Stuffing as many characters as possible into comic book films has been all the rage lately, but it looks like there are two characters who won’t be making it into the upcoming Batman vs. Superman film: Aquaman and Martian Manhunter. This is according to the website Batman on Film, which claims inside knowledge on the movie.
Are their claims legit or are they just making stuff up as they go along? Either scenario is equally likely at this point. They make some pretty wild claims in their “mailbag,” one of which is that in the film, Wonder Woman and the other Amazons will be “descendants of those ‘ancient Kryptonians’ who attempted to set up Kryptonian outposts throughout spacedom thousands and thousands of years ago.” Umm, what? If that were true, it might be the single most ridiculous thing to happen in a DC comics-based movie since Batman’s suit had nipples.
Aquaman and Martian Manhunter are hardly the most beloved superheroes of the DC universe, though, so it makes sense that they’d be kept out of Batman vs. Superman. While they may appear in any future Justice League movie, the likelihood of them having their own solo movies is not particularly high. Wonder Woman may be appearing in the film, but she is much more likely to get her own spinoff. Let’s face it: superhero movies so far have been a real boys’ club, and a strong showing from Wonder Woman would help correct that.
Batman vs. Superman will start filming in Michigan this coming February, with a budget of $131 million for the portion being shot in that state alone. It is scheduled to hit theaters July 17th, 2015, and if all goes well will make that $131 million back and then some in no time flat, despite a likely boycott by fish.