Well, they tried to get Plastic Man off the ground, rumors of Doom Patrol, World's Finest, Green Lantern movies and problems with Wonder Woman.
Warners forges 'Metal Men'
By Borys Kit
April 4, 2007
Mining for new projects, Warner Bros. Pictures is hoping to strike gold with the robotic superhero team "Metal Men," setting up the project with producer Lauren Shuler Donner. Eric Champnella has been brought on board to write.
Based on a DC Comics hero created by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru in 1962, "Metal" revolves around a brilliant scientist, William Magnus, and his creations: six highly advanced robots who have powers associated with their respective metals -- gold, iron, lead, tin, mercury and platinum. Instead of having to be programd, the Metal Men can think for themselves, which is both their genius and their biggest flaw.
The heroes made their first appearance in "Showcase," where they were created as filler but proved to be unexpectedly popular and received their own title. The heroes served as a dysfunctional family, and the stories balanced sentimentality, humor and action.
Jack Leslie of the Donners' Co. also is producing.
Geoff Johns, who was an assistant to Richard Donner before becoming one of the comic world's renowned writers, helped develop the take and will executive produce.
Dan Lin and Elishia Holmes are shepherding for Warners. Gregory Noveck is overseeing for DC Comics.
Shuler Donner has a history of bringing comic books to the silver screen. She was behind the "X-Men" movies at Fox, which were based on the Marvel Comics superheroes, and 2005's "Constantine" at Warners, based on a DC Comics/Vertigo title.
Champnella wrote "Mr. 3000" and most recently "Say Uncle" for Warners. He is repped by ICM, Mosaic and attorney Dave Feldman.
Kudama
04-04-07, 03:04 PM
-eek- This before Green Lantern? (And I'm not even a GL fan.)
Fincher Fan
04-04-07, 03:20 PM
Goddamn that sounds crappy. It will only come off like a poor man's Iron Man at best.
RKillgore
04-04-07, 04:38 PM
I loved Metal Men when I was a kid. There was always some metallurgical factoids you would get with the stories, like the melting temperature of each of them when they tried to contain a fuel tank fire. They could get totally trashed, but as long as Doc Magnus could retrieve their responsometers, they could be reformed.
That said, I think Warner is really taking the wrong tack if they plan on doing a movie. An animated series would be so much better. Kids love robots, they could still throw in the metallurgical or chemistry factoids, the animators could have a ball with the shape changing properties of the Metal Men and even the old stories from the 60's could be easily adapted.
Giantrobo
04-04-07, 10:35 PM
Awesome :up: This could be a lot of fun and they're playing big roles in "52" and "Justice" so I say cool.
DC fanboy :D
BrentLW
04-04-07, 10:45 PM
As long as they don't use the crappy revelations from the Metal Men min-series. Thank goodness that got retconned out in 52.
calhoun07
04-04-07, 10:53 PM
If I was to pick any second tier DC superhero group for a movie, my first pick would be Doom Patrol. Grant Morrison's version, of course. But this announcement is a nice surprise.
zombiezilla
04-05-07, 07:22 AM
pass-ola
Jaymole
04-05-07, 08:06 AM
Champnella wrote "Mr. 3000"
That's all I needed to read...
Giantrobo
04-05-07, 08:50 AM
That's all I needed to read...
I liked Mr 3000 so I say bring it.
Kicker_of_Elves
04-05-07, 10:03 AM
Who?
cultshock
04-05-07, 06:19 PM
Kind of an odd choice. What's next, Metamorpho?
A movie based on Doom Patrol could possibly be cool though.
The Bus
04-05-07, 07:34 PM
This can only mean one thing: The Cloak and Dagger movie is probably right around the corner!
Deftones
04-05-07, 07:39 PM
That's all I needed to read...
:lol:
calhoun07
04-05-07, 11:25 PM
This can only mean one thing: The Cloak and Dagger movie is probably right around the corner!
That's Marvel....and haven't they been planning that one for a while?
If you're talking about DC...it can only mean a Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew movie is right around the corner!!!
cultshock
04-05-07, 11:35 PM
There's tons of DC properties ripe for the plucking. When will we get to see Brother Power the Geek?? Or Sugar and Spike? Warner, are you listening???
calhoun07
04-06-07, 12:05 AM
God, they'd make Sugar and Spike something like Superbabies...let's not go there and say we did.
BrentLW
04-06-07, 12:12 AM
There's tons of DC properties ripe for the plucking. When will we get to see Brother Power the Geek?? Or Sugar and Spike? Warner, are you listening???
Oh there's more obscure stuff than that. How about a Green Team movie? Or Inferior 5 movie? Angel & THe Ape anyone?
I have a soft spot for Doc and his creations, but I'd rather see movies of The Question, The Creeper, Hawk & Dove or Challengers Of THe Unknown.
Jackskeleton
04-06-07, 07:01 AM
They couldn't get Joss Whedon's wonder woman off the ground, I fully expect some news three months from now saying this is dead in the water.
Jason
04-06-07, 10:09 AM
Looks cool, but will probably end up being a cookie cutter modern style comic book movie. I wonder if this is being done solely in response to the Iron Man movie?
Love the "familiar" typeface on the X Effect lettering.
calhoun07
04-07-07, 03:22 AM
They couldn't get Joss Whedon's wonder woman off the ground, I fully expect some news three months from now saying this is dead in the water.
Second tier characters don't go through the same scrutiny that the major characters go through.
Ronnie Dobbs
04-07-07, 04:25 AM
This reminds me of Mystery Men.
Jackskeleton
04-07-07, 07:34 AM
Second tier characters don't go through the same scrutiny that the major characters go through.
Seeing Superman Returns makes me feel like they don't even put the major characters through enough scrutiny. :p
mrhan
04-07-07, 11:26 AM
Kind of an odd choice. What's next, Metamorpho?
A movie based on Doom Patrol could possibly be cool though.
I'd like to see that, too but people would think it's an X-Men rip-off; especially Doom Patrol in it's original version. Odd thing is the original X-Men looks more of a rip-off because DP was released way before the X Men's first appearance.
PopcornTreeCt
04-07-07, 01:50 PM
Wow, Marvel continues to kick DC's ass.
Slumbering Fist
04-07-07, 04:13 PM
Wow, they are really digging into the bottom of the barrel. As a kid, I grabbed tons of old Metal Men comics from a used bookstore, and I liked them okay (still got em' too). But, conceptually, this is just a terrible property to adapt.
mrhan
04-07-07, 07:04 PM
Wow, Marvel continues to kick DC's ass.
Not when it comes to animation. Marvel has done nothing that compares to Batman:TAS, JLU or Batman Beyond.
LivingINClip
04-07-07, 07:55 PM
Agree with the poster above.. Infact, I would say that even on film Marvel haven't done an outstanding job. Yes, they have a lot of films out there, but quanity does not equal quality... The original Superman, Batman Begins, Superman 2, Batman (1989)are all terrific films.. Then you have the Flash TV series which was also fairly decent. I won't even get started on the animation side where DC has just kicked all kinds of ass.
Oh..yea...back on topic.
Metal Men...Sounds ....crappy.
PopcornTreeCt
04-07-07, 08:26 PM
Well, the original Superman movies suck. Then there was Catwoman. Although Burton's Batman is probably the best comic book movie ever. Batman Begins and Superman Returns were pretty good. However, Spider-Man is consistently the best comic book franchise. Along, with the X-Men movies being pretty damn good. And a bunch of mediocre movies including Daredevil, the Punisher and the Fantastic Four. DC has yet to do anything really. Where's Aquaman? Wonder Woman? Flash?
Giantrobo
04-08-07, 06:11 AM
Well, the original Superman movies suck. Then there was Catwoman. Although Burton's Batman is probably the best comic book movie ever. Batman Begins and Superman Returns were pretty good. However, Spider-Man is consistently the best comic book franchise. Along, with the X-Men movies being pretty damn good. And a bunch of mediocre movies including Daredevil, the Punisher and the Fantastic Four. DC has yet to do anything really. Where's Aquaman? Wonder Woman? Flash?
But the point is for looong time Marvel movies where always shit. But DC has been kicking ass since Superman in the 70's. Marvel's RECENT success with Spider-man and X-men is just that...RECENT.
And Im sorry, but Marvel will NEVER touch the Justice League/Unlimited series.
Jackskeleton
04-08-07, 07:54 AM
Come on robo, you know the way it goes. "What have you've done for me lately?"
Marvel's success may be reccent, but it's pretty much here in a big way and yes, DCA is the best but DC is really lacking when it comes to powerhouse films. The batman franchise has suffered for a while till Begins. The Superman one now suffers BECAUSE of Returns and we have had scrubbed films for Green Lantern, first with eddie murphy and then with Jack black. We lose Joss whedon for Wonder Woman and The Flash is in a stand still with Goyer.
I have faith in Johns. I love his books and got most of them signed. But metal men? I mean, really, that's not really the biggest name to pick. You might as well see a Power Pack or X-force film from Marvel.
Giantrobo
04-08-07, 08:09 AM
Come on robo, you know the way it goes. "What have you've done for me lately?"
Marvel's success may be reccent, but it's pretty much here in a big way and yes, DCA is the best but DC is really lacking when it comes to powerhouse films. The batman franchise has suffered for a while till Begins. The Superman one now suffers BECAUSE of Returns and we have had scrubbed films for Green Lantern, first with eddie murphy and then with Jack black. We lose Joss whedon for Wonder Woman and The Flash is in a stand still with Goyer.
I have faith in Johns. I love his books and got most of them signed. But metal men? I mean, really, that's not really the biggest name to pick. You might as well see a Power Pack or X-force film from Marvel.
Yeah I guess. But it's still a new thing and who's to say how long it will last.
LivingINClip
04-08-07, 03:27 PM
Well, the original Superman movies suck. Then there was Catwoman. Although Burton's Batman is probably the best comic book movie ever.
Sorry, you lost all crediblity there. The original Superman movie is one of the greatest films ever, infact, the Spider-Man franchise has done nothing but rip off the Superman films, almost scene by scene...And Burton's Batman, while I'm a fan, is nowhere near the best comic book movie ever, hell it's not even the best Batman movie.
mrhan
04-08-07, 03:49 PM
Sorry, you lost all crediblity there. The original Superman movie is one of the greatest films ever, infact, the Spider-Man franchise has done nothing but rip off the Superman films, almost scene by scene...And Burton's Batman, while I'm a fan, is nowhere near the best comic book movie ever, hell it's not even the best Batman movie.
I agree. Batman Returns is so much more like the Batman in the comics. It reminds me of the old Neal Adams/Denny O'Neil version.
calhoun07
04-08-07, 11:21 PM
The first 70's Superman movie was ok...and very overrated. Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor just did not work at all for me, and Christopher Reeve was more wooden in that role than Al Gore was during his 8 year run as Vice President under Clinton.
The entire character of Lex Luthor in that movie just didn't work for me...he had hair in 99% of the movie, he had his headquaters underground in a sewer for some reason when he was supposed to be this rich CEO type character who was virtually untouchable, and the people he surrounded himself with were morons. The real Lex Luthor would be more cunning than that...
The woman they had play Lois Lane also sucked and ruined the character for a long time. She was nothing like the Lois from the comics and her voice sounded like some old grandma at a Vegas slot machine who smoked since she was 5.
The flying around the planet to turn back time idea was also really taking things too far, but Superman 2 really deviated from the comics in a big way (what the hell was up with that plastic wrap that he pulled off his chest?????). Really, I can't believe these movies are so highly regarded now...is it just because Christopher Reeve had his accident that people started to look at them in a new light?
And Tim Burton's Batman flicks....Michael Keaton will always be Mr. Mom playing Batman...he was lousy. Jack Nicholson as the Joker was a cash grab for both Jack and to get people to see the movie, and the Prince soundtrack?????
You people have far more forgiving memories than you need, that's for sure.
LivingINClip
04-09-07, 11:56 AM
Christopher Reeve was always reknown for that role, it had nothing to do with his accident, the fact that you have to bring that up to justify your disregard for the film is disgusting.
The film had problems, but when you consider when it was made, the. source material, it was a fantastic film. Yeah, he turned the planet back, but guess what? It's accurate to the comics, Pre-Crisis Superman could friggin tow planets .
Burton's Batman, was the film responsible for bringing back Batman to his dark roots. Perfect? No, but a good film? Yes.
As for Superman 2, yeah, it had a lot of cheesey points, but guess what? So does Spider-Man and X-Men. Infact, I would say t the Spider-Man series is the most over-rated, due to the fact that not a single person in the series can act worth a damn.
devilshalo
04-09-07, 01:07 PM
Sorry, you lost all crediblity there. The original Superman movie is one of the greatest films ever, infact, the Spider-Man franchise has done nothing but rip off the Superman films, almost scene by scene...
I can't remember the thread where it was argued that all COMICS have ripped off from each other and when translated to film, those same elements of a hero make everything very similar.
calhoun07
04-09-07, 08:29 PM
Christopher Reeve was always reknown for that role, it had nothing to do with his accident, the fact that you have to bring that up to justify your disregard for the film is disgusting.
\.
Well, sir, our memories serve us differently. I recall more of a lukewarm reception to the Superman movie when it came out.
And I just wondered when the shift changed....you seem to recall people being enamored with this movie all this time as the pinnacle of comic book movies. It seems most people gain more recognition for their work after they die/go through some life changing accident that changes them for the worst. That's the way it's been for a long, long time. You may find me bringing up "disgusting" but that's the way human nature is.
LivingINClip
04-09-07, 09:40 PM
I can't remember the thread where it was argued that all COMICS have ripped off from each other and when translated to film, those same elements of a hero make everything very similar.
Yeah, but Spider-Man ripped off Superman beyond belief. Spider-Man 2 had the same ordeal as Superman 2, with him quiting and what not (granted that was also in the comic) and now we got Spiderman 3, with him donning a suit that makes him grumpy. Yes, all situations was in the comic, but its amazing how much Rami followed the Superman series also.
Just my two cents.
Giantrobo
04-10-07, 05:46 AM
Yeah, but Spider-Man ripped off Superman beyond belief. Spider-Man 2 had the same ordeal as Superman 2, with him quiting and what not (granted that was also in the comic) and now we got Spiderman 3, with him donning a suit that makes him grumpy. Yes, all situations was in the comic, but its amazing how much Rami followed the Superman series also.
Just my two cents.
Ooooh snap you're right! Wasn't there a "black" costume and an evil out of control Superman in Superman III? :lol::eek:
Yeah, but Spider-Man ripped off Superman beyond belief. Spider-Man 2 had the same ordeal as Superman 2, with him quiting and what not (granted that was also in the comic) and now we got Spiderman 3, with him donning a suit that makes him grumpy. Yes, all situations was in the comic, but its amazing how much Rami followed the Superman series also.
Just my two cents.In other words, they're both comic book movies. Every comic, if it goes on long enough, has those stories.
PopcornTreeCt
04-10-07, 09:31 PM
Sorry, you lost all crediblity there. The original Superman movie is one of the greatest films ever, infact, the Spider-Man franchise has done nothing but rip off the Superman films, almost scene by scene...And Burton's Batman, while I'm a fan, is nowhere near the best comic book movie ever, hell it's not even the best Batman movie.
Well, thank God I didn't lose any credibility ;) While I can understand that the Spider-Man movies aren't your thing the Superman movies are laughably bad. At least now comic book movies take themselves seriously albeit sometimes too seriously.
Jackskeleton
04-11-07, 01:49 AM
I'd rather see the Goyer offical unoffical green arrow project that's going around now a days.
Lokimok
04-11-07, 04:18 PM
I wonder if this is being done solely in response to the Iron Man movie?
Or maybe the pitch was: Transformers Meets Fantastic Four!
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