Rumor commentary: Joseph Gordon-Levitt may be playing Batman in the Justice League movie.

HitFix broke the story late last night and while I generally try to avoid commenting on rumors, McWeeny is a pretty trustworthy source for this kind of thing.  Anyway, long story short, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is allegedly in talks to reprise his role as John Blake (cough-Tim Drake-cough) in Warner Bros.' upcoming Justice League film.  Said superhero team-up is set to open in summer 2015 (July 17th, I'd presume), where it will square off against The Avengers 2 and Star Wars Episode VII.  So if the rumor comes to pass, it looks like John Blake will be the man in the cowl, as opposed to a new actor playing a new Bruce Wayne.  Also of note, John Blake (as Batman?) will allegedly make a post-production cameo in Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, which comes off of Snyder's comments stating that Man of Steel won't be as closed-world as he had previously indicated.  So presuming this is all true and not just a rumor or a gambit to drum up interest in next week's DVD/Blu Ray release of The Dark Knight Rises, what do I think?  Well, it's both not terribly surprising and incredibly shocking.  

Why Ben Affleck doesn't need to direct Justice League...

I don't generally report on rumors, and there is a good chance that this 'news' in question won't come to pass. But the trades took turns attempting to out-scoop each other on Wednesday with reports stating that Ben Affleck would possibly/hopefully/maybe/theoretically direct the Justice League movie for Warner Bros  (Variety got the ball rolling).  The one bit of news is that while it would seem that Warner Bros. instantly raced into Justice League following the success of The Avengers, they've actually had a script penned by Will Beall sitting in an office for a year.  But regardless of whether I think Affleck can handle a film like Justice League (without question, my narrative issues with The Town aside) and however logical it may seem for Warner Bros. to court arguably the biggest director in their stable outside of Chris Nolan or David Yates, I sincerely hope Affleck turns the project down.  He doesn't need Justice League.  More importantly, Ben Affleck is already making the kind of movies that a mega blockbuster like Justice League would allow him to indulge in.  He's already won.  And we are benefiting from that preemptive victory.

Actual Dark Knight Rises news! I think I get the title now...

Just as it did four years ago, Warner Bros has debuted the first official look of the primary Batman villain on the cover of Empire.  I won't comment too much on the images, and I couldn't give too craps about what that thing Batman is holding happens to be (we'll know when we know).  But the article does contain one huge plot reveal, from Mr. Nolan himself ironically.

"It's really all about finishing Batman and Bruce Wayne's story. We left him in a very precarious place. Perhaps surprisingly for some people, our story picks up quite a bit later, eight years after The Dark Knight. So he's an older Bruce Wayne; he's not in a great state."

Would Warner risk hurting Sherlock Holmes 2 to promote The Dark Knight Rises?

Put this one in the 'crazy rumor that seems self-defeating' category.  Slashfilm is reporting (as a rumor, to be fair) that Warner Bros. may be attaching an eight-minute IMAX preview of The Dark Knight Rises to IMAX prints of Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol.  On the surface, it makes sense. Warner Bros. debuted the shot-in-IMAX prologue for The Dark Knight in front of IMAX prints of I Am Legend back in December 2007 while debuting the conventional two-minute trailer in front of 35mm prints of the same film on the same day.  Since Warner Bros doesn't have an IMAX film coming out this holiday season, and since Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol has about 25 minutes worth of IMAX footage, it certainly seems a logical match. But there is a BIG 'BUT' here.

Oooh... Exciting. Will Batman and Spider-Man face off, in their next respective films, against the unforgettable what's-his-name?

"Who the hell is that?" - My wife, upon hearing that the villain for The Dark Knight Rises might be Dr. Hugo Strange.

"Huh? Who is that, exactly?" - My friend and ex-roommate, Mike Hahn, upon hearing that the villain for The Dark Knight Rises might be Dr. Hugo Strange.

"Whaaa? Who the f... better look that up." - Me, upon reading that some guy called the Proto-Goblin may be the villain in Marc Webb's upcoming Spider-Man reboot.

"The Proto-what?" - Most of my readers, upon reading that some guy called the Proto-Goblin may be the villain in Marc Webb's upcoming Spider-Man reboot.

Batman and Spider-Man have two of the deepest, most recognizable, and just-plain best rogues galleries in comic books. Obviously both rumors could be malarkey. But playing devil's advocate for a minute, could it have killed Nolan and Webb to pick villains that anyone actually wanted to see onscreen?

Scott Mendelson

'Rumors from the crazy guy on the corner': Ridley Scott wants $250 million for an R-rated Alien prequel?

According to Bleeding Cool, 20th Century Fox and director Ridley Scott are at odds over the upcoming Alien prequel that Scott has demeaned himself by taking on. Whether or not the world needs an Alien prequel, there is something a little sad about a past-his-prime director returning to the franchise that made him a name in order to salvage his box office bank-ability. Nevermind that the mediocre Robin Hood is his third-biggest worldwide grosser with $310 million, the insane $200 million budget and reliance on overseas dollars has rendered the film as a, at best, near-miss. But I digress, the issue at hand is Scott's insistence on an 'R' rating (fair enough), and his desire for a $250 million budget. Oh, well that... wait, what?!?!

'Rumors from the crazy guy on the corner': David Slade to helm X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2? But what of the video game spin-off?

Vulture has reported that the top contender to direct the sequel to X-Men Origins: Wolverine (which itself was a prequel to X-Men) is none other than David Slade. Following his success on Twilight Saga: Eclipse, which likely surpassed the domestic gross of New Moon just today, Slade is being courted by Hugh Jackman himself to do the 'Wolverine goes to Japan' story-arc promised in the post-credit cookie of the last film. While the first Wolverine spin-off was pretty much detested by critics and audiences alike, the $150 million film still opened with $85 million and pulled in $373 million worldwide despite being bootlegged online by Fox Studios -I mean by scary foreigners- a full month prior to the film's theatrical release. Since original director Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, Rendition) apparently had all kinds of behind the scenes turmoil with Fox studios, it's no surprise that he won't be back. This would be David Slade's fourth film, following the critically-acclaimed Hard Candy, the vampire comic book adaptation 30 Days of Night (both solid genre pictures), and the aforementioned Eclipse (slightly overrated, I still prefer Hardwicke's quirky humor). Why, do you ask, am I reporting on this generally unwanted sequel to an original film that I detested? Well, because while X-Men Origins: Wolverine the movie was pretty god-awful, X-Men Origins: Wolverine the video game was one of the most flat-out entertaining and enjoyable action games I've played in years. Yes, I'm excited about a big-budget tentpole picture because I'm looking forward to the video game spin off.

Scott Mendelson

Introducing 'Rumors from the crazy guy on the corner': Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the Riddler in Chris Nolan's Batman 3 (AKA - Shadow of the Bat)?

I've wrestled for sometime with how to discuss news in a timely manner when so much of the relevant movie news begins as rumor. I don't like to discuss rumors as if they are factual, but I also like to discuss stuff when it allegedly breaks. So, this will be the start of a new feature: 'News from the crazy guy on the corner'. To put it simply, anything I discuss here should be considered 100% rumor, and any analysis I offer should be taken as a theoretical 'if it turns out to be true' capacity. So if I find myself discussing something like that relatively debunked 'Indiana Jones goes to the Bermuda Triangle' story from a couple of days ago (I liked Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, so I say go for it), or whether or not Joseph Gordon-Levitt is in talks to play the Riddler in Nolan's third Batman picture (makes sense, Nolan likes to poach actors from project to project), please know that I am not assuming that any of this will turn out to be correct.