Warner Bros. targets 'Justice League' for summer 2015

Back in the day, my lunch hours at school were filled with excited debates about which superhero could kick whose ass, and the conversation(such as it was) would always be DC heroes vs. Marvel heroes. Could Wolverine kill someone like Superman? Would Batman stuff that shield down Captain America's throat? With the surge in superhero movies over the last few years, those conversations are still happening in a way, but it's mainly about which studio has the superior comic book flicks.

We saw that discussion reach a fever pitch last summer with The Avengers squaring off pretty closely with The Dark Knight Rises, and now it looks like we'll see Round 2 take place in 2015. With Warner Bros. successfully winning their legal case to retain the rights to Superman(it's too long and complicated to discuss here), they are moving full steam ahead on their Justice League film, targeting summer 2015 for a release date. That puts it in the same orbit as The Avengers 2, which opens on May 1st.

Bringing together Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, the Flash and more, Justice League has been on the studio's list for years, once having George Miller(Mad Max) to direct a version that ultimately got shelved. This one has a script in place by Will Beall(Gangster Squad), but we don't know much beyond that. There's no indication whether it will be a part of a massive "shared universe", or if they'll take a different approach. In stark contrast to Marvel's plan of establishing their characters in solo films first, WB will spin off the Justice League roster afterwards. We've heard rumors of Batman getting a new franchise, possibly with Armie Hammer under the cowl.

What WB ultimately decides to do is going to depend a lot on Man of Steel, and if fans take to Henry Cavill as Superman. If it tanks like Green Lantern did, we might see them start everything over from scratch. The plan is to begin filming on Justice League next year, so we may start seeing some concrete decision on a director made very soon.

So which one are you most excited for? Justice League or The Avengers 2? [The LA Times]