Freak like me ... Heath Ledger as the Joker in The Dark Knight
It's not been a good week for Superman. First, it was announced that the sequel to Superman Returns has been pushed back to 2010, and word is that Bryan Singer, the comic-movie auteur behind the last movie is fast losing interest in the project.
But onto the good news. The latest word from Hollywood is that the Justice League of America movie - based on DC's multi-hero caper that unites Supes, Batman, Wonder Woman and a bunch of rubbish ones - will likely be the latest casualty of the writers' strike.
It's kind of a glass-half-full situation. While many great movies and series will be delayed or cancelled due to the strike, many awful ones will be drowned before birth. JLA has been the grit in the eye of superhero fans for as long as it's been touted. Scripts have been continually rejected, no star has seemed willing to commit, and Christopher Nolan, director of the landmark Batman Begins has been unhappy with the prospect of a cut-price incarnation diluting his next masterpiece, The Dark Knight.
Bruce Wayne has been faring better than Clark Kent. Batman Begins resurrected a dead and laughable franchise with a vision darker and slicker even than Tim Burton's, and the summer-due sequel looks set to top it.
Brit director Nolan has even found a way around the Joker problem. Heath Ledger's portrayal has been earning plenty of plaudits, but Jack Nicholson will always be the Joker, surely? Nolan's solution is that the Joker isn't even the main villain. Ledger's Joker is a return to your regular mass-murdering psycho, but his story apparently isn't the main arc of the movie (even though this trailer suggests otherwise).
Instead, we get to see district attorney Harvey Dent's descent into the villainous Two Face, a part last played by Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever. Nolan told the LA Times: "Harvey Dent is a tragic figure, and his story is the backbone of the film. The Joker, he sort of cuts through [the film]. He's got no story arc, he's just a force of nature tearing through. Heath has given an amazing performance in the role. It's really extraordinary."
Tantalising, no? And there's more reasons for film and comic fans to be cheerful in 2008. Marvel's next big adaptation is Iron Man, the businessman-turned-alcoholic-turned-steel-suited-crimefighter. Robert Downey Jr apparently dazzles in the role. Then there's the rebooted Hulk franchise, with Ang Lee's 2003 navel-gazing approach replaced by more colour, more fun, and Edward Norton in the lead role.
They'd better be good. With the strike having cut off Heroes and BSG mid-season, these movies might be all we'll be getting for a good while.
