it doesn't detract from the action, is to intercut the above rescue scene with a flurry of shots of Lois Lane typing an article on the rescue.  This isn't to give the impression that she's writing the article as the event is happening, but pretty soon after, to show how quick the media in general and Lois in particular are at reporting Superman's exploits.  Quick shots of Lois' fingers assaulting the keyboard with the ratatatat of a machine gun; quick shots of words scrolling across the computer screen, describing the action of the scene; quick shots of her fierce, beautiful eyes; and finally, as Superman scans the wreckage and ensures that everyone is safe, even as emergency vehicles swarm on the crash site, we get a shot of The Daily Planet front page, the headline: SUPERMAN SAVES SPACE STATION CREW (something like that).

Lois Lane (Jennifer Carpenter)

Why did Superman fall in love with Lois Lane?  She's beautiful but she's not the most beautiful woman in the world--that honor goes to Wonder Woman.  Now granting the premise that if Superman wanted Wonder Woman he could have her (personally, I think she could do better) what makes Lois so special?  More than anything, it's a case of brains being sexy.

Lois has Pulitzer Prize-winning brains.  She didn't need to follow her father into the Army to command a heavy armored division, she could do that by the time she was in high school.  She writes with the fire and poetry of an Aaron Sorkin monologue and the direct conviction of a Rachel Maddow monologue.  She has more talent than any journalist Clark Kent has ever met and more confidence than any villain Superman ever fought.

Superman loves Lois Lane because while he may be bulletproof, she's the one who's fearless.  If she were a superhero, she would have a Green Lantern ring.  Superman loves Lois for the same reason she loves him: anything less than the Man of Steel wouldn't be good enough for her.

Watching Dexter, the first thing I notice about Jennifer Carpenter isn't her beauty but her attitude and her toughness.  Her beauty is third.  That's the order I want audiences notice Lois Lane's characteristics.  The biggest hurdle for playing Lois Lane, I think, is making her assertive and dominant without coming off like a bitch.  The character debuted in 1938 when women journalists weren't so commonplace.  She had to talk fast and spar with her editor in order to be taken seriously and justify her place in a man's job.  But that's not world of today, so she has to play slightly tomboyish without being masculine.  Carpenter can be rowdy and acerbic, but she can be vulnerable and feminine, too.  She can't drop any F-bombs in Justice League, but I want to believe she can start a bar fight and then glow when Superman kicks down the door to defend her.

Perry White (Tim Matheson)

Perry White suffers the unfortunate distinction of not being J. Jonah Jameson.  I'm probably wasting an actor like Tim Matheson on a thankless role.  Perry won't have much of a presence in the Justice League movies, much like Commissioner Gordon.  He might have a short dialogue scene or two, mostly serving as a sounding board for Lois and Clark.  Then he'd have some reaction shots as the world goes to Hell in the second and third films.  I really enjoy Tim Matheson, though, and want to use him.  And who knows, he could probably throw some of Lois' smart-ass quips back at her.

To Be Continued…

Media Monday and New Fifty-Tuesday Going On Hiatus

The fan-casting project that I've begun for the Justice League movies has gotten much bigger and also more fun than I anticipated.  As such, that's what I'm going to be focusing on until it's done.

This means no reviews of Birds of Prey or Arrow or other Black Canary-centric material for the time being.

I hope you follow my fan-casting posts and enjoy what comes next!

Fan-Casting DC's JUSTICE LEAGUE: Part 3

Click here to review Part 2.

Act I:  Gotham

Mr. Freeze and his gang are robbing the S.T.A.R. Labs facility in Gotham City.  The alarm has been tripped.  Security guards arrive and are quickly frozen in solid ice by Freeze's cold gun.  We make it clear right away that this is not the Arnold Schwarzenegger Mr. Freeze. No puns with this guy.  This is much closer to the Paul Dini Mr. Freeze, that is to say, the character as depicted in Batman: The Animated Series and the video game Batman: Arkham City.

Mister Freeze/Victor Fries (Matt Frewer)

I tried not to make any casting decisions based on looks alone, but when an actor happens to look like the walking undead, well, it's pretty easy to slot him into the character space.  The rest was trying to convince myself that Matt Frewer couldn't play the part, and no such evidence presented itself.

If you're not as familiar with the character, Victor Fries was a brilliant scientist whose wife, Nora, was dying of an undiagnosable and incurable disease.  Victor put Nora in cryogenic stasis until he could find a cure.  Unfortunately, he had to steal money and resources from the company that employed him. When Victor was caught, there was a laboratory accident involving crazy comic book science that resulted in Victor needing to wear a special cryo-suit to keep his body temperature below zero degrees or he'll die.  Still obsessed with saving Nora, he now, under the alias Mister Freeze*, he robs and steals in order to fund his research in the hope of one day finding the cure and resurrecting his wife.

I'll note right here for anyone with too much or not enough imagination that the men in Mister Freeze's gang look like any other hoods.  They're not dressed like Santa's elves, they don't wear ice-skates, or parkas--normal black clothes will suffice.

S.T.A.R. Labs is the global leader in Scientific and Technological Advanced Research, hence the acronym, with facilities all over the world, including Gotham City and Metropolis.  Freeze breaks into the Gotham labs to steal a bit of experimental technology that he believes will cure his cryogenically frozen wife, Nora, from her fatal disease.  The name of the technology doesn't matter, so I'm just going to go ahead and call it the McGuffin.  Freeze breaks into the laboratory and takes the McGuffin.  Along the way he and his crew might encounter building security and Freeze shoots them with his freeze-gun, covering them with ice.

(Icing the security guards could play out several ways: On one hand, freezing the cops to death could look utterly horrifying, especially if Freeze or part of his gang pushes over the frozen body and it shatters into pieces like the T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgement Day.  This could establish the genuine danger level of Mister Freeze and give him some credibility amongst viewers who only know him from Batman & Robin.  On the other hand, I want this movie to be accessible to kids without too much gratuitous death, so maybe it's enough that Freeze immobilizes the guards by freezing their arms and legs.  On yet a third hand, I was a child when I saw the smoldering corpses of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru in Star Wars and that didn't scar me for life, so maybe I'm being overly sensitive.)

At some point during the heist, an alarm is tripped.  Mister Freeze and his crew are coming out of the building as a handful of GCPD squad cars roll up to intercept them.  Gotham police aren't chumps; they are not the Keystone Cops (unlike the police in the city of Keystone, which we'll visit in film #2), but in this case they are outmatched.  Mister Freeze makes his way past the police like the Terminator in the lobby at Skynet in T2.

(I swear, I'm not trying to draw all of these Schwarzenegger comparisons to Mister Freeze.  I want you to forget all about his portrayal!)

Freeze's gang board their getaway vehicle, which could be a refrigerated truck or something.  They take off down the highway.  The cops can only watch helplessly… when suddenly, a second vehicle roars by in hot pursuit of Mister Freeze.

Batman (Richard Armitage) follows Mister Freeze and a fun little car chase ensues.  The Batmobile will try to stop the truck, but can't.  Freeze could shoot the street, covering the road with ice, but any Batman worth his salt would be prepared for that and have custom tires on the Batmobile that never lose traction.  Anyway, for some reason, Batman has to abandon the Batmobile.  He switches the car onto autopilot and hits an eject button launching him into the air.

Using either his cape as a glider or a grappling gun, he manages to land on top of the truck or inside the back of the truck with Freeze and a goon or two.  Close-quarters fighting.  We see how strong Mister Freeze's special cryo-suit makes him, but Batman clearly has the edge.  In desperation, Freeze shoots one of his own henchman, covering the guy's head with ice, then dumps him out the back of the truck, knowing that Batman won't let the man die.

(See, in these movies, heroes do everything humanly--and superhumanly--possible to prevent death.)

Batman dives out the back of the truck, whilst planting a cute little bat-shaped tracking device on Mister Freeze's suit in one graceful motion.  Batman gets to the goon with the ice block on his head and manages to shatter or thaw the ice before the guy dies.  He leaves the goon tied up for the police when the Batmobile returns to him.

Mister Freeze arrives at his hideout, which could be a big meat locker or something.  The centerpiece of his lair is the cryo-unit sustaining his beloved wife, Nora.  The cryo-unit is connected to a bank of computers and other science-y stuff.

I haven't cast anyone as Nora Fries, because she's not a character but a prop.  Putting a real actress in the role of Popsicle-Woman would be a waste of talent, most likely.  The obvious-sounding solution is to cast a model who looks good deathly pale in a water tank and doesn't need to move or speak.  But when searching for that model, remember, Nora Fries was the wife of a scientist who looked like this on a good day:

In the presence of his wife's body, Mister Freeze turns back into Victor Fries, in his demeanor, at least.  Whereas during the heist and the getaway he was emotionless--merciless--he is now a doting husband, speaking in animated, almost excited tones to his wife's cryo-unit.  Victor proceeds to do things that are involved in testing the McGuffin on his wife.  Blood tests or whatever, I don't know.

While Victor's running his tests, Batman arrives and systematically takes down all of the henchmen.  Batman enters the chamber with Nora just as Victor concludes the test, discovering once again that the McGuffin is not a cure.  Victor is despondent.  Batman admits that he had heard of the McGuffin and knew it wasn't a viable cure.  In the past, Batman has pledged to help find a cure for Nora, believing it would end Mister Freeze's criminal activities.

Freeze lashes out verbally.  He was promised this cure would work!  Batman says Victor must return to Arkham Asylum (or Blackgate Prison, since I've never seen him as really insane), but Victor--now sounding much more like Mister Freeze--refuses to go easily.  Batman quips about them fighting and…

We cut to the fight's aftermath.  Mister Freeze's helmet is broken.  He's beaten, punch-drunk, mumbling about his wife, as Batman drops him on the hood of a police car outside the meat packing plant or wherever his hideout was.  Batman takes the McGuffin and gets in the Batmobile and leaves.

(This short scene could be where we establish how the rank and file cops in Gotham feel about Batman. Are they appreciative or resentful?  Do any of them try to speak to him or do they watch him walk on by without a word.  Regardless, no one tries to arrest him now.)

Batman brings the McGuffin back to S.T.A.R. Labs.  The facility is surrounded by cops, medical personnel, staff, and reporters trying to get the story.  Batman slips through the police barricade and enters the lab where the McGuffin was being created.  In the room is Commissioner James Gordon, Detectives Harvey Bullock and Renee Montoya, and the Labs' Director of Operations **.

Commissioner Gordon (Kevin Conroy)

This is a purely self-indulgent fanboy selection, but bear with me.  No one can replace Gary Oldman's Commissioner Gordon from The Dark Knight Trilogy.  Oldman is one a phenomenal actor who can play just about any role, but when I heard he was going to be Gordon in Batman Begins, I broke out into applause.  I've thought a lot of casting decisions were terrible only to be surprised by how well they turned out, but Gary Oldman as Gordon was perfect.

But I wasn't about to cast him again in the same role, so the alternative was to go in a radically different direction.  And I wanted to pay homage Kevin Conroy, who voiced Batman and Bruce Wayne in Batman: The Animated Series, which to this day remains my favorite presentation of the Batman in either comics, film, or television.  Conroy's non-voiceover resume isn't as hefty as so many better-known character actors who could play Gordon, but plenty of fans would let out a "squee" of excitement when they heard him speak for the first time.  He also wouldn't have to carry any scenes, though he might steal a few, because the Gordon in my Justice League movies isn't much greater than a cameo performance.

Detective Harvey Bullock (Michael Madsen) ***

and Detective Renee Montoya (Ana Ortiz)

Two mainstays of the comics and cartoons, Bullock and Montoya are there for the fans.  Like Gordon, they're little more than cameo appearances.  In fact, their roles would be smaller than Gordon's, as this is probably their only scene.  Michael Madsen is one of those actors who I can see showing up in any movie, and he definitely has the physical stature and menace that Bullock commands.  Ana Ortiz looks tough, but she has a warmth in her eyes that the "good cop" needs when talking to a suspect or witness.  Bullock is crass, brutish, and disdainful of the Batman.  Montoya is loyal, confident, and embarrassed by her partner.

Batman hands the McGuffin over to the Director.  Commissioner Gordon thanks Batman for acting so quickly and taking down Mister Freeze before anyone else could get hurt.  Detective Bullock is less supportive of Batman's involvement, and not shy about voicing his displeasure.  Detective Montoya essentially tells her partner to shut up.

The lab director puts the McGuffin back in its rightful place, but Batman isn't convinced the case is over.  Freeze was convinced the McGuffin could cure his wife, when even a tiny bit of research into the experiment would have told him that was a false promise.  So who put the bug in Freeze's ear?  Someone who wanted Mister Freeze to break into S.T.A.R. Labs.  A distraction for the police, one of the cops assumes?  Batman doesn't think so; too many other, easier distractions.  S.T.A.R. Labs was a serious target requiring lots of prep work.  So how come they tripped the alarms so quickly, Bullock wonders?  That was the distraction, Batman concludes.  Freeze was manipulated by someone else who wanted to get into the facility.  The director says nothing else is missing, though, but Batman disagrees.

"I'll have it analyzed… with SCIENCE!"

Here we see Batman actually being the Dark Knight Detective.  He starts deconstructing the heist--Sherlock-style--doing all kinds of C.S.I. stuff, and tracking the path of a second infiltrator, all while Gordon and the others watch in wonder.  Batman's investigation leads him to a different lab and a jagged piece of green, crystalline mineral under glass for observation.

Batman asks what the piece is and the director tells him it's called Kryptonite.  Batman tells him, no, this is just glass, and shatters the faux-Kryptonite shard on the floor.  He tells the others that someone snuck into the lab to steal the Kryptonite while Freeze was drawing all the attention to himself.  Montoya asks Batman if he thinks it was Catwoman, but he dismisses the idea.  His reason could be something as simple as not detecting her perfume.

So what's so special about Kryptonite?  Batman has never heard of it before and he asks the director to tell him about it.  The director says Kryptonite was discovered a couple decades ago, it emits a low level of radiation, and--pause of emphasis--it came from Outer Space.

To Be Continued…

* I have no idea why he doesn't go by Doctor Freeze.  I guess the AMA stripped him of his license when he was in jail.

** I didn't cast the Director of Ops for S.T.A.R. Labs because it could be a generic unnamed character for this one scene.  However, it could be an easter egg for fans by naming him after an established S.T.A.R. Labs scientist from the comics.  It could even be one of the numerous scientists who become super villains, like the Atomic Skull, the Alchemist, or the Kryptonite Man.

*** If for some reason I couldn't use Michael Madsen in this totally hypothetical scenario, I would pick William Forsythe as Bullock.