"Gangster Squad" Scribe Writing "Justice League" Script

Over a year ago Warner Bros. tapped Gangster Squad writer Will Beall to create a script for a Justice League movie. Warner Bros. will likely point this out when others accuse the studio of trying to copy Marvel’s superhero team-up movie success with The Avengers. Beall is a busy boy and is quickly becoming a studio favorite. The Beall-penned Gangster Squad is due out from Warner Bros. on September 7th, and Warners has also tapped him to script the remakes of Lethal Weapon and Logan’s Run. Variety reports that Beall has yet to finish his Justice League script, but the fact that the studio assigned its “go-to” writer to project is an indication that the project is a high priority.

Actually it was Warners that was very close to making the first major superhero team-up film back in 2007 when George Miller was set to helm a Justice League film featuring Adrian Brody as The Flash, Megan Gale as Wonder Woman, and Armie Hammer as Batman, but the writers’ strike made fixing the script by Kieran and Michele Mulroney impossible and the project was abandoned in early 2008.

According to Variety, which broke the news of the Beall Justice League assignment, other DC Comics projects with writers assigned include The Flash with Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green, Wonder Woman with Michael Goldenberg working on the adaptation, Lobo with Brad Peyton, while David Koepp and John Kamps are developing a live-action Spy vs. Spy.

Justice League : Doom -- New OAV

Warner Home Video will release Justice League: Doom, a new animated feature starring DC’s most popular superteam, in early 2012. The script was the last work by the late Dwayne McDuffie. It was inspired by Mark Waid’s “JLA: Tower of Babel” storyline, and finds the Justice League in peril when supervillains discover Batman’s contingency plans for stopping a rogue member.

Justice League: Doom will feature the voice talents of Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern and Tim Daly as Superman, along with the actors that starred in the Justice League animated series: Kevin Conroy as Batman, Michael Rosenbaum as Flash, Susan Eisenberg as Wonder Woman, and Carl Lumbly as J’onn J’onzz/martian Manhunter. Bumper Robinson will voice Cyborg; David Kaufman will voice Jimmy Olsen.

The Royal Flush Gang and six notable villains will appear in the film. Villainous voices will include Phil Morris as Vandal Savage, Olivia d’Abo as Star Sapphire, Alexis Denisof as Mirror Master, Carlos Alazraqui as Bane, Paul Blackthorne as Metallo, and Claudia Black as Cheetah.

The trailer for the film (along with the Catwoman short attached to Batman: Year One, will be shown during the Warner Home Video presentation at New York Comic Con.

R.I.P. Dwayne McDuffie

Writer/producer Dwayne McDuffie passed away Monday. He was 49. McDuffie was the writer of the just released direct-to-DVD All Star Superman feature, along with Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. He was a producer of 66 episodes of various Ben 10 series, and 65 episodes of Justice League. He wrote numerous episodes of the Ben 10 series, Justice League, and was story editor on Static Shock.

In the comic world, McDuffie was co-founder of Milestone Media in the early 90s, where he was Editor-in-Chief. His comic creations or co-creations include Static, Damage Control, Deathlok II, Icon, Xombi, Road to Hell, Hardware, and more.

McDuffie has also written numerous other comic series, including Spider-Man, Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight, Back to the Future, Hellraiser, and more.