Big seven? You’ll be lucky to get the big five.

El Mayimbe over at Latino Review says he has exclusive scoop on what heroes will make up the film version of the Justice League in 2015:

• Superman
• Batman
• Wonder Woman
• Green Lantern
• The Flash

Now would be the time when we point out, as we always do, that El Mayimbe is not always accurate. But this line-up certainly does make sense. You have DC’s “trinity” with Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, you have a DC hero who already received his own film in Green Lantern, and you have a hero who has had his own TV show and has had a film in development for years in The Flash. There’s a lot of recognition by the casual fan to be had there.

For those of you hoping that Martian Manhunter and/or Aquaman would be in the cast, well, you might get one or both of the characters in a cameo. And Hawkman fans? El Mayimbe’s source says there is a slight chance, a slight chance, that the Winged Warrior will also get a cameo.

Again, this is all rumor. The project doesn’t even have a director yet. So, take this all with a big grain of salt.

It is rather early in the game to know exactly what Warner Brothers has planned for their announced Justice League film featuring a team up of some of corporate sibling DC Comics’ biggest superheroes. Currently Will Beall is working on a screenplay. There are some rumors as to who may be the villain and where the plot may be originating. There has been some talk as to what other films may or may not connect to Justice League in order to form a bigger franchise, a la Marvel Studios’ comic book films. But beyond that, there has been no concrete news surrounding the project.

So what’s the latest rumor then? Well, Cosmic Book News reportedly heard from an anonymous source within DC Entertainment who supplied them with a rundown of which heroes will make up the team.

• Superman is essentially the same character from Man of Steel, and Zack Snyder is consulting regarding the writing of the character.
• Batman: The strategist of the group. Batman doesn’t really want to be involved with these super powered beings he considers too powerful. Easily the most complex written.
• Wonder Woman: She has only been in man’s world a few short months. The Wonder Woman script Michael Goldenberg is developing will be set before the Justice League movie.
• Green Lantern: Will be Ryan Reynold’s character from the Green Lantern movie, but will be freshly written with a more serious tone.
• Flash: The most popular hero in civilian eyes who loves media attention, but when called upon is very serious.
• Martian Manhunter: Alien who has lived on Earth in secret for over a hundred years who has knowledge of Darkseid and his reign.
• Aquaman: Will be the King of Atlantis who has a key role in the film.
• There will also be a heavy military presence in the film which in future rewrites could include characters featured in Man of Steel or even Amanda Waller (Angela Bassett) of which neither are included in the first draft.
• Alfred Pennyworth is in the film in a minor appearance.
• Lois Lane is also in the film in a cameo.
• Darkseid’s Elite will be featured who go up against the Justice League early on in the film.

Not surprisingly, it looks like the traditional “Big Seven” lineup of the League. What is surprising is that it looks like the studio is the approaches the studio is reportedly taking for some of the characters. While it has been assumed that the film’s iteration of Superman might be carried over from this summer’s Man Of Steel, I am surprised to see that, even with a rewrite, they are going with Green Lantern as already established in the Ryan Reynold’s film of 2011.

Of course, the whole report could be hokum but even if it is true things could still change as it continues to move through development. Taking a wait and see attitude towards this news is probably the best course. We probably won’t get a much better idea as to the cast of heroes until casting starts sometime after Warners secures a director for the film.

Justice League is scheduled for a 2015 release.

Amidst all the hullabaloo over the news that Warner Brothers has brought on Gangster Squad scribe Will Beall to take a crack at a Justice League screenplay, some additional DC Comics superhero news got overlooked. The studio has also given Green Lantern scripter Michael Goldenberg the assignment to craft a screenplay for a Wonder Woman film.

A super-powered warrior/ambassador from a hidden island of Amazons, Wonder Woman has long been considered to be one of DC Comics “Big Three” characters – the other two being Superman and Batman. But unlike her male counterparts, the character has never made it to the big screen.

Previously, producer Joel Silver had spent the better part of a decade trying to develop a Wonder Woman film going through at least four completely different approaches to the superhero with little luck. One of the writers who were temporarily on the project was fan favorite Joss Whedon, who went on to write and direct the mega blockbuster The Avengers for Marvel Studios.

Wonder Woman was translated to the small screen in the 1970s with Lynda Carter. Although it sometimes bordered on camp, the show is still fondly remembered by fans today. She appeared in Cartoon Network’s popular Justice League animated series as well as in a handful of direct to video releases. A live action television series was produced last year but not picked up and if you’ve seen it you know that the less said about it the better.

Although there are no other details available, it should be noted that Drive director Nicholas Winding Refn has made mention of how he would like to direct a Wonder Woman film. How about it, Warners?

In a multi-part series, Comic Book Film Editor William Gatevackes will be tracing the history of comic book movies from the earliest days of the film serials to today’s big blockbusters and beyond. Along with the history lesson, Bill will be covering some of the most prominent comic book films over the years and why they were so special. This time, we’ll cover the end of the serial era.

By 1947, the “Golden Age of Serials” was deemed to be at an end. This corresponded with the start of the period where superheroes were growing increasingly out of favor with comic book publishers, being replaced by war, romance, and horror genres.

Hop Harrigan was an aviator rather than a superhero, but he came into existence way before the fall of the superhero. The character first appeared in 1939 in All-American Comics #1, published by DC/National’s sister company, All-American Publications. The character was adapted into a radio program from 1942 to 1948. In 1946, the character made its way to movies screens in a 15 part Columbia serial of its own, titled, appropriately, Hop Harrigan.

The serial focused on Hop Harrigan facing off against a mad scientist called Dr. Tobor. Much like the comic character himself, the serial faded away into obscurity. No video evidence for the serial can be found.

Another DC Comics character hit screens the next year, but not the one you think. It boggles the mind that a rather obscure character such as the Vigilante could have been made into a serial before Superman, but he was. The Vigilante, like Superman, debuted in Action Comics, issue #42 to be exact. Essentially , he was a modern day cowboy whose secret identity was a Gene Autry-esque singing cowboy who wore a disguise to avenge his murdered father.

The Vigilante serial debuted in 1947 and with a few costume alterations notwithstanding, remained true to the comic. In the Columbia serial, The Vigilante must investigate a case of missing valuable gems smuggled into the country.

In the next year, Superman finally, at long last, came to movie theaters in a serial of his own. While Republic tried to get the rights to Superman as early as 1940, making a deal for the property was complicated by National/DC insisting on creative control and Superman being licensed to Paramount for a series of animated shorts (for more on the Fleisher cartoons, check out Rich’s write up on them here). This delayed Supes making the plunge into the live action film world.

By 1948, those rights had expired, allowing Columbia to finally bring one of the most popular comic book heroes to life on the silver screen with Superman. Kirk Alyn was cast as Clark Kent, Noel Neill as Lois Lane, and, in a marketing ploy certainly aimed at the kids in the audience, Columbia stated that there was no actor who could truly do Superman justice, so the Man of Steel played himself (Not to spoil it for anyone who had been holding onto that belief for 53 years, but, in reality, it was Alyn in the costume).

Due to National/DC’s influence, the Superman serial stayed close to the comics. Kirk Alyn made an excellent Superman/Clark Kent and Noel Neill did such a good job as Lois Lane that she would reprise the role on the small screen in The Adventures of Superman.

The serial’s plot involved Superman fighting the machinations of a villainess called The Spider Queen, played by Carol Foreman. The serial was enormously popular, garnering a sequel two years later with the same cast. But before then, there was one other comic book serial released that is worth mentioning.

Later in 1948, another National/DC character whose home was in Action Comics hit the world of the film serial. Congo Bill was a serial based on the strip that got its start in 1940 in More Fun Comics before moving over to Action Comics for a lengthy run. Congo Bill was a Caucasian explorer who relocated to the wilds of Africa to keep hius adopted home safe.

While Congo Bill getting a serial before other DC mainstays such as Green Arrow or Wonder Woman might make a modern day comic fan start scratching their head, at the time adapting a jungle hero was a no-brainer. Jungle stories were packing them in at the movies at the time, so Columbia must have naturally thought Congo Bill would have been an obvious choice to bring to the screen.

The serial deals with the character searching the African wilderness for a legendary White Priestess.

It’s a shame that the serial didn’t come eleven years later, as DC decided in 1959 to give Congo Bill the ability to swap minds with a golden gorilla named Congorilla. It would have been interesting to see how they would have translated that to the screen.

Atom Man vs. Superman arrived in theaters in 1950 and marked the first appearance of Superman’s arch enemy, Lex Luthor, in live action. Luthor was played by Lyle Talbot, who also gained fame by originating the role of Commissioner Gordon in the 1943 Batman serial, and would later become famous (or is that infamous) for his work with legendary shlockmeister Ed Wood, Jr, most notably in Glen or Glenda and Plan 9 From Outer Space. Kirk Alyn returned as Superman/Clark Kent and Noel Neill as Lois Lane.

In this serial, Superman must fight to keep the world safe from Atom Man (who was really Luthor in disguise) who has developed a “disinegration ray” to hold the world hostage. Atom Man/Luthor also develops a synthetic kryptonite, a plot point that would be revisited over three decades later in Superman III.

Remember how I told you last time that I would tell you who the Ryan Reynolds and James McAvoy of the serial was? That would be Kirk Alyn, because Alyn, like Reynolds and McAvoy, brought comic book characters from two different companies to life on the silver screen. Reynolds starred as Deadpool in X-Men Origins:Wolverine and Green Lantern in Green Lantern, McAvoy starred as Wesley Gibson from Top Cow’s Wanted and as Marvel’s Professor X in X-Men: First Class, and, as we’ve already said, Kirk Alyn was the first person to play DC’s Superman on screen and, in 1952, he brought Quality Comics’ aviator hero Blackhawk to the screen in his own serial, named Blackhawk.

Blackhawk and the Blackhawks first appeared in Quality’s Military Comics #1 in 1941. The Blackhawks were an international paramilitary force of flyers brought together by Blackhawk himself to right wrongs and fight evil. The flyers were from areas such as France, Sweden and China and were portrayed in the most stereotypical ways their nationalities could be portrayed.

The Columbia serial toned down the stereotypes and set up the Blackhawks as fighting the Communists. One of the Communist agents was a woman named Laska, portrayed by Carol Foreman. Foreman, as we read above, faced off against Alyn’s Superman as the Spider Queen in the first Superman serial.

Being that this was at the end of the serial’s life cycle, the production values were way down. Not exactly the best way to end the era of the superhero serial.

Interesting tidbit, DC Comics eventually bought out all the Quality characters and concepts in 1956 much like they would the Fawcett characters decades later. Blackhawk was one of the few Quality titles being published at that time, and DC continued publishing the series without a break in numbering.

Next time, we cover the foray comic books made into the world of television, and how one TV show affected the way superheroes were portrayed on the big screen even decades later.

Warner Brothers has been having some trouble in getting a live-action Wonder Woman project off the ground. A film version has gone through a number of screenwriters over the last several years and even a fan favorite like Joss Whedon wasn’t able to get things moving. A television iteration of the classic comics heroine crashed and burned when a produced pilot starring Adrianne Palecki didn’t get picked up to become a series earlier this summer.

But where others have failed could Bronson director Nicolas Winding Refn succeed? He certainly would like to give the project a try and he may just get his shot at it if the Warner brass are happy with how his next planned project, a remake of the 1970s science-fiction film Logan’s Run does well.

Speaking at the Empire Big Screen weekend in London this past week, Refn, who was there to promote his upcoming film Drive, stated –

I would love to make Wonder Woman. And I also think that [Drive star] Christina Hendricks would be the perfect Wonder Woman, but Warner Bros haven’t called yet. But I’m getting closer with Logan’s Run. I think someone said to me in a meeting that if I get Logan’s Run right, then I’ll get Wonder Woman.

Christina Hendricks as Wonder Woman? You can already hear the fanboy drooling.

But fanboys will have to wait, as Refn’s next project is actually Only God Forgives with his Drive star Ryan Gosling. After that the pair will move on to Logan’s Run, with Gosling starring as the futuristic lawman who decides to flee society when he reaches the mandated suicide age of 30. If Warners is seriously considering Refn for Wonder Woman then we will probably have a bit of a wait before we get to see the film.

Via The Playlist

Last week saw a major hub-bub arise in the world of comic book fandom with the unveiling of a new look for superhero and Amazonian warrior Wonder Woman as part of a storyline kicking off in the character’s 700th issue which sees the character switching her star spangled bathing suit for pants, a red bodice and a leather jacket.

But if writer/director Joss Whedon had had his way, fans would have seem a similarly radically redesigned costume for the film version he had been developing for producer Joel Silver and Warner Brothers a few years back. During the film’s development, Whedon engaged costume designer Shawna Trpcic, who had worked on Whedon’s Angel and Firefly television series, to work up some possible costume designs that would work on film. This past weekend, Trpcic tweeted four of the possible outfits that she had developed.

Interestingly, there are some design elements here that artist Jim Lee incorporated into the new costume for the comics. I’m not saying that Lee plagiarized Trpcic’s work. I doubt that he would have direct access to it, as Whedon had departed the project some three years before Lee’s promotion to co-publisher of DC Comics. It is more probably a case of two artists working along the same creative lines.

At this point last summer, fans of comic book movies were buzzing over Marvel Studios’ slate of films. With both Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk getting positive response from critics and ticket buyers alike, the studio announced plans to bring several more of Marvel Comics’ heroes to the big screen in a series of films that would culminate with them meeting up to form the superhero super group, The Avengers.

But fans of the heroes published by Marvel’s main rival, DC Comics, were wondering why their favorite characters weren’t making the transition to the big screen as well. True, the Batman film The Dark Knight would become the highest grossing film of the summer, but he was the lone character from the publisher’s 70-plus year history to find themselves on the silver screen. Despite pulling in over $391 million at the box office worldwide, the lackluster fan reaction to 2006’s Superman Returns had studio Warner Brothers floundering to find a new direction for a further cinematic adventure of DC’s most famous hero. The anticipated adaptation of the classic graphic novel Watchmen also failed to generate the expected excitement at the box office this past March. Meanwhile, film adaptations of Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash and Green Arrow continued to languish in development hell, with Warners reluctant to give the go-ahead to any of these projects.

But what a difference 12 months can make. Where there were none scheduled before, there are now several DC Comics characters with dates to appear in your local Cineplex, in addition to several television and direct-to-video projects. With the San Diego Comic Con getting underway today, we thought it would be a good time to roundup the state of the various DC Comics film projects that are being worked on.

The biggest news on DC Comics movie front is a recent Hollywood Reporter story which stated that last fall studio Warner Brothers quietly hired three of the comics publisher’s top writers – Marv Wolfman, Geoff Johns and Grant Morrison – to serve as creative consultants and writers for many of the films being produced under the Warners corporate umbrella. Johns, who worked as an assistant to Superman: The Movie director Richard Donner before moving on to becoming one of DC’s most critically and fan praised writers of the last several years, has already turned in a treatment for a film based on the speedster hero The Flash that screenwriter Dan Mazeau is currently fleshing out. While the Hollywood Reporter story doesn’t state it, Johns is also listed as a producer on an in development Metal Men flick which would feature a team of eccentric robots who battle weird science threats.

The Reporter piece doesn’t specifically state which films Wolfman and Morrison are working on, though a few educated guesses can be made. As Wolfman was the driving force behind a critically acclaimed run of The Teen Titans in the early 1980s, he is probably working with producer Akiva Goldsman, who is currently developing the property. Goldsman is also serving as producer for a possible Doom Patrol feature. As Morrison redefined the team in his classic run on the book in the late 80s/early 90s, he may be working with Goldsman on this.

As for the many other properties that have been optioned, their statuses break down as follows-

Batman sequel- Warner Brothers wants a new Batman film. The fans want a new Batman film. Christopher Nolan has indicated that he would like to make another Batman film. However, we’ll have to wait until Nolan completes his current project Inception, which started filming last week in the UK. But whatever Nolan cooks up for a third installment, it will almost invariably be worth the wait.

Superman sequel- As noted, Warners has not made any concrete steps in following the poorly received 2006 Superman Returns. Director Bryan Singer has promised that his plans would give a sequel film a tone similar to Star Trek II. However, Warners let Returns star Brandon Routh’s contract option lapse earlier this month, so it is a safe bet that they don’t want to go with Snyder again. But Warners will have to get a new film in gear soon. As part of a settlement between DC Comics and Warner Brothers and the heirs of Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel, the trademark to the character will revert from Warners back to Siegel’s and co-creator Joe Schuster’s heirs, where they could conceivably turn around and offer the character to another studio. If Warners is smart, they’ll put together an incredible Superman film and cut the families in on the profits in order to ensure that they want to continue working with the studio.

Jonah Hex- Josh Brolin stars as the titular scarred old West anti-hero. A former Confederate soldier, Hex roamed the western territories as a gun for hire, though being a comic book character, he has encountered foes a little outside of the western genre. In the film, Hex will face off against a voodoo practitioner played by John Malkovich who plans to help the South rise again with an army of zombies. Filming recently wrapped in Louisiana and now post-production is being done in anticipation of the film’s June 18, 2010 release.

The Losers- Principal photography kicked off today in Puerto Rico on this tale of a CIA black-ops team who were betrayed, left for dead and who are now looking to find out why. Watchmen’s Jeffrey Dean Morgan heads up the cast which includes Jason Patric and Zoe Saldana.

Green Lantern- Now that Ryan Reynolds has been cast as the power ring wielding Hal Jordon, expect more announcements leading up to the time when cameras are scheduled to roll next January in Australia. Casino Royale helmer Martin Campbell is directing this origin story showing how a fearless test pilot is recruited to join an elite corps of interstellar law enforcers.

Justice League: Mortal- Warners has backburned this super hero team-up film in favor of having many of the characters being established in their own films. Don’t expect to see this one in anything less than seven to eight years.

Green Arrow- Although the character’s appearance on the pre-Superman adventures of Clark Kent television series Smallville proved fairly popular, Warners has been slow in leveraging that in to getting the character to the big screen. Currently the studio is two different approaches they are considering. One is a more traditional origin story, while the other features an older version of the Emerald Archer who has been arrested and incarcerated in a prison full of his former foes entitled Supermax.

Wonder Woman- Producer Joel Silver has been working on bring the Amazonian Princess Diana to cineplexes for most of the past decade. Scripters like Joss Whedon and Laeta Kalogridis have come and gone from the project, with it getting no further along the production process. That lack of progress has never stopped rumors from sprouting up that such-and-such an actress as being considered for the title role. Newcomers Matthew Jennison and Brent Strickland are currently taking a crack at the screenplay.

Lobo- Another project that Silver has been developing is a cinematic adaptation of the wise-cracking alien bounty hunter, Lobo. Although the character exploded into popularity in the early 1990s due to a mix of social satire and extreme comedic violence, Silver told SciFiWire that a recently completed script, from an unnamed writer, is PG-13 in tone. But despite having a screenplay, the project still has no director attached or a greenlight from the studio.

Sgt. Rock- Silver had been trying to get a movie based on DC’s World War Two action comic off the ground for almost two decades now. At various points in time both Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis were attached to star. Silver recently put the film on the backburner when director Quentin Tarantino, who was not tied to the Rock project, went off to make his own World War Two picture Inglorious Basterds. He may return to it sooner or later, though I would suspect sooner if Basterds does decent box office.

Billy Batson And The Legend Of Shazam- John August was the most recent writer to work on the project, but in January announced via his blog that he was off the project. There has been no news of a new writer having been hired.

Bizarro Superman- Galaxy Quest writing team Dean Parisot and Robert Gordon are currently developing a screenplay about the botched Superman clone who inadvertently acts as a villain. Given who is working on it, it looks as if it will be a more comedic take on the character, which is good, as Bizarro is one of the few DC characters where this approach could work.

Suicide Squad- The series about a group of supervillains being forced to undertake covert black ops for the United States government is currently being developed by Terminator Salvation producer Dan Lin. The script is from Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li scribe Justin Marks.

Aquaman- A film directed by none other than James Cameron adapting the underwater adventures of DC Comics’ Prince of Atlantis was a major plot point a few seasons back on HBO’s Entourage. Unfortunately, the current prospects for such an Aquaman film remain much dimmer. The character is currently being developed by Apian Way, actor Leonardo DiCaprio’s production company. Don’t expect any developments soon, though, as they are still looking for a writer.

Adam Strange- Warner is looking for a writer to bring the adventures of an archaeologist transported to an alien planet to be their champion to the silver screen.

Preacher- American Beauty helmer Sam Mendes is the latest director to have been signed to bring Garth Ennis and Steve Dillon’s controversial series to life. Ennis recently commented that he doubted a film could faithfully adapt the complex work, but screenwriter John August is giving it a try anyway.

Constantine 2- Producer Lauren Shuler Donner indicated last spring that the possibility of a sequel to the 2005 film starring Keanu Reeves as an urban mage fighting demons “Looks very good.” However, no writer has yet to be hired for the project.

Now granted, not all of these projects are going to make it to the big screen, but a reasonable percent age of them should, giving comics fans plenty to look forward to for the next several years.

Back in August of 2008, Warner Brothers Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov spoke with the Wall Street Journal and state that his plans for future DC Comics adaptations would explore the “dark” and “evil” sides of the characters.

This lead many comic movie fans, including this writer, to expect a slate of films where Superman wrestles with a raging drug addiction and Wonder Woman becomes a crazed serial killer.

That might still happen, but is seems that the dark and evil approach to DC properties for the time being involves a focus on the comic book bad guys.

Varietyannounced last week that Warner Brothers is developing DC comic series Suicide Squad not just as a feature film, but as a potential franchise.

The Suicide Squad concept has appeared in various forms in DC Comics over the years, but the most popular was the 1980s incarnation. That version, which appear to be the one the filmmakers are using, featured a Dirty Dozen like group of supervillains who are forced to work for the U.S. government. If they completed their mission, they’d get a pardon and a release from jail.

The bad guys were kept in line by an explosive device in a bracelet they were forced to wear, which would be detonated if they tried to escape. Their missions were highly dangerous, and often times, team members didn’t make it back alive.

This film joins another DC villain-centric Green Arrow/Supermax film (written as Suicide Squad is by Justin Marks) in Warners’ development schedule.

If you have a favorite DC Comics superhero you were hoping to see on the big screen any time soon, you’ll have to wait a little bit longer.

David Goyer, screenwriter on The Dark Knight, told IESB that currently, most of the comic book adaptations being developed at Warner Brothers based on properties from corporate sibling DC Comics are currently on hold.

A lot of the DC movies at Warner Brothers are all on hold while they figure out, they’re going to come up with some new plan, methodology, things like that so everything has just been pressed pause on at the moment. It was the double header of both Iron Man and The Dark Knight coming out, so more than ever I think they’ve realized, I think DC was responsible for 15% of Warner Brother’s revenue this year, something crazy like that, so they realized that comic books, it’s become a new genre, one of the most successful genres.

Among the projects on hold include Goyer’s own scripts for The Flash and Green Arrow: Supermax. Other spandex heroes who have been in development include Green Lantern. Warners had been developing films based around the Wonder Woman, Shazam and Justice League comic, though they have appeared dead in the water these past several months.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the only superhero adaptations in active development at DC are a third Batman film to follow up the box office behemoth that was theis past summer’s The Dark Knight and a new direction for Superman, following the underperformance of Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns in 2006.

So what kind of thinking is going on inside Warner Brothers right now? Well, we know that back over the summer, some Warner execs met with some of the brass at DC Comics about the best way to bring their classic superheroes to the big screen. It looks as if Warners is still mulling over the best way to accomplish that. Will it be in a manner similar to how Marvel Comics has seen several of tehir superheroes being brought to the screen, in films that are slowly revealing an intertwined, shared universe?

Franchise management is something that studios have neglected to engage in for the longest time, instead only focusing on the quick dollar to be had in the current release of a film. I have to wonder if the growth of long form storytelling on television, starting with the classic series Babylon 5 and currently being practiced by such series as Lost and Battlestar Galactica, have shown that audiences are ready to invest in a story for the long term. In addition to what Marvel is doing, the James Bond franchise has been allowing their storylines to carry over from Casino Royale (2005) to the recent Quantum Of Solace to the inevitable next film in the series. Such continuance is one of the reasons ticket buyers will return to the box office for each new installmment.

Hopefully, Warners is cooking up a great master plan for their superhero movies and we’ll start to hear about their intentions soon.

Last  month, when we told you about a meeting between DC Comics and parent company Warner Brothers, we knew that it would be only a matter of time before we got news regarding Warners plans with DC properties. After weeks of rumors, we finally have an idea of what the studio’s is planning to do.

Warner Brothers Pictures Group President Jeff Robinov spoke with the Wall Street Journal on Friday, and revealed some of his plans for his studio and DC Comics adaptations play a big part of it.

The studio has plans to cut down to about 22 films produced each year, but six to eight each year will be big budget “tentpole” pictures, and two of those will be DC Comics adaptations.

Fans of, say, Sugar and Spike or ‘Mazing Man should rejoice, because, according to Robinov, they have been developing every DC Character they own.

This new dedication to the comic book company that was always under their noses is certainly inspired by the success of the recent spate of Marvel Comics movies. But that isn’t all that Marvel inspired in Warners movie output in the years to come.

Comic fans looking forward to Superman vs. Batman or Justice League of America should get used to waiting. Warners is following Marvel’s lead and producing movies focusing on DC’s solo heroes, with the great big team-up movies to come at some later date.

Two projects have been confirm for Warners’ comic movie offering over the next three years: a sequel to The Dark Knight (Naturally. Look for an article on who we think the Bat-villains for that sequel should be in the next week.) and a revamp of the Superman franchise. Apparently, Bryan Singer’s $215 million Superman Returns wasn’t revampy enough:

“Superman [Returns] didn’t quite work as a film in the way that we wanted it to,” says Mr. Robinov. “It didn’t position the character the way he needed to be positioned.” “Had Superman worked in 2006, we would have had a movie for Christmas of this year or 2009,” he adds. “But now the plan is just to reintroduce Superman without regard to a Batman and Superman movie at all.”

Yeah, I have to say I was disappointed in Superman Returns, but their efforts to rebuilt the franchise was hampered by the $280 million budget run up by numerous failed attempt leading up to it. Maybe this time they’ll nail a concept down before paying people to do it. And maybe I’ll have to owe Mark Millar an apology.

But its not all good news for comic fans. What is the major stylistic choice for Warners’ upcoming comic book movies? Well, let me allow the article to tell you.

Like the recent Batman sequel — which has become the highest-grossing film of the year thus far — Mr. Robinov wants his next pack of superhero movies to be bathed in the same brooding tone as “The Dark Knight.” Creatively, he sees exploring the evil side to characters as the key to unlocking some of Warner Bros.’ DC properties. “We’re going to try to go dark to the extent that the characters allow it,” he says. That goes for the company’s Superman franchise as well.

Yes, of course. The reason why The Dark Knight became the second highest grossing film in history wasn’t because of the great script or the excellent direction or the Oscar-caliber acting. It was because it was ”dark”.

This is kind of a daffy attitude to have towards their comic book properties. Not every comic character can hold up well with the “dark” treatment. Superman wouldn’t. Neither would Wonder Woman. Of the DC characters in development, Jonah Hex and the Green Arrow/Supermax movies are the ones that would benefit from the brooding treatment. But who wants to see a dark Flash film? A brooding Green Lantern flick? Not me.

The DC Comic heroes, outside of Batman of course, aren’t know for being all that dark. For that matter, neither are the Marvel heroes. Marvel’s characters are more angsty than dark.

If Warners wants to follow Marvel’s success in comic book movies, they should get solid scripts, top name directors, and talented actors before they even think about tone.