How you would reboot the DCEU with team-up movies

[Lightning Rider]

Inspired by talk in the DC Films thread.

In an effort to imagine what the future of DC films might look like, I got the idea of compromising between the rushed DCEU build up to Justice League, and the voluminous solo movie journey it took to get to several Avengers movies.

The Scenario:

The DCEU launched by Snyder has ended. Gadot has concluded her WW trilogy, Momoa has finished being Aquaman, etc. There is a complete reboot planned, and you're magically in charge of plotting the build-up to the next Justice League movie. But there are a few studio mandates.

The Rules:

- There will only be 4-6 films before the next big Justice League movie
- Each individual film must include at least 2 heroes teaming up, preferably from different franchises
- A vast majority of the hero characters used must end up in the next eventual Justice League film
- If the Justice League film is going to feature the Secret Society, then the majority of the villains have to had made an appearance in these team-up films

So tell me, what fun team-ups would you feature, and who would they be facing off again? How do the team-ups tie into the JL movie? What storytelling tools would you use to build relationships and the "shared universe" feeling?

[Rod G]

Green Lantern with either the Flash or Green Arrow. Use any member of their respective rogues’ gallery.

Followed by Hawkman and Hawkwoman (The police officers from the Planet Thanagar, natch.)

[the illustrious mr. kenway]

Batman/Green Arrow.

Flash/Cyborg/Aquaman.

Wonder Woman/Fire/Ice.

The Atom and the Martian Manhunter

Superman and the Green Lantern.

JL:Crisis on Two Earths.

[bat39]

Trinity

Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman team-up to take on an alliance of three of their deadliest enemies - Lex Luthor, Ra's al Ghul and Cheetah - and possibly others. Superman and Batman have both been around for years, while WW is a relatively new entrant to modern-day Man's World (with hints that her backstorygoes back much further). Easter eggs and references allude to the emergence of other new heroes.

Green Arrow & Black Canary

Two costumed vigilantes, Green Arrow and Black Canary, cross paths while working different ends of the same case, and despite initially rubbing each other the wrong way, start to get very interested in each other. A noir-ish film with a dash of romance.

The Flash and Green Lantern: Brave and the Bold

GL John Stewart returns to his home planet earth after years to investigate some strange temporal anomalies originating from Central City, where he runs into its resident hero, the Flash (Wally West, having recently taken over the mantle from his uncle Barry, who mysteriously disappeared). Very heavily inspired by their portrayals from the JLU cartoon, with a light-hearted buddy-cop vibe.

Hawkgirl

Kendra Saunders, grad student at St. Roch University, is in fact Shayera Hol, a deep-cover Thanagarian military operation stationed on earth. She is alerted that a Thanagarian shapeshifting terrorist named Byth has escaped to earth, and must pose as a superhero named Hawkgirl to stop him. Carter Hall, a renowned archeologist at the university, also appears and is very interested in the mysterious Hawkgirl, and old news stories from WW2 of ''mystery men'' Hawkman and Hawkgirl...

Each of the aforementioned four movies will feature a cameo by some character who's revealed to be J'onn J'onzz.


Justice League: New World Order

White Martians, who've secretely infiltrated the earth (and who, it is revealed, have been background characters in each of the previous four movies and/or involved in its events in some way to study earth's heroes) launch their invasion. J'onn summons Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Black Canary, Green Arrow and Hawkgirl to form the Justice League to stop the invasion. Aquaman will also be introduced towards the end of the movie as the King of Atlantis who helps the heroes out.

The post-credits scene/stinger, will be someone (possibly Carter Hall) revealing that the Justice League aren't the first superhero team...there was another team back during WW2 that is now all but forgotten. A society...

[I'm a Fish]

Trinity

Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman team-up to take on an alliance of three of their deadliest enemies - Lex Luthor, Ra's al Ghul and Cheetah - and possibly others. Superman and Batman have both been around for years, while WW is a relatively new entrant to modern-day Man's World (with hints that her backstorygoes back much further). Easter eggs and references allude to the emergence of other new heroes.

Green Arrow & Black Canary

Two costumed vigilantes, Green Arrow and Black Canary, cross paths while working different ends of the same case, and despite initially rubbing each other the wrong way, start to get very interested in each other. A noir-ish film with a dash of romance.

The Flash and Green Lantern: Brave and the Bold

GL John Stewart returns to his home planet earth after years to investigate some strange temporal anomalies originating from Central City, where he runs into its resident hero, the Flash (Wally West, having recently taken over the mantle from his uncle Barry, who mysteriously disappeared). Very heavily inspired by their portrayals from the JLU cartoon, with a light-hearted buddy-cop vibe.

Hawkgirl

Kendra Saunders, grad student at St. Roch University, is in fact Shayera Hol, a deep-cover Thanagarian military operation stationed on earth. She is alerted that a Thanagarian shapeshifting terrorist named Byth has escaped to earth, and must pose as a superhero named Hawkgirl to stop him. Carter Hall, a renowned archeologist at the university, also appears and is very interested in the mysterious Hawkgirl, and old news stories from WW2 of ''mystery men'' Hawkman and Hawkgirl...

Each of the aforementioned four movies will feature a cameo by some character who's revealed to be J'onn J'onzz.


Justice League: New World Order

White Martians, who've secretely infiltrated the earth (and who, it is revealed, have been background characters in each of the previous four movies and/or involved in its events in some way to study earth's heroes) launch their invasion. J'onn summons Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Black Canary, Green Arrow and Hawkgirl to form the Justice League to stop the invasion. Aquaman will also be introduced towards the end of the movie as the King of Atlantis who helps the heroes out.

The post-credits scene/stinger, will be someone (possibly Carter Hall) revealing that the Justice League aren't the first superhero team...there was another team back during WW2 that is now all but forgotten. A society...

I like this one.

[Vakanai]

Superman and the Flash team up and head into the future to help the newly formed Legion of Superheroes vs a time traveling Reverse-Flash, who is stealing the parts of the future Phantom Zone Projector in a deal to free Brainiac from the Phantom Zone in exchange for the tech to shrink and bottle a city (Thawne wants to bottle Central City to hurt Barry of course). Somehow Time Trapper also gets involved.
After credits scene shows Supergirl arriving in the future after Superman and Flash returns to the present.

[Lightning63]

Batman/The Flash
Green Lantern/Green Arrow
Birds of Prey
Aquaman/Wonder Woman
Superman/Martian Manhunter
Justice League

[superduperman]

1st movie: Superman. Origin retell. Main villain: Brainiac. Wonder Woman is already operating in man's world as a UN representative But not as a public figure. Superman's appearance makes her seek him out. Helps save people during Brainiac's attack. They meet at the end of the movie.

2nd movie: Batman. Origin retelling. Main villain: Joker. John Jones is a member of the Gotham City police department. He is tracking down this Joker and him and Batman meet up in the middle of the movie.

3rd movie: Flash. Origin. Main villain: Mirror Master. Halfway through the movie we meet Black Canary as a singer traveling the country. She helps Flash stop Mirror Master.

4th movie: Green Lantern. Origin. Main villain: Starro. Starro goes around from planet to planet conquering. Finally, it comes to Earth, invading our oceans. Where Hal encounters Aquaman for the first time.

5th movie: Justice League movie. GL and Aquaman fail to stop Starro and he takes over the world. Possessing the other heroes. GL and Aquaman frees the other heroes early on and the rest of the movie is them trying to stop Starro and free the Earth.

[superduperman]

6th movie: Wonder Woman stand alone. Main villain: Dr. Psycho.

7th movie: Superman 2. Main villain: Luthor and Parasite.

8th movie: Batman 2. Main villain: Riddler. Also introduces Robin and Catwoman who briefly made an appearance in the first movie as an escort Bruce took to some function.

9th movie: Green Arrow. Origin. Main villain: Count Vertigo. Black Canary shows up at the end to recruit him into the JL.

10th movie: Flash 2: Main villains: Captain Cold and Heatwave. Wally West is introduced.

11th movie: Zatanna. Origin. She searches for her father. No references to the rest of the DCCU but still in the same universe.

12th movie: Black Canary stand alone. Huntress and Batgirl are introduced. Proto BOP movie.

[Lightning Rider]

Batman/Green Arrow.

Flash/Cyborg/Aquaman.

Wonder Woman/Fire/Ice.

The Atom and the Martian Manhunter

Superman and the Green Lantern.

JL:Crisis on Two Earths.

I like those team-ups. WW with Fire and Ice would make for a cool dynamic. Who are these teams going up against?

Batman/The Flash
Green Lantern/Green Arrow
Birds of Prey
Aquaman/Wonder Woman
Superman/Martian Manhunter
Justice League

Pretty complete roster. Which Flash, which GL, who are the villains, and what is the JL movie about?

[Lightning Rider]

I suppose I'll post mine:

Superman and Supergirl, ft. the Atom, against Brainiac & rescuing Kandor (maybe Lex in the background)

Wonder Woman, Shazam, Aquaman against Circe & some Greek gods/monsters in the underworld (maybe Cheetah makes an appearance)

Flash and Green Lantern(s) try to contain the Rann-Thanagar war (Sinestro teaser)

J'onn, Black Canary, and Green Arrow take on Ma'alefa'ak or Count Vertigo

A Batfamily film, or Batman & the outsiders ft. Vixen, Black Lightning, & Katana (maybe Nightwing too) against the Court of Owls or Royal Flush Gang.

That sets up a lot of relationships/characters while avoiding redundancy.

My Flash would probably be Barry (with explicit mention of OG Wally!) and Hal&John. Kyle and Wally can team up in phase 2.

...

This is a great post. Trinity sounds very enticing. At first glance Trinity sounds like a condensed Secret Society movie, but since you're not going down that route for the JL movie, a more manageable mini-version might end up being the best choice. Those villains could make solid sense together.

Superduperman's is compelling as well, Wonder Woman having recently arrived and meeting Superman sounds cool, as does J'onn teaming up with Batman, though I would personally shy away from origin aspects myself.

[kalai]

I actually had some thoughts into this.
And my personal take is that we would build towards a Crisis Event.

The background:
Anti-Monitor already destroyed Earth-2, so the JSA escaped to Earth-0.
They sort of formed a Society that keeps the world safe in secret, and they will be the mentors of our heroes in the movies,
Monitor will show up as Easter Egg every movie to check on the heroes for his plan to defeat the Anti-Monitor.
While Anti-Monitor is destroying the multiverse as the movies go along.

1,Superman: featuring Superman's origin and training to become Superman,
I'd want a sort of Spider-Man-ish movie for a Superman in T-Shirt where he self trained to become the greatest Superhero.
You could have Doctor Fate in the movie as Merlin for King Arthur or a Golden Age Superman as a secret mentor.

2, Batman: featuring a younger Batman, where Bruce came back with all his training to face off the Court of Owls.
It would be like Simon Pegg's Hot Fuzz where you meet all these rich dudes who are like background characters,
but in the end, they are actually all villains of the story.

3,Wonder Woman:featuring a modern age Wonder Woman and Steve, and it was all a test by Zeus,
so Diana would basically beat up Zeus or something like that, because I never liked Zeus.

4, The Flash: This one would be where Jay Garrick and Barry Allen meet,
and we sort of go into the fact that Jay isn't from this Earth but from a parallel universe.
But we will leave the truth for the Justice League movie.

5, Justice League: This movie would feature the JSA help put together the Justice League,
and I'm thinking the Crime Syndicates, who are refugees from Earth-3, which is also destroyed by Anti-Monitor,
so it's like Forever Evil, but more about Justice League vs Crime Syndicates,
I find every first team up being about Alien Invasion quite repetitive, so just for a change.

[Vakanai]

I actually had some thoughts into this.
And my personal take is that we would build towards a Crisis Event.

The background:
Anti-Monitor already destroyed Earth-2, so the JSA escaped to Earth-0.

No way man - The Batman is the superhero movie I'm most excited for and you'd blow it up before we even get the first movie of the trilogy?

[kalai]

And for the next phase or whatever we call this, we will dive more into the world/Universe of DC

so for next phase, we should have Aquaman and Green Lantern, and maybe a movie focused on the magical side of things.

6, Green Lantern: I thought the First Flight animated movie was pretty good, so it would be something like that,
Hal's training with Sinestro and Sinestro's turn to the darkside, that story always speaks volume to me.
Alan Scott would be featured here as well.

7, Aquaman: Atlantis vs the world, and Aquaman is there to stop the war,
would feature Superman and Wonder Woman at least.

8, Superman 2 : Superman and Martian Manhunter Teamup,
Mongul looking for the key to Warworld, and Martain Manhunter was the guardian of that key.

9, Batman 2: Batman and Robin team up, maybe both Dick and Jason,
and Jason end up dead by the hands of Joker, setting up for the Red Hood.

10, Wonder Woman 2: Wonder Woman travels with Zatanna and Constantine,
Etrigan should be really interesting because you'd have a magical hulk, wouldn't that be fun?
This is setting up the Justice League Dark movie.

11, Flash 2 : Flash travel to another Earth, that sort of an adventure.

12, Justice League Dark: Anti Monitor sending his Dark Angel to Earth as scout, and Monitor sending his Harbinger.
This one could introduce some major magical threats like Trigon or the Lords of Order and Chaos.
The final Easter Egg would be basically Anti-Monitor heading towards this universe.
And Monitor has already gathered the Superheroes all over the multiverse,
like Henry Cavill Superman, Branden Ross Superman, Bale Batman, Keaton Batman, etc.

[kalai]

No way man - The Batman is the superhero movie I'm most excited for and you'd blow it up before we even get the first movie of the trilogy?

sorry, my bad, if Matt Reeves The Batman is on Earth-2,
then my version of JSA would be just from Golden Age Earth or something along those line.
That would be the Earth that got blown up.