The Justice Society of America found its way slowly but surely to the live-action universe of the DC CBM franchise. While Black Adam effortlessly bludgeoned through walls and rivaled Thor, the god of thunder, he also provided the launching pad for the equally important JSA and its debut into the newly minted DCU. After amassing critical and commercial acclaim globally, the film has now become a source for spin-off projects while in the meantime, the fandom patiently waits for James Gunn to green-light the avalanche of possible narratives.
Mike Sale Plans a Justice Society of America Spin-Off
When talks of spin-off projects take root, it is often based on the commercial success of a film followed closely by the willingness of the director or the actors to follow through with the story. In the case of Black Adam, Dwayne Johnson has been singing such voluminous praise of his DC debut that it overshadowed whatever controversies the franchise had been afflicted by within a matter of weeks. It then serves right that the outcome matched the effort since Black Adam really did change the hierarchy of DC in more ways than one and restructured its parent company from the inside out.
Overnight, the film’s success gave way to theories of a Hawkman spin-off with Aldis Hodge, Pierce Brosnan‘s Doctor Fate spin-off, a JSA spin-off, Man of Steel 2, and a third Suicide Squad movie. Mike Sale, the editor of Black Adam recently spoke about his vision of a Justice Society of America project and revealed:
“I love the JSA. I would like to see just a full JSA movie. In my mind, it would be great to do a movie that involves all their backstories and tells the story of the JSA, and also lets them battle something. I think that would be the coolest thing. I think you could find a way to bring Dr. Fate back. I think you could even maybe do time periods, like what they did in Watchmen, really well. I think you could do time periods, so you could bring people back and do stuff.”
Even though Sale’s pitch is not the most articulate of plans for the JSA’s future, the audience does get the idea that a Justice Society spin-off is very much a hot topic for the franchise right now. Coming fresh off the success of The Rock’s film, DCU can certainly work on its expansion strategy, and doing right by the Justice Society and rectifying its absent narrative seems like a worthy start.
The Potential of a New JSA Movie in the Formative DCU
When one tries to recall Watchmen, the hubris of Ozymandius and an obscure memory of onyx black rain falling on littered and bloody streets while Rorschach critiques the morally compromised philosophy of mankind flitters about in the corners of our brains. But for Mike Sale, it is the film’s effortless weaving in and out of the narratives of the past and the present that provides him with an idea for a JSA project. If that proves to be the case, the DCU can dive into the Doctor Fate narrative and exploit his expansive knowledge to shine a light on the accounts of the world’s history through its darkest times.
An era-transgressing movie can also account for the Justice Society’s absence which has remained a major point of contention among the audience ever since Black Adam‘s release. The establishment of the JSA is a necessary requirement for the DCU’s strategic development given how it connects the current world scenario to the larger DCEU canon at work through Amanda Waller. Their involvement in what’s to come will prove essential since the Justice League is still a sore subject for David Zaslav and a Man of Steel 2 is as bold as it gets given how Cavill was as good as gone during the earlier management’s megalomania.
The Justice Society of America deserves its own spin-off project and it should be awarded one, not simply because it fits the narrative in the current frame but because it’s been a long time coming.
Black Adam is currently playing in theatres worldwide.
Source: Screen Rant
