Mark Millar Trashes 'Justice League' Movie: "An Excellent Way Of Losing $200 Million"

With the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Marvel Studios raised the bar not just for comic book movies but for comic book movie universes. The project's success sent Fox and Warner Bros. scrambling to get their own superhero stables in order, and Fox set Mark Millar to oversee its Marvel properties and WB began working toward an Avengers-style Justice League teamup. But Millar isn't so sure that his competitors over at WB know what they're doing.

In a new interview, Millar blasts the entire idea of a Justice League adaptation as "an excellent way of losing $200 million," thanks to the "disastrous" logistics of team members like Green Lantern, Aquaman, and The Flash, not to mention the fact that all of the characters have been around for decades. Apparently he's had quite the change of heart since last summer, when he gushed that he'd heard Will Beall's script was "dark and mature." Hit the jump to read his comments.

But it's not just Superman's age that's bugging Millar. The comic book writer then continued with some character-specific grievances. Here he is on Green Lantern:

I adored the DC stuff growing up but really, how do you do a movie about Green Lantern? His power is that he manifests green plasma from his imagination and uses them as weapons against someone? Even that in itself if you just imagine then watching a fight scene with a guy who's like a hundred feet away making plasma manifestations fight someone – it's not exactly raucous, getting up close and personal.

And the Flash:

The Flash has door handles on the side of his mask and if he doesn't wear that mask, I'll be pissed off, you know what I mean? They're in a weird, weird situation – if you've got a guy who moves at the speed of light up against the Weather Wizard and Captain Cold or whatever, then your movie's over in two seconds.

And Aquaman:

Aquaman can't even talk under water. If you think about it in comics it's fine, you just have a speech balloon, but how do you have Atlantis and people talking under water? Are they gonna talking telepathically? Is it going to be body forms?

To sum up, "The actual logistics of each member of the Justice League is disastrous, and you put them all together and I think you get an excellent way of losing $200 million." Ouch.

Really, similar charges could be levied against Millar's own superhero lineup. If he and Fox can make a rock man come to life, there's no reason WB/DC couldn't figure out how to streamline The Flash's costume. Keep in mind, also, that this is the same guy who was talking up Beall's Justice League script (based on hearsay, but still) before he landed the Fox gig. WB/DC is his competition now, and it makes total sense if he's biased against them.

Still, Millar may ultimately be right in his pessimism about Justice League, even if his reasons aren't so sound. According to a story making the rounds today, Beall's script is so bad that Warner Bros. may just toss it out and try to start from scratch. (Having suffered through the Beall-scripted Gangster Squad, I totally believe this.) What say you — does Millar have a point, or is this just his loyalty to Marvel talking?