What Will DC Do with Superman and Wonder Woman?

When the annoucement was made last week that Warner Bros. would stop keeping DC Comics at a reasonable distance and instead go all in with its Time-Warner sister company, two character names immediately popped into my head, not that they had been far away before then: Exactly what did Warner Bros. plan to do with Superman and Wonder Woman? They are arguably two of the three most recognizable names in the DC stable, yet there hasn't been a good Superman movie in 30 years and Wonder Woman has never made it out of the development stage. And there may be movement on one of those properties and anything but on the other. During an MTV interview, new DC Entertainment head Diane Nelson said, "We actually don't have any current plans for Superman." Here's the issue with that: Because of a recent legal ruling, DC loses its rights to many elemental parts of the Superman story in 2013. Those rights will revert back to the estate of creator Jerry Spiegel, meaning DC would have to negotiate if it wants to use the character ever again. That day will come, but probably not for a while. Otherwise, why not just make one in the next three years? As for Wonder Woman, she's been locked in development hell with Joel Silver for about a decade, but that's now over. Deadline Hollywood Daily (via io9) reports that Jeff Rubinov, who as Warner Bros. president now oversees the new DC Entertainment label, has taken all those DC projects like Wonder Woman and The Flash back from the producers that were taking passes at films based on the heroes. That has two meanings: 1) Whatever was being developed isn't being developed anymore. 2) DC will probably take a fresh look at those projects sooner than later. io9 says three sources contacted them about Wonder Woman specifically, and that the new direction for DC could be a good sign that she'll finally wind up in theaters before too much more time passes. I've been pushing for this movie for a long, long time. There's no real Marvel Comics equivalent, at least not with such a high profile within that universe, and for DC, which has had a clear identity crisis over the years, this would be a major step forward.

Comments

[Matt Prielipp]

So if DC is going to lose the rights to some of the Superman elements in 2013, why don't they have a master plan to have Smallville go one more season in 2010/11 and then have a feature film finale in Summer 2012 where Tom Welling finally puts on the suit and becomes Superman. You have a built in fan base and they could tease it at Comic-Con 2011. Oh wait, that makes sense...

[Get The Big Picture]

But it can't go anywhere from that point, and these things aren't built with the one-film model in mind anymore.

[andrew]

plus smallville sucks. always has. it's pretty much a clone of all the WB/CW shows.