NEWS: Justice League Casting Rumors and Updates

With the success of Marvel's The Avengers (and it's $1.3 squillion box office) it's not surprising to learn that Warner Brothers is looking to its own superhero team - the Justice League - with an eye to turning a similar profit. But just who will be donning the tights, cowl and spangly bustier of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman (hopefully, not in that order)?

First up, it looks as if Zack Synder's take on Superman, The Man of Steel will act as the series opener in a similar manner to the way in which Iron Man introduced audiences to the idea of the shared universe of Marvel's properties. Speaking to the NY Post, Synder was asked about the studio's wish to integrate his Superman into the larger DC universe, to which he replied:

Um, how can I answer that? I can’t really say anything to that, because that’s a big spoiler. I will say, yeah, they trust me to keep them on course.

Now obviously, context and tone can be misinterpreted in written interviews, but the key comment here from Snyder is ''they trust me to keep them on course.'' This seems to suggest one of two things. The first, more plausible idea is that the ''them'' Synder refers to is the Superman movie series. We know Henry Cavill has signed-up to play Clark Kent/Superman for three movies. Does that include a Justice League movie, too? And if so, why does Synder refer to ''them'' (plural) when discussing the lead-in to the team-up movie? Will there be more than one Superman movie - directed by Snyder - before we get to see the Justice League in action?

Or - and this is where things fly off into The Speculative Zone - when Snyder says ''them'' is he in fact referring to the studio bosses and could he have let slip that he's to serve as some kind of executive consultant on the Justice League's other member movies? Although Christopher Nolan is currently the darling of the studio thanks to his work on the Batman movies (and is overseeing Synder's work on The Man of Steel), his more realistic take on the Caped Crusader might not sit too comfortably beside characters who possess actual superpowers. And Synder certainly has a handle on comic-to-movie adaptations. After all, this is the guy who not only brought 300 from page to screen with aplomb but also managed to turn the ''unfilmable'' Watchmen into a near-perfect adaptation...

And speaking of Batman...

According to Hitfix, ''Joseph Gordon-Levitt absolutely will be appearing in "Justice League" as the new Batman.''

Now here's where things get all spoiler-laden, so if you haven't seen The Dark Knight Rises, you might want to stop reading now.

As anybody who has seen the movie knows, it's implied at the end that Gordon-Levitt's character dons the pointy-eared cowl and takes up the mantle of Batman. So is this the ''new Batman'' Hitfix's sources are referring to, or are they simply using the word ''new'' to differentiate this Batman from the Nolan movies' version?

Either way, it seems the studio is sold on Gordon-Levitt filling Batman's boots. But given we're still waiting on any formal announcement regarding a Batman reboot, could we be looking at a Man of Steel post-credit teaser featuring our first look at the new Dark Knight Detective in action?

Stranger things have happened.

Sources: The NY Post and HitFix both via Bleeding Cool