Were going to make a Justice League movie, whether its now or in ten years, Gregory Noveck then senior vice president of creative affairs at DC Entertainment would tell Variety in 2008. But neither we nor Warner We are going to do it until we can do it well. It failed him for a year, but yes: Almost a decade after that first attempt (frustrated by the 2007 writers strike), we found ourselves in a van heading to Leavesden Studios to visit the set of League of Justice (like this, like Wonder Woman, officially without the article la). They are the first to see this, Patrick Tatopoulos, production designer for the fifth DC Extended Universe film, told us.. In fact, we have to ask them a lot of discretion because what is in this room would constitute a massive spoiler. In that room was all the aesthetics: drawings and conceptual art of different moments of the first joint adventure of Batman, Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Cyborg. Suspiciously missing from the Justice League set: Superman.

Concept art of the Flying Fox aircraft.

Superman is dead, what did you not see the last movie? Jason Momoa replied jokingly to a little boy who asked about the absence of the Man of Steel at Comic Con. And whoever is not aware, at the end of Batman vs. Superman, after he and the Batman were reconciled thanks to the now infamous name Martha, the Kryptonian lost his life defeating Doomsday.

The burden of keeping the world safe is on Bruce and Diana. They will have to gather the team and fight a great threat, Gal Gadot told us, in full Wonder Woman outfit, over tea at the catering table on the set of Justice League. Moments before we had followed the Amazon from her camper through a small piece of Themyscira, recreated for this installment. Although it is not known if it will be a flashback, the home of Wonder Woman as well as some of her compatriots will appear in the Justice League.

Zack Snyder and Gal Gadot, behind the scenes.

At the time they couldnt tell us who or what that threat was about, big enough to make Batman and Wonder Woman look for reinforcements, but today we know that the Big Bad (to use a favorite term from Joss Whedon, who was recruited to supplement the script and eventually direct) is Steppenwolf, a new god who survived a Doomsday attack in the comics and who will be here after the three Mother Boxes. These, which are artifacts with almost unlimited powers, are protected one in Themyscira, another in Atlantis and the third on Earth. Each one has the look of the place where it is, Tatopoulos told us.

The malevolent presence is the perfect pretext to call new heroes. In the last tape we had small glimpses of some members of the team, Zack Snyder told us. But now well see them all in action together and how they interact with us.

It is this part, the interaction of the five characters, which turned out to be one of the greatest challenges, since not only are they heroes with very different characteristics, but nobody knows anything about this version of several of them. Taking care of each one in detail was of crucial importance, since they should not only create the dynamics between them, but also introduce ourselves to more than 50% of the team. One of the things I focused the most on, in character terms, was showing that Aquaman can do more than talk to the fish, Jason Momoa told us on the set of Justice League.

This differentiation of each was very important for the production design, because, according to Tatopoulos, we have never had so much variety: there are things underwater, on horses, in Barrys Speed Force . In addition, each of the suits has technical specifications that tie them to the plot. The Flash costume has about 120 pieces that we 3D printed. It looks like a prototype, because it does not take long to use itMichael Wilkinson (costume designer nominated for an Oscar in 2013 for American Scandal) told us, who revealed that the Superman suit will have a more metallic look, more like the Man of Steel, he said.

The scene we witnessed gave us a glimpse of the different personalities. The heroes go down an elevator to the batcave for the first time: Batman, the leader, shows them the way; Wonder Woman follows, self-assured; Cyborg descends silently, inspecting; Aquaman has a slight air of arrogance, and Flash is amazed, like a kid in a toy store. Its exciting! We are creating a visual vocabulary of how Flash moves and what it can do. He has no experience like the others, so we can invent more, confessed on the set of Justice League Ezra Miller, smiling and charismatic: just as we can see his character on screen. This is an important separation from the grim tone of both The Man of Steel and Batman vs. Superman. We had already seen a small attempt to lighten the tone of the DCEU in the highly criticized Suicide Squad, but it was not until Wonder Woman by far the entry with better acceptance among the public and critics in this new stage of DC that the universe really woke up.

Suicide Squad did very well commercially, executive producer Jon Berg told us. But narratively it didnt work. We had a great cast and characterizations, but the story fell out of the storyline. We could do better. Batman vs. Superman has a very dark tone. People did not respond to that. The success of the much more optimistic Wonder Woman, together with the reshoots that Joss Whedon made Zack Snyder left the post-production in the hands of Whedon after the death of his daughter could signal a change in plans for Justice League.

However, the success of Diana Prince did not alter the plot of the Justice League, as confirmed by Geoff Johns, a producer whose name is synonymous with comics. He wrote, among others, the classic Flashpoint the name of the Flash film directed by Andy Muschietti -, a story in which the hero travels to an alternate universe where there is no Justice League and where Batman is Thomas Wayne , Bruces dad, avenging the death of his son. You have to remember that this movie [Liga de la Justicia] We did it long before Wonder Woman was released. She is like that, optimistic and hopeful. There is nothing to do differently, the characters are who they are. The reshoots on the set of Justice League lasted only a couple of weeks Henry Cavill was in the middle of filming Mission Impossible 6, so he arrived on set with a mustache that was removed with digital effects and, according to the reports were used just to inject him with a little humor, not to change the plot. Even so, it is clear that already from the trailers there is a lighter tone in terms of the script, and a brighter image in marketing than in previous films. In general, the DC universe is a hopeful and optimistic place. He is known for characters who are inspirational and aspirational, says Johns.

And yes, the future of the DCEU itself looks hopeful and optimistic. With a long way to go and stories to tell, its fair to say that DC has the two things that are most needed to deliver products that satisfy fans: patience and a willingness to learn from their mistakes. Even if it takes ten years.

A version of this article was first published in the print edition of Cinema PREMIERE in November 2019.

J. Ivan Morales Writer, film director and editorial director at this, his friendly neighboring cinema publication, Cine PREMIERE. You will never lose hope for a second season of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and Firefly.

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Visit to the film set - Explica