Thor Vs. Darkseid

My main issues with the first Thor film were not enough action due to Thor being de-powered for the middle of the film and the lack of the trademark helmet save for a few seconds at the beginning.  From what I have read and seen of the sequel, it looks like there will be a lot more action this time around, which is a good thing.  The helmet never made an appearance in The Avengers and I think that's pretty much a lost cause now.  I had hoped the new director would use it, but it hasn't shown up in any of the images from the film yet - and they are taken from battle scenes.  It makes no sense to me, the helmet they designed looks cool and you can still see the actor's face, which is usually the issue.

Darkseid seemed to be the perfect villain to use for a JLA movie, but now that Thanos has been introduced into the Marvel cinematic universe, I can see Warner Brothers wanting to go in another direction.  Something tells me we will still see the Lord of Apokolips on the big screen eventually, he's too good a character not to use.

Tarzan and Shanna, The She-Devil

The latest I have read on the next Tarzan movie is that Warner Brothers has signed on David Yates to direct.  Yates helmed the last four Harry Potter films, so he knows his way around a major franchise at least.  Special effects have taken a major leap since the last live action Tarzan film, so I am very curious to see how this turns out.  No actor has been selected yet, but I have read names like Alexander Skarsgard and Charlie Hunnam being considered.  Hopefully we will hear more soon and that Hollywood will finally do this iconic hero justice.

The Flash and Ghost Rider

For the fastest man on Earth, The Flash is sure taking a slow road to the silver screen.  I have heard rumors of a film for years, but nothing solid ever seems to materialize.  I used to think that he would be one of the harder characters to set a movie around because of his bright costume and outlandish rogues, but we have seen colorful costumes work well on screen and today's special effects could really make some of his adventures come to life.  The 90's TV series went for a darker, street level look inspired by the 1989 Batman movie, but what I would like to see is a true Flash style adventure.  Heck, Rise of the Planet of the Apes convinced me that we could see a Flash Vs. Gorilla Grodd movie that wouldn't be played for laughs.

Martian Manhunter and Iron Man

I read some interesting comments by Zach Snyder yesterday that seemed to indicate that Man of Steel would indeed be tied into the eventual Justice League film and that Henry Cavill would be the Superman of that franchise as well.  Snyder said that to divulge more would be to spoilerish... so perhaps there will be seeds for the JLA movie in Man of Steel?  If Warner Brothers were to take their cues from the First Iron Man movie and include a post credits scene to tease that larger DC Universe, I think The Martian Manhunter might be a good candidate for a cameo.  It could be something as simple as a reveal of J'onn trapped in a government facility and the feds not wanting Superman to know of his existence.  While I would love to see a Solo Martian Manhunter film, his is the most unlikely to get one out of the original seven JLAers.  It might make better sense if his back story was woven into the JLA's origin, just as it was in the animated series.

The New Teen Titans Vs. Galactus

The New Teen Titans #1-50 by Marv Wolfman and George Perez were superhero comics at their best.  It is sad that this group of characters has been forced apart when they worked so well together.  These days, Dick Grayson is too busy with the Batman crew to think about a team, Starfire, Cyborg, Changeling and Raven all seem to have undergone history transplants and have been scattered to different sections of the DCU, and Donna Troy and Wally West remain missing in action.  Is that any way to treat the stars of your flaghip title from the 80's?  Hopefully DC will find a way to reunite this crew some day.

Superman and Magnus: Robot Fighter

Nobody can draw a period piece like Steve Rude.  His attention to detail and slick retro style really shine when he  depicts a scene from yesteryear.  I always like how he will give Superman these cool squinty Joe Shuster styled eyes.  Rude is currently contributing to DC's Before Watchmen even with a one shot featuring Dollar Bill, written by Len Wein.  I have no doubt that once again Rude will accurately and stylishly illustrate the fashions and designs of the time, and it should be a beautiful comic to look at.

Green Lantern (Alan Scott) and Spider-Man

DC received some publicity a few months back with the newly rebooted Alan Scott Green Lantern in the pages of Earth 2 by making this version a gay man.  I am all for diversity in comics, but this struck me as an odd move.  In order to make it work, Alan Scott had to be de-aged and as a result his two children have been written out of continuity - his daughter Jade, and his son Obsidian... who just happened to already be a quite popular gay character!  So diversity wasn't really served here because they just swapped one a gay hero for another... and also lost a perfectly good female hero in the transition as well.  It was a strange decision in my eyes, all for the sake of a few headlines on a slow news day.  Hopefully Jade and Obsidian will find their way back to the DCU one of these days.

The Rocketeer and Indiana Jones

Here are two great characters that were both inspired in part by the cliffhanger serial movies of the 40's.  I think they would fit right in with each other and it would make for an action-packed tale.  Now that Disney owns Lucasfilm, I wonder what their plans for the Indiana Jones franchise will be?  Disney produced the Rocketeer film, but they never went back to that well, even when it found an audience on video. Hopefully the success of Disney's Marvel arm will convince them to give the property another try one of these days.

The Teen Titans Vs. The Punisher

The three live-action Punisher movies all had their own shortcomings and none was a big hit in the theaters.  I'm guessing that the film rights will soon revert Marvel Studios if they haven't already.  Still, they may be hesitant to put forth another Punisher movie until the memory of the other attempts fade a bit more.  Perhaps in the meantime they could go with a dark animated series  Give Frank Castle the classic get-up, white gloves and boots and all - This looks can work well in stylized animation where it would be almost impossible to pull off in live action.  Animated violence is much easier for me to take than live action gore, so I might even prefer this approach.  This might be fun as a late night cable series and it popular enough, warm audiences to the idea of giving a cinematic outing another try.

Ragman and The Scarlet Witch

The good news is that The Scarlet Witch will be featured regularly in the new high-profile title Uncanny Avengers, drawn by the very talented John Cassiday. It's been a while since she has had a regular title to star in and it will be interesting to see how she interacts with other members such as Wonder Man, with whom she has quite a history.  The only thing that worries me is that the title will be written by Brian Michael Bendis, who seems to prefer the crazy unbalanced Wanda.  I really hope he moves her beyond  that stage, as I was never a fan of her whacked out homicidal phase.

I'm not sure if Ragman has appeared in the New 52 DCU yet, but I hope he finds a home soon (Justice League Dark perhaps?).  DC had been doing a good job of utilizing him before the revamp and it would be a shame to see that all go away.

Chewbacca Joins Star Trek: The Next Generation

It's nice to see the two big science fiction franchises still going strong.  We should be seeing a trailer for the next Star Trek film soon, and I am looking forward to it since I quite enjoyed the first outing by JJ Abrams and the new crew.  Star Wars is set to explode again, now that it is under the control of Diseny.  The two bits that I have heard confirmed regarding Episode 7 - that it will be written by Toy Story 3's Michael Arndt and that it will feature Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher - have me very interested.  Hopefully the visions of Jar Jar and a 10 year old Darth Vader saying, "Yipppeeee!" will fade away for good now.

Blue Beetle and Captain America

When comic companies purchase characters from previous owners and integrate them with their universe, it can be a bit jarring for the reader and might take awhile before the new acquisitions really seem to fit in to their new environment.  That was not the case with Blue Beetle.  After his introduction to the DCU in Crisis on Infinite Earths with the rest of the Charlton comic characters, Ted Kord seemed to be right at home to me.  I liked his inclusion with the JLA and of course his friendship with Booster Gold worked so well it was like it was destined to be.  I really wish he had made a return in the New 52, even if only as a mentor type to the New Blue Beetle, Jaime Reyes.  Reyes just had his second Blue Beetle series cancelled - perhaps it would have fared better if it had featured Ted Kord as well?

Doctor Fate and Ghost Rider

I see in the latest DC solicitations that Doctor Fate will be making his New 52 debut  in the pages of Earth 2.  I am expecting quite a different look for him, as all the JSA'er thus far have sported... but it will be a crime if they lose the iconic helmet! I am a fan of Nicola Scott's work, so I am hopeful that she will create a cool visual for him.

Metamorpho and Spider-Man

Metamorpho is nowhere to be seen in the New 52 DCU.  The closest we have seen is Element Woman, who looks to be involved with the Justice League at some point, so I had given up on seeing Rex mason anytime soon.  However, with yesterday's solicitations, there may be a glimmer of hope.  Katana #1 says that we will find the sword-wielding hero trying to "restore The Outsiders to their former glory".  Hmmm... so will we see the likes of Metamorpho, Halo and Geo-Force in the future?  We've already seen Black Lightning, but it's a youthified version who hangs with Blue Devil.  Who knows what the other Outsiders will be like when they make an appearance?

Kamandi and Iron Man

Iron Man 3 has released its first trailer, and I like what I see so far.  I loved the first Iron Man but thought the second suffered from plot elements that were too similar to the original film - Stark seems to have to learn the same life lesson over again and the film once again ends with him facing off against a foe with a bigger suit of armor.  The third installment looks to be a big improvement with the stakes very high for Iron Man.  I liked the shot of Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin, and when you look in the background of that scene, you can see a mural featuring Fin Fang Foom in the background... is it too much to hope that comicdom's coolest dragon will make an appearance?

Kang Conquers the DC Universe

Well, we are over a year into the latest DC reboot and it's a mixed bag.  While I am in favor or reintegrating the Vertigo properties that started out in the mainstream DCU and characters like Amethyst, I... Vampire, Resurrection Man, and yes even Vibe getting another shot, there are also a lot of drawbacks to the new direction.  There are still too many characters that I loved either missing completely or altered too dramatically for my tastes, and the costume redesigns are about 10% hit and 90% miss in my book.  If the reboot was meant to clear up continuity, it failed there as well.  I think the desire to start fresh but also retain current Batman and Green Lantern storylines resulted in a half-hearted reboot.  I still think they would have been better served by starting completely new, de-aging all the original sidekicks, and eventually finding new roles for later legacy characters like Kyle Rayner, Tim Drake, Cassandra Sandsmark and so on.  Or they should have just looked at DC's animated division which has done a perfect job of streamlining the continuity while retaining the classic looks and core personalities of the characters.

Justice League Vs. The Phoenix

I really loved the line up for the new Justice League title that spun out of Legends.  It really took advantage of the newly merged universe from Crisis on Infinite Earths by featuring a team made up of heroes from the formerly separated worlds.  You had Batman, Black Canary and Martian Manhunter from the original JLA, and then added Dr. Fate (Earth-2), Captain Marvel (Earth-S), Blue Beetle (Charlton), Mister Miracle (Fourth World) and Dr. Light (a brand new character from Crisis).  It was a cool grouping and I really wish they had enjoyed more adventures together before the team started swapping out members and became more about situation comedy than super heroics.

The Human Torch and Starman

I have always been a fan of Johnny Storm, but I have to say that I always thought that the original Human Torch was cooler looking than his Silver Age successor   His flames were usually illustrated a little wilder and his featureless face when flamed on made him look very foreboding.  While the wisecracking Johnny made the reader comfortable with a man on fire, the more inhuman depiction of Jim Hammond made it clear that this was a guy you did not want to get too close to!

Swamp Thing and Doctor Strange

The past week there have been reports that Gullermo Del Toro is interested in directing a film called Heaven Sent, which would feature DC's stable of supernatural characters - Swamp Thing, Deadman, Constantine, The Phantom Stranger, Zatanna, The Demon and so on.  I fondly remember the epic storylines that Alan Moore would write with these mystical stars during his Saga of the Swamp Thing run.  This almost sounds too good to be true so I am not holding my breath at this point.  But with the Success of The Avengers, I guess anything is possible - and if such a film is indeed in the planning stages, Del Toro is just about the perfect choice.  Let's hope this becomes a reality.

Hawkman and Doc Savage

Doc Savage is one of the biggest pulp characters that has never really been able to make the transition to live action.  I think there was some low budget attempt featuring ex-Tarzan Ron Ely, but other than that filmmakers seem to have steered clear of the property.  It's too bad, because I think that there is a great Indiana Jones type film to be be made with Doc Savage.  Casting might be a challenge, as you would need a action star type that could also convincingly portray Doc's intellect.

Daredevil and Calvin and Hobbes

I have to admire Bill Watterson for ending Calvin and Hobbes while it was still at the peak of its quality and never looking back.  His refusal to licence his characters out to other mediums is a rare move which has also preserved the strip's integrity.  That said, I would love to see him return one day.  Calvin and Hobbes was my favorite comic strip ever and it would be great to see what Watterson would have to say about them after such a long hiatus.

Joker's Wild

I thought I would try my hand at a villainous team this time around.  What's more creepy than a clown?  I mean even real clowns are kind of creepy to me, so evil clowns are that much worse.  While this crew would certainly give any hero a run for their money, I imaging that there would be a lot of inter-team conflicts as well with so many crazy personalities.  That may undermine their effectiveness, but they would still be fun to read about.