Part Thirty-Four: The Brave & The Bold:
“The kind of things that people wanted to do with
Green Lantern would have been impossible only five years before. The Graphics Group had really pushed the envelope with computer based effects thanks to their work on
Ghostbusters. Television was seeing a revolution thanks to the effort they had put in. After that, came the time for the wider scope of movies to be used and Warner Brothers was offering us a great chance to take things to their greatest level yet. To better pool our resources, Graphics Group finally merged with Industrial Light & Magic before taking on our first major role in the movies.”
- Extract from an interview with Edwin Catmull, 2017
“It was my experience with special effects which helped me get the role as director for
Green Lantern. We'd used a lot of experimental stuff in
The Last Starfighter and what happened with
Ghostbusters really helped make computer graphics a concept that could be used to enhance a story. With the decision to make a sci-fi based superhero movie, computer graphics were seen as the best way to show off the alien world and special effects. It was also a major challenge to get to grips with.”
- Extract from an interview with Nick Castle, 2003
“With the rise in Sci-Fi properties of the 80's, a movie based off one of DC's comics from around that era within that genre seemed like a natural fit. The growth of computer graphics allowed use the freedom to really do something different with the character and setting as well. We could experiment with special effects to create the powers on screen. For the aliens themselves, Jim Henson proved a wizard in making some of them come to life.”
- Extract from an interview with Peter Guber, 2001
Hal Jordan – Kevin Costner
Doctor Polaris – Christopher Lambert
Carol Ferris – Kim Basinger
Guardian of the Universe – Voiced by James Earl Jones
Thomas Kalmaku – Wes Studi
Kilowog – Voiced by Dolph Lundgren
Katma Tui – Alyssa Milano
- Cast list for the 1989 Green Lantern movie
“It was a whole new kind of work when looking at acting, computer graphics were state of the art for the time and I'd never experienced anything like it. Having the blue screen all around me for some scenes took a lot of getting used to. There were two scenes where I was taking in this alien world and I was really standing in the middle of a room, gawking at nothing. When I finally saw the end results on the screen, it was like how people must have first reacted to the first movies being shown.”
- Extract from an interview with Kevin Costner, 2008
Green Lantern represented a fundamental shift in Hollywood's special effects. Although the vast majority were practical, such as the alien costumes and puppets provided for by Jim Henson's Workshop, the most attention grabbing effects were those of the computer generated kind displayed throughout the movie. The budget for the movie's special effects was, for the time, the highest in movie history and it shows as, even by later standards, the computer generated images stand up well.
The movie would later go on to become a smash success, fuelling further investment into computer graphics similar to those that were seen in
Green Lantern. Industrial Light & Magic were pioneers in the field and continued to have a strong lead against the many other studios that tried to catch up with them throughout the 90's. The decade also saw the rise in special-effects heavy blockbusters by numerous studios with Warner Brothers helping push it forward with its use of superhero films over the decade.
- Extract from The Rise of Computer Graphics in Film, 2017
“Alright, by modern standards, some of those effects are pretty blatant and even an eyesore, but for 1989, they were utterly mind-blowing. The first scene on Oa was like nothing no one had ever seen. Try comparing Tron to this and you'll see why it amazed so many people back in the day. It falters in the scenes where the powers of the ring are coming into play, but other than that, the special effects are still pretty impressive for their time.”
- Quote from CivDev, member of Sufficient Velocity forums, 2019
After the success of
Green Lantern, Warner Brothers greenlit another superhero movie, but wanted a much more moderate budget. Despite its critical and financial success,
Green Lantern's huge budget meant that the studio had not seen the returns it had hoped for, despite the acclaim. Plans for a sequel to the movie were put on hold until the in-house computer graphics was able to bring the budget down to a more manageable level.
To this end, another DC sci-fi property was decided upon. Martian Manhunter, a character who had yet to be really exposed to mainstream audiences. He was chosen as the special effects budget could be cheaper, while allowing for the kind of action that was present on
Green Lantern. Although a relative unknown in popular culture, the movie would help make him into one of DC's bigger names.
- Extract from From Page to Screen: Superheroes in Movies, 2011
“The hate mail? Yeah, I got some of that. About how Martian Manhunter couldn't be played by a black man because he was white. I mean, I thought he was green and could shape shift, but I guess some people thought they knew better.”
- Extract from an interview with Tony Todd, 1999
“It felt scaled down in terms of
Green Lantern. Despite this though, the effects felt a great deal more crisp with the scenes showing Manhunter change shape holding up so well today. The final battle with him and TOR used practical effects as a cover for the computer graphics, but those are still stunning. Without the special effects, it was Tony Todd's performance that had to carry the movie and he did a great job of it, making J'onzz human enough to be relatable, but still giving him that ultimately alien quality. Must have been the voice.”
- Quote from Samwise, member of Freakin' Awesome Network, 2012
The DC Movie Universe continued to go from strength to strength throughout the early 90's. From the special-effects laden
Green Lantern to the exploration of humanity present in
Martian Manhunter, it seemed as if every movie was trying to be something a little bit different, which was matched by the more action laden
Flash movie which was released in 1992. With a different director leading each new superhero film, each one was given its own spin, resulting in the comedy-laden
Shazam which was released in 1994.The continued success of these movies would later culminate in 1998's
Justice League movie, which brought the DC characters together for a huge crossover event.
With the success of the movies, so went the success of the comics as more and more readers turned into those issues which featured the heroes on the big screen. Hal Jordan would go onto become one of the most popular characters in DC at this time while others, notably Batman, would see their own fame wane somewhat. As a result, the Dark Knight slowly started to be repackaged, eventually leading to his own movie standing out further from the other DC films in 1999, devoid of the fantastic elements that had so marked the output from that universe at the time.
- Extract from A Brief History of DC Comics, 2009
“It was, at the time, the biggest leap in my career. The two previous DC movies had been huge successes so you can imagine how determined I was to land the role. At the time, I was a relative unknown, but I pushed myself for it, even taking up sprinting lessons to help make myself look better for the part. When I heard I got it, it was a huge deal for me and I've never looked back from it.”
- Extract from an interview with Brad Pitt, 2017
“Continuing on from Warner Brother's other hits,
The Flash stars Brad Pitt in his first ever major role as the eponymous hero. Despite his lack of experience, Pitt puts in a dynamic performance as the scarlet-clad superhero. In an exciting, action-packed adventure,
The Flash provides viewers with a fun ninety minute film that's sure to leave many satisfied.”
- Extract from a review The Flash from the Boston Globe, July 1989
“So, DC rather stumbled onto their movie universe almost entirely by accident. The success of the one off movies meant that more films kept on getting pushed forward. With the success of
Sinestro's Revenge in 1993 and computer-graphics having caught up to the point Warner Brothers figured they could budget it in house, the
Justice League movie was made as almost an afterthought. It's why only Wonder Woman was given a movie to bridge between the others and the Justice League. When the line up was announced with Superman and Black Canary not having their own films, you could tell that parts of the idea were rushed, just to take advantage of having a monopoly of superhero movies while Marvel still scrambled to get their own ideas out there.”
- Quote from BatLad, member of DC Fan Forums, 2007
“Of all the things you could have expected in a Captain Marvel movie, Nicolas Cage giving a monologue on the virtues of hot dogs wasn't one of them. Neither was the robot-punching face.”
- Comment found on the Meme Foundry website, 2011
“So the role was a challenging one to look at. I mean, Captain Marvel's basically an ancient guardian spirit, wrapped up with the spirit of a child. So you gotta have that balanced in your mind while performing him. Then you have to add in all his powers and it's a really interesting role to get into. Sometimes, three movies isn't enough to do everything I really want, you know?”
- Extract from an interview with Nicolas Cage, 2014
Billy Batson – Jonathan Taylor Thomas
Captain Marvel – Nicolas Cage
The Wizard Shazam – Christopher Lee
Tawky Tawny – Voiced by Patrick Stewart
Doctor Siavana – Dennis Hopper
- Cast list for 1994's Shazam! The Rise of Captain Marvel
DC's movies and cartoons of the 90's helped propel some of their most famous and obscure names into mainstream acceptance after the 1980's had seen only
Super Friends which was as mocked as it was enjoyed. Superhero films had entered into the mainstream properly and it would be DC who would dominate the decade while Marvel's own movie attempts would be much slower in being developed.
- Extract from The Superhero in Movies, 2014
A slowed down version of Captain Marvel played by Nicolas Cage screaming and punching a giant fucking robot in the face set to
Chariots of Fire is what the internet was made for.