Concept Art For George Miller’s Abandoned ‘Justice League’ Movie

ScreenCrush’s Comic Strip is a weekly roundup of the hottest superhero movie/TV news items. From Marvel to DC and points in between, if it pertains to costumed comic book heroes, we’re covering it here, bringing you our expert analysis. This week, check out art from the Justice League movie that never was, learn the latest on who may be playing Spider-Man, and see why you won’t be watching any more Suicide Squad set videos.

George Miller’s Justice League Would Have Looked Beautiful

As scholars of superhero movies will tell you, Mad Mad: Fury Road director George Miller almost made a Justice League movie in 2008. And then it fell apart for a number of reasons. As we discussed last week, those reasons will soon be chronicled in an upcoming documentary, which promises an inside look at what could have been.

Well, the makers of that documentary have already starting teasing us, releasing concept art from the film on Twitter in an attempt to catch our interest. Well, it worked. If this is what they’re showing us now, we can’t wait to see what the final film would have contained. Superhero costumes designed and built by the special effects geniuses at WETA? Ugh, this movie’s non-existence is breaking our hearts.

First off, here’s a concept design for Aquaman, who looks exactly like how Aquaman should look:

And here’s Wonder Woman taking flight over her homeland of Themyscira:

Yep, that’s Wonder Woman catching a plummeting car in midair:

Finally, here’s a sculpt of Martian Manhunter make-up, which looks awesomely old school:

What’s wonderful about all of these images is that they showcase a Justice League movie that would have utilized the classic iconography of these characters. Considering how colorful and beautiful Miller’s movies have looked (from Fury Road to Babe: Pig in the City), we have no doubt that he could have pulled this off.

We’re not wholly opposed to the radical reinvention of these heroes for the new DC movie universe, but Miller definitely seemed to be shooting for Alex Ross and bright colors and iconic images, not dark and grim realism. What’s done is done and we certainly hope the new movies will be good, but it’s going to be awfully hard to live in the shadow of a movie that was never made (and therefore, can never let us down).

No, They Still Haven’t Cast Spider-Man

Remember a few weeks ago, when everyone (including us) reported that Asa Butterfield was a lock for Spider-Man and that all we needed was one quick, final announcement from Marvel Studios and Sony? Ha. Haha. Hahahahahahaha.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Butterfield is still in the running, but so is the other favorite, Tom Holland ... an so are four other actors whose name we are just now hearing for the first time:

The other four hopefuls included: Judah Lewis (a relative newbie who will be seen in the Jean Marc-Vallee’s fall drama Demolition), Matthew Lintz (who will be seen with Adam Sandler in this summer’s Pixels), Charlie Plummer (who had a recurring gig on Boardwalk Empire), and Charlie Rowe (a British actor who appeared on Fox’s short-lived Red Band Society).

The article claims that 1,500 actors from the around the world have been seen for the role of Peter Parker, which is nuts, but also not unexpected. Every young actor alive would kill for this part.

Even with those new names, this still feels very much like a Butterfield vs. Holland battle, with both actors feeling like pretty great choices for the role. They are apparently taking part in the final round of auditions in Atlanta at this very moment, which we imagine as a brutal battle royale where young men in Spider-Man costumes stand in a line-up and try to not cry as they watch their chances at superstardom dwindle.

Since Captain America: Civil War is also filming in Atlanta, it wouldn’t surprise us at all if Marvel casts an actor and literally drives them right to the set to begin filming Spidey’s (most likely very small) role in the film. We have to hear something soon, right?

Tweets From the Set

You know how the past few weeks have been entirely dominated by images and video from the set of Suicide Squad that showed off everything from the Joker and Harley Quinn to Deadshot and Batman? Well, the days of access are over! Director David Ayer took to Twitter to announce that his upcoming movie is officially done with street filming and that the production is moving indoors. He also promises that, despite everything we’ve seen, nothing in the movie has actually been spoiled:

And while Suicide Squad keeps on keeping on, Deadpool has officially wrapped and Ryan Reynolds let us know via Twitter. Hey guys: they actually financed and filmed a Deadpool movie. What crazy times we live in.

The Marvel Grab-Bag of Information That Wouldn’t Fit Elsewhere

Stan Lee attended the Dallas Comic-Con this past weekend and confirmed that he’s already filmed his cameo for Captain America: Civil War. And because he’s Stan Lee, he had to crack a joke about it:

They should stop calling them cameos and start calling them supporting roles.

Writer/director James Gunn has confirmed that Kang the Conquerer and the Shi’ar Empire won’t have a role in Guardians of the Galaxy 2 because the rights to those characters are still owned by Fox.

And finally, here’s the latest poster for Ant-Man, which follows the Marvel Studios tradition of eliciting a big ‘ol shrug:

Marvel