Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Gunn and Safron and DC Comics

just saw a report saying that WBDiscover and G and S are looking at making the two divisions, comics and the movie/animated divisions more alike.

Now I'll admit I'm a fan of Gunn's movies, have been for a while. Yeah, GotG was fun, and so was Suicide Squad and Peacemaker.

But...

They weren't really like the comics.

What we hoped for as fans waaaay back when when comics hit it big in movies, tv and animation.... really hasn't happened. Comics haven't benefited in sales, in quality, in ...well...much of anything, really. DC has been rudderless for the better part of two decades now it seems. Yes, this is a personal opinion, I freely admit. So, as much as I have enjoyed the two hour bites of some of my favorites, I'm seeing nothing much lately but cuts and losses. I get they are "trying to right the ship", but it seems they are chasing blockbusters like marvel now. Shazam has had one really fun, cool movie. And now it may be two and done. Really? Aquaman became a major blockbuster, and I'm hearing they are talking about Mamoa as Lobo instead.

I'm for good stuff, but trying to take the source material and twist it to fit a lesser medium doesn't sound like a great thing to me.

And with the troubles books like Legion of Super-Heros has had in the last ten years or so, I gotta wonder....is changing the two to be more alike a good thing?

Yes, I know things change, I know there's a chance things will turn around and be blockbusters that make like shakespear.

But that doesn't mean that it'l work. And given that while they are supposed to be creating a ten year plan, but are only signed on for about half that, am I the only one seeing possible IUD's on the road ahead?

And given that Legion has taken such a beating the last few times out...I gotta wonder.

I'm not a fan of Gunn, and the thought of him bringing his yuk-yuk approach to the Legion terrifies me.

And this just as we're about to get what looks to be a perfectly decent Legion animated movie from their predecessors.

Well, I loved his Slither, and there were a few others before Guardians, so I'm a fan of his work, won't lie. I like the tongue in cheek horror stuff he homaged. I'm honestly hoping they have a plan for the movie/tv/animated. But changing the comics to fit the dcu rather than using the actual source material worries me.

I doubt highly that we will EVER have a live action Legion set in their home time, I really do. I just have bad images in my head of them trying to work in some futuristic take and we wind up getting arctic crystal superman from the 70's. Sorry guys, they were great for the time, but even then I wasn't hot on the crystal krypton take. I LIKE that some lesser know characters might be used and lifted up, but at the same time...not so optimistic that they will be the ACTUAL characters from the comics.

But, I would LOVE to be surprised and proven wrong.

Hell, a good origin movie and then a great Earthwar Saga....damn, count me there.

I'm really not trying to be down. I'm hoping for the best. Gunn has been a very good director. I'm hoping it translates to universe visionary. But I'd be lying if I said the last few months, and this latest rumor, isn't worrisome.

I'm willing to give things a chance - I've been OK with his Marvel & DC creations cinematically, but they are in things that play to his strengths with goofy characters.

If he plays it for mostly laughs vs drama ala The Suicide Squad for all their productions, I'll be less than thrilled, but if they flip that so that there is drama, but a good amount of levity to keep things a bit lighter, that may work for me. Anything is brighter than the gritty Snyder verse with the occasional forced laugh.

But I also don't see a live action Legion movie any time soon.

Would LOVE to be proved wrong.

Wow, the internet has gone batshit. Thank goodness for Legionworld. Okay, lemme be clear on something. What I wrote above was about how comics haven't benefited from the crossover with the hollywood side of things. I'm not a Gunn hater and I think the seperation of duties with Safrin may well work. I do think they have a plan. I've been seeing all the hate on the internet since the Cavill dismissal and Johnson's as well. That wasn't what I was talking about here. I'm literally concerned with what they will do to comics to make the more "connected".

I'm seeing a lot of spew and hatred out there on the internet. That isn't what I was about. I wanted the Synder cut for JL, and was happy to see it because I felt that the suits and Whedon royally screwed the movie over. Too much suit is never good for a movie vision. But the random fandom spew out there....that's not what I'm about. I haven't said anything out there because I'm getting old and really don't want the bs any more. I posted this here also not in a spirit of negativism, but a discussion on one particular point. What's happening out there...man...way to make actual, real comics fans look like the nutcases they've been trying to portray us as for years.

So, I was voicing here what I thought, and still think, is a viable concern. To whit, the changing of the source material to be more...punchy, like the movies and MCU. It was not to spew negativity. I'm hoping that the next Shazam and Aquaman movies will do more to show what the true potential of comics is. I like that they aren't all jokey like Thor, and have real drama moments. Real growth moments. So, if it seemed like I was going all dark and angsty here, I apologize. Not the intent. I'll stand by my concerns, but also hope for the best.

I am not sure to which specific stitch of hate you refer in the the sad tapestry of such that is the internet, but I don't think you need to really explain yourself.

First of all,. even forgetting Hollywood proclivities, the more complex the source material, the more likely it is that it will be altered for the big screen. I would argue that is obvious enough to qualify as a "duh".

Secondly, the carrot now of a potential billion-dollar take per movie has undoubtedly altered the focus of Marvel and DC to the point where clearly the focus of their efforts is far from their original bread and butter - the comics. And certainly less popular titles like our beloved LSH have suffered greatly over this.

However, I still love the idea of the LSH breaking into mainstream... the closest we got for that was the animated series a decade or so ago, but it only whetted my appetite (or rather the oppostie when i had to eat at McConald's to get the happy meals ), and a few character appearances on Smallville (well-done) and more recently Supergirl (meh-done, I would say.)

But I would still love to see someone try, and I feel like something is better than nothing in that regard (although the Supergirl version of Satrun Girl really tested that resolve...)

I have always imagined that one COULD, with sufficient budget and vision, have a grand, epic level LSH set in thefuture, and certainly the technology exists now to do that properly. But that would require a large budget investment, and I am not sure that DC is game (or has funds) for such a gamble, despite the unexptedly sucessful exemplar of Guardians of the Galaxy. Worse, as I think is one of your main points, if they DID heed that example, they would give us a Gunn-heavy altered version, which might likely suffer major differences than how we would even DEFINE our beloved Legion.

STILL, The difference is, I'd still rather have that than nothing. Admittedly, I enjoyed GotG, and I'd probably feel differently otherwise. HOWEVER I would also point out that if it bombed, we have already seen multiple examples of re-doing in a short time-frame - 3 Spider-mans in 2 decades, apparently a 3rd attempt at Fantastic Four on the way...

So a version you might consider repugnant might NOT preclude another version later... although with a lesser known title, it might. In any case, I stil think the most likley form of a live-action LSH is something akin to the Titans or Doom Patrol series on HBOMAx - which sadly might be a bit light on budget for a good depiction of the 30th cetnry.

All that said, just o add: if your perfectly reasonable opinion has been met with something resembling hate, I think that is because this generation that reads and especially watches posts and vlogs for entertainment has created a glut of content creators motivated to be the "most entertaining", and that is done with excessive use of hyperbole - where everything is either the best thing ever or "complete garbage", and only emotion-laden adjectives that come very close to sounding like worship or hate are used.

Sigh...

Your comment didn't come across as negative to me, rick...

But if it started any weirdness from the Snyderfans, I would not be surprised, unfortunately.

Very much agree with these comments, EHF (especially about the recent Supergirl series - There's a DIFFERENCE between TELEPATHY and TELEKINETICS, people!)

I think the only reason it works as an animated format is the cast size. Doom Patrol and Titans work as they do because there is a limited cast of heroes. I don't know if that's feasible for the Legion in live action.

And about the hate stuff - I think we've been conditioned as a society to be fed outrage takes in order to fire up extreme emotion (in either direction), which has the added affect of endorphin release, so people watch and tweet and doom scroll to get that hit of endorphins.

Luckily we can mute folks, but it makes participation more trouble that its worth in most cases.

I liked Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy primarily because I *didn't* like the comics Guardians that much, so it didn't bother me one bit that the movie characters were played for laughs.

I like the Legion and would not love to see Gunn-ified versions of them.

OTOH, a Gunn-style show about the Inferior Five or Giffen-era Substitute Legion or that bwah-ha-era Justice League International, could work. Those interpretations of those characters lend themselves to his style of humor.

That said, I've only seen Guardians, Suicide Squad and Peacemaker by Gunn, it's entirely possible that he's not a one-trick-pony and can do more serious fare.

I get where you're coming from Rick. I think it's a bad idea to more closely connect the comics with the movies, if that means the movies will drive comics characterizations, plots and tone. Let the movies be movies and let the comics be comics.

Just saw Gunn's proposed slate for the next longest.

Goddammit.

All I know is that, in light of recent events, there's someone kicking hunself for not pushing a little harder to get "Balloon Buster" on the schedule.

ROTFLMAO

They could get Ray Parker Jr to record the theme song.

"Who you gonna call? BALLOON BUSTER!"

For those who may be somewhat concerned about a plan for a 1O-year cinematic universe that kicks off with "Creature Commandos", let me just ask you to consider one question:

When has DC comics ever gone ten years without rebooting and retconning everything?

I mean, since 1984.

"Creature Commandos" actually sounds potentially pretty cool.

I'm more annoyed by the trend of trying to make the Authority into an integral part of the DC Universe.

EDE's, you called it. Of all the properties under the DC banner, from JSA to Legion, you have to give a payday to Lee. I mean, c'mon. You had the start of Kirby's Fourth World. The Outsiders. Metal Men. The list goes on and on. GL as a space detective procedural? No. That shite only came about with the reboot. A real Titan's story. Sgt. Rock. Dinosaur Island. All the old horror stuff.

Hell, even a really great JLA a couple years down the road. You don't need Booster when you have Shazam running. Geez, if you really wanna detective series, grab Ralph and Sue and get going. Imagine the guest stars like Detective Chimp, Jason Bard from Batgirl (If I'm remembering correctly).

Magic....you've already got a phenomenal directors rarin' to go with JLADark, Zatanna, Spectre, Fate, Xanadu... I can see the first season or movie facing off against someone like Mordru, or Wotan.

It was all just hanging there like ripe fruit waiting to be plucked.

The Challengers...Blue Devil and his crew....the list goes on and on.

RE: The Authority, that property is not only dated as hell, it's CURSED! Every version since Hitch and Ellis left has been a train wreck! Take a quick peek at its Wikipedia entry and you'll see what I mean.

I was discussing this very idea recently with Mattropolis. Ralph and Sue detective series with other detective guest stars (and Detective Chimp was one of our top choices)! Seems like a no-brainer.

EDE's, gleefully deviant minds think alike.

Given Game of Thrones and all the rest of the barbarian warrior stuff.... Warlord by our very own Mike Grell. DC is rich beyond measure. Not impressed by the proposed slate.

I don’t know why James Gunn doesn’t do a Madame Fatal movie.

I’m thinking of a mash-up of “Taken” and “Mrs. Doubtfire”.

"I have a very particular set of skills... mostly involving drag..."

There's a book out titled MCU. It does what it says on the tin, tells you lots of behind-the-scenes gossip about those movies.

Gunn doesn't come off well in it -- he tried to prevent screenwriter Nicole Perlman from getting her rightful credit alongside him on the first Guardians movie. Also, the basic concept was Perlman's originally; the mix tape was her idea, and so were other important bits.

Gunn: the emperor with no clothes. No wonder his slate of DC movies looks so awful.

I keep thinking Gunn can't possibly be worse than Snyder, but I wouldn't be surprised if I'm proven wrong.

That's really disappointing. I'm tired of things just sucking in this timeline.