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[Magus]

How was the government not a credible villain? They got a whole season of the show out of it.

I hate the concept of Darkseid. I hate overpowered god-like supervillains, like Darkseid or Thanos, whose only motive is to rule the universe, and not backed up by some kind of character trait. Like Lex Luthor wants to rule the world, and he's driven by his own inadequacies as a mortal man in the face of Superman, the beloved immortal. Amanda Waller fears the abilities of the metahumans and what they mean for the future of the country.

Darkseid is just like "want to rule the universe, because I am evil." It's so boring to me.

I'll tell you what, meet in the middle. Brainiac is more interesting than Darkseid. Make it Brainiac who invades. At least his motive is interesting.

[Premmy]

Originally Posted by The Sevenshot Kid

The main problem DC has is that the individual stories of each hero are more interesting than the team stories. The only time I can say that wasn't true was in the cartoon series and Warner Bros. is smart enough to pull those writers in. They hired the fucking guy that wrote Gangster Squad.

This is kind of an inherent fault of all "All Star" Team-Ups because they always involve characters initially created to be solo, or created with their own supporting cast, setting, and tone in mind.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Originally Posted by Magus

How was the government not a credible villain? They got a whole season of the show out of it.

You can't just make the government a villain (at least the first time around) in a big budget superhero movie. If the film is going to portray the Justice League as already being an existing entity then you can introduce distrust from the government but if it's actually a movie about forming the team then you can't just jump right in with it. The reason why the Cadmus arc worked on the show was because they built up to it from as early as Superman: The Animated Series, it's not something you can just introduce.

Originally Posted by Magus

I'll tell you what, meet in the middle. Brainiac is more interesting than Darkseid. Make it Brainiac who invades. At least his motive is interesting.

Brainiac has that problem of being too closely associated with Superman. Marvel almost had the same problem with Loki but they had built up to him and included elements from the other films and introduced more to make him a credible threat (cosmic cube, the Chitauri) for the team. Loki was also not just a Thor villain but an Avengers villain, the first Avengers villain. Brainiac is a Superman villain first and (depending if you want to split hairs seeing as how it's Brainiac 5) a member of the Legion of Superheroes second.

Darkseid, however, has a history with the Justice League. The Legends story-arc from the eighties is another example of a great basis for a movie plot. It was even (kinda sorta) adapted in the tenth season of Smallville somewhat successfully.

[Lumenskir]

They hired the fucking guy that wrote Gangster Squad.

Oh man, you saw a sneak preview of Gangster Squad!? I get that you didn't like it, but what were your overall impressions??

Brainiac has that problem of being too closely associated with Superman.

Yeah, for comic readers and maybe people who watched Smallville or Lois and Clark. For the average moviegoer you just need something that provides a world-ending threat.

That being said, it's just smart to use Darkseid so that they can, if not cut off Marvel, attempt to pre-saturate the marketplace with Cosmic World Conquerors.

[CABAL49]

But then what? There is not a lot that is more threatening that Darkseid.

[Professor Smarmiarty]

In Justice League 2 the villain is Man.

[POS Industries]

Originally Posted by Magus

I hate the concept of Darkseid. I hate overpowered god-like supervillains, like Darkseid or Thanos, whose only motive is to rule the universe, and not backed up by some kind of character trait.

You're spot on with Darkseid and I can see where you might be confused with Thanos what with the two of them being roughly the same character created by the same guy for both companies in a fit of laziness, but at least with Thanos the primary motivation is to get into Death's pants.

He's conquering the galaxy for love!

[Intern Nin]

You're spot on with Darkseid and I can see where you might be confused with Thanos what with the two of them being roughly the same character created by the same guy for both companies in a fit of laziness, but at least with Thanos the primary motivation is to get into Death's pants.

Darkseid was created by Jack Kirby. Jim Starlin created Thanos.

[Magus]

Well personally I usually associate Darkseid with Superman, as well, or Wonder Woman to an extent. I admit that Brainiac is pretty much only a Superman villain, of course, but I don't see why that would keep the average movie-goer from accepting him as the villain in a Justice League movie. You're not going to have time to properly build up Darkseid, either. That's why when they go with the "alien invasion" plot without any build-up it seems lazy. That's why I think a more personal enemy would be better.

[The Sevenshot Kid]

Originally Posted by Lumenskir

Oh man, you saw a sneak preview of Gangster Squad!? I get that you didn't like it, but what were your overall impressions?

Har har har.

I haven't seen it, I'm actually looking forward to it, but I'm just concerned about them not getting someone with some pedigree or some geek cred. Avengers got Joss Whedon, Justice League got some guy that wrote some episodes of Castle and a movie no one has seen.