If You Could Legit Pitch…

If you could legit pitch an idea for a series, be it comic book, animated or live action to a DC VIP, and get it greenlit, what would you pitch? I’m talking a general premise, not necessarily down and dirty details.

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I’ll start; planetary should be made into a live action series, be it on reg tv, premium cable or streaming(preferably on DCU), sooner rather than later.

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Here’s a story pitch; lex luthor becomes a green lantern. Would he become a top tier hero, or a self-serving jackwagon, or an even nastier piece of work supervillain than he’s ever been?

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So many things:

  • A live-action Legion of Superheroes series based largely on the post-Zero-Hour “Reboot” Legion

  • A live-action Batman Beyond series

  • A live-action StormWatch series

  • A live-action Blue Beetle series based on Jaime Reyes

  • A live-action Freedom Fighters series

A live-action series loosely adapting Peter David’s Supergirl comic series, but with the “Super Family” connections excised (the “Earth-Born Angel” stuff from his run would make a great show on its own, which is why I’d excise the Super Family stuff)

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Striking a balance of what I’d actually be interested in writing with what I might be able to get, I’m thinking maybe a Captain Atom series. My plot idea is that in a twist on the premise of his Post-Crisis series, he joins a team of government-sponsored superheroes (possibly the Force of July if they were rewritten to not be incredibly lame, or maybe a new iteration of the Freedom Fighters), but is actually spying on them for the Justice League. This leads to lots of backstabbing and right-hand-left-hand shenanigans between various superheroes and spy agencies, all while everybody’s trying to cover it up and make it look like it’s all a bunch of happy superhero friends. This gets complicated when there are also actual supervillains trying to play the game as well.

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This would be a comic series, by the way.

How about a movie idea; a Lois Lane suspense thriller, supers in the background(obvi), but Lois in the forefront. Stana Katic as Lois, and minimal cameo by Clark/Superman, if any.

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I have an actual pitch written up in Google Docs called “Suicide Squad: 1945”. It’s something I just kind of tinker with when I’m bored. I also wrote a pitch for my version of the Flash: Earth One in Fan Creations, which you can check out. For the longest time I’ve wanted to write a through-the-years look at an out of work twenty-something in our world who slowly but surely develops psychic powers. It would be about his life, his joys and sadness, his exes, his current interest, and a descent into madness with a hopeful but mysterious tone. Sort of like life. I wouldn’t pitch it to DC, though. Probably Image or Dark Horse.

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A Question detective drama animated series. More gritty than YJ, but I think it could be done TV-14 and keep its impact. Bringing together all the strings and exposing The Light or taking down Luthor as a disgraced head of the UN. 22 episodes and bring in some other heroes on occasion to team up…maybe 6-8 of the 22 episodes.

A true detective story worthy of S. Holmes.
I am always reminded of the best 2 lines in the history of the DCEU.
Supergirl: What!! You go through my trash?
Q: Please, I go through everybody’s trash.

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That sounds dope^ lmao

Comics: A Superman/Batman series set in 1938-1941 that “fills in the gaps” and puts some meat on the pulp story skeleton of those early Action/Detective books rather than merely retelling or revamping the stories. DC flirted with this idea a bit in the 1986 Secret Origins issues on their characters, but I’d be interested in seeing it done more thoroughly. (For instance, was an in-training Dick Grayson off in the background while Batman was battling Carl Kurger and his dirigible of doom, or is there a six-month or so time jump in Golden Age Bruce’s early career that hasn’t been explored?)

Live Action: Kate Spencer, Manhunter. Mark Andreyko’s costumed heroine is done justice in a series instead of being treated as a disposable side-character. 'Nuff said.

Animation: Batman Incorporated. Because why not?

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Shazam vs Riddler: Shazam does an interview where he describes his career and abilities. Upon mentioning the “Wisdom of Solomon,” a viewing Riddler becomes enraged and decides to “take a vacation.” Riddler goes to Philadelphia and creates an elaborate series of death traps throughout the city, holding various important figures hostage. If Shazam wants to stop him, he can’t just punch his way through (less the civilians die). Can Shazam outthink Riddler’s nefarious puzzlers? Or is it the curtains for the World’s Mightiest Mortal? Tune in tomorrow night, same Shazam-time, same Shazam-channel!

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I am liking these ideas! I wish I could greenlight the best ones on my own authority, but being as I’m a fanboy subscriber, sadly, I can’t. Maybe the powers that be will look at all the great ideas we come up with, and get on it(hint, hint). Meantime, here’s a movie pitch; now these characters aren’t strictly speaking DC characters per se, but DC has written them at times in the past. Doc Savage and his crew, either in their original time(1930s), or present day, with the Doc being played by the Rock, Dwayne Johnson. Can you smell what I’m cooking? Maybe it could be like fast and furious meets Indiana Jones.

A long-form Batman series formatted specifically for a streaming service. It will be done similar to a BBC series such as Luther or Sherlock, the story will ultimately dictate the runtime and number of episodes, and not vice versa. The stories themselves; each season will be relatively self contained and either adapt, loosely adapt, or touch on multiple stories from the comics. With time jumps between seasons or even between episodes.

Season 1: 4-6 episodes: The season will take place primarily within “Year One” with a sub plot featuring the Red Hood gang The story will also feature other sub plots from " Turning Points" “Prey” and “Venom” to lay groundwork for the future seasons. The penultimate episode will see, Gordon’s wife leaving him, Bruce, on venom, making a mistake that seemingly costs Red Hoods life. Leading to Bruce’s detox. The season finale will jump ahead and adapt “The Man Who Laughs.”

Season 2: 8-10 episodes: Jumping ahead the overarching plot will adapt “The Long Halloween” and loosely adapt “The Monster Men” and "Choices."introducing a young Barbara Gordon, and meta humans to the Show.

Season 3: 8-13 episodes: the season premiere will be an adaptation of “Den of the Death Dealers"introducing Talia and the league of assassins. The story will be interspersed with flashbacks of Bruce having a short lived romance with Talia while training abroad. It will borrow from “Son of the Demon”. The season will also be loose adaptations of"Dark Victory” and “Robin Year One” introducing a teenage Dick Grayson as Robin. Season finale will adapt "Daughter of the Demon"introducing Ra’s al Ghul. The end will reveal that Talia is keeping a 6 year old Damian Wayne unbeknownst to Bruce.

I have more ideas for future seasons but most streaming shows don’t go past 3.

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Extra question (for anybody here, though susiemike2007.32953 was the one who made me think of it with the comment about greenlighting): If you could pick, oh, let’s say three of these ideas (not including your own) to greenlight, which ones would you go for?

Balancing what I think might sell with what I’d like to read (and bearing in mind that the comic industry is a bit more tolerant of outside-the-box concepts than film and TV), I’d probably pick (and I’m going to be a tad critical here, so I just want to say I don’t mean any offense, just giving feedback):
-Animated Question show: It sounds like this is supposed to be YJ-verse, so this is contingent on somebody sitting on the writers and making them actually focus on the plot for more than five minutes at a time.
-Superman/Batman 1938: Limited series, somewhere in the six-to-twelve issue range, though I’d want to see a script or two before deciding for certain. The idea of fleshing out the early Golden Age stories reminds me of, well, The Golden Age, so I could see this being really good if it were well-executed, but a series just dedicated to long-form rewrites of stories Jerry Siegel and Bill Finger already wrote is not going to be contributing much.
-Shazam vs. the Riddler: I’m seeing it as a first arc for a longer Shazam run. The concept’s a little mundane for a miniseries on its own even though I’d totally read it anyway. It’s exactly the sort of slightly goofy plot that both characters are perfect for. And I hope you all appreciate my restraint in not leaving any pointed references to Captain Marvel or Fawcett City.

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@BatJamags. If I could call him Captain Marvel or set it in Fawcett, I would. As it stands, I pitched it with current, post-New 52 Shazam in mind, and he lives in Philadelphia apparently

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In no particular order, Shazam v. Riddler, freedom fighters, and the Batman series are my top 3, meaning no shade to any of the other ideas so far…

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I’ve been working on an expansion of the gods and monsters variant of the DC universe, that I think would be pretty pitch worthy, but I’ve got pages of content, so I won’t be going into it here, not to mention that I really want to hear what other fans like myself come up with. Not only does it give us a forum to spitball with each other, but, from a legal standpoint, we theoretically protect ourselves from plagiarism charges at some future point, if any of us is lucky enough to have DC greenlight any of our pitches(hint hint)…

I have thought of a Batman Beyond CGI Animated Movie. I don’t have much deataips but it will integrate more of the Bat family into the future.

Also a DC video game connective universe. I have a lot planned out with the end being based Crisis on Infinite earth story. It will go through three phases wil phase two being the longest and one being short.

Phase 1 would be Superman Batman Wonder Woman then JL which would intro the other leaguers like aquaman Manhunter and probably flash. They would fight Darksied the big threat to unite them.

P2 would continue those trinity and give some others there own game. Also lead into side kicks which would lead to a Titans. The JL would be legion of doom which would be the heroes fall. Also lanterns will be introduced

P3 would be a the heroes rising up. Leading to Crisis.

I have these planned out in a lot more detail but these are just the rough notes.

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@But yeah, I initially have it planned out as the opening “two-parter” to a hypothetical run written by my secret alter-ego :wink:
The actual names of the issues would be “Wisdom of Solomon” and “Strength of Hercules,” with the plan being to follow them up with four more issues (two self-contained one-shots and another two-parter) named after the rest of Shazam’s power set, the collected trade being called “Powers of Shazam.”

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