Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes If they made a Legion movie what would you want it to be?

If a Legion movie was ever made, I would like to see the origin told first.

As a sequel, I'd like to see the Death of Ferro Lad.

How about you?

The Legion origin isn't very mythologized, or deserving of such. I'd skip past it, because I'd want to start with a larger Legion. A Legion just starting out doesn't feel like the Legion to me.

I am quite firm that the movie Legion must be Superboy-less. This isn't just my personal preference for the reboot and threeboot Legions. The movie wouldn't be based exclusively on any continuity. Superboy and the Legion can work... in the comics, or maybe on TV (though I don't believe a live-action Legion series is practical even today). In a movie, there's simply no time. The movie would be all about Superboy. DC's already done Superman enough times on screen.

I am also adamant that the movie Legion (at least at the start) must be teenagers, and played by actual teenagers. And I'm talking 14-15, not 18-19. They'll grow up faster than you realize it.

Unfortunately for movies, the Legion is one of the few superhero series short on backstory and long on frontstory. That is, it derives its strength from the quantity of stories told. I can't see any way to get all the stuff I want to see on screen.

I second the idea that teenagers should play teenagers, but we rarely get that from Hollywood, so...

There's nothing wrong with the traditional origin as a jumping-off point. It just needs to be woven into the larger plot, whatever it is. The would-be assassins need to have some motivation other than just, "We're bad." Actually that's a good rule of thumb for any adversary, really.

I'd still rather see it done as traditional animation, though.



There are some things that are just never going to look as plausible in live action as they do in animation.

I would hope it would be animated (CGI). I think the action would be a lot larger this way. I also think you could sum up the origin of the legion in about 5 minutes of screen time and then jump ahead about six months with a core group holding try outs to make the legion truly a LEGION. If the film was successful I would set up the second movie to end with the Legion needing to get Superboy to help them because they are overwhelmed. In the third film I would then have it be Superboy & the Legion of Super-Heroes. I would also introduce the Subs at the beginning of the second film so that they could help in the third as well.

The way the origin and early days of the Legion were handled in the reboot could translate quite well to the screen.

The movie would begin with the origin, then have President Chu take over and draft other members into the team so that it would build very quickly. A lot of the tidbits and development of that era could be included: Lyle as the super-spy, Cham not speaking Interlac, Gim as the hardass, Thom as the klutz, Zoe as the fashion hound . . . these "tags" make it easy for the audience to identify with the characters.

The movie could conclude with the Chu sting.

Ideally, I would like to see the preboot characters used, but the reboot did such a wonderful job of fleshing out the Legion's first year and making cinematic use of the characters that it seems a more natural fit.

Origin in flashback would be fine by me.

If animation, the good stuff like Shrek, not the stylistic stuff. Otherwise, real cgi, lol.

"Death of Ferro" I agree with Trips. It is IMO epic and the most compelling of the already written Legion stories that needs the least backstory. I think to "get" Great Darkness you have to either already know the characters or have several reads of the material.

If not Ferro or if new material, then I think Cham as a newby provides the best POV for people new to Legion so I'd want a story wrapped around Chams intro and membership into LSH.

I'd actually go with "Death of Lightning Lad" rather than "Death of Ferro Lad". I'd open up with the origin, but it would about the first fifteen minutes or so. Then use a tryout montage to quickly build up the numbers of the team, and focus on them trying to prove themselves first to Brande, and then to the rest of the U.P. The climax would involve stopping Zaryan and the First Khund Invasion, with Imra concocting a plan to sacrifice herself for the rest of the team, but Garth stepping into her place.

Random thoughts;

The current trend for re-launch movies are to tie the origin event into a larger plotline. So the Fantastic Four's origin involves Dr. Doom and Iron Man's capture involves the Mandarin and Batman's training comes from Ras al-Ghul.

Using this 'formula,' the original founders would save RJ Brande from assassins, and the assassins would be discovered to be working for the Dark Circle, which want to undermine Brande's companies work with the SPs to destabilize the UP. Naturally, it backfires, and Brande organizes a new 'policing' organization in the Legion, which, much like Loki forming the Avengers oh-so-long-ago, only to have his plans foiled by them, allows the Dark Circle to inadvertantly spur the creation of the organization that ends up kicking their butts! (Ditto Ras al-Ghul in Batman Begins unintentionally training Bruce Wayne into the sort of effective and determined individual who can stop his plans to destroy Gotham! Poetic justice! Or a karmic bitchslap, whichever you prefer.)

The origin scene would ideally happen in the first 5 minutes of the movie, introducing the teen founders, and having them foil the Dark Circle assassination attempt on Brande quickly, then having scenes of the old clubhouse and various tryouts play over the introductory credits (as was done during the Watchmen movie, shoehorning historical 'catching up' stuff in during the 'wasted space' of the intro credits, divided half and half between successful tryouts of people like Sun Boy and Shadow Lass, and funny unsuccessful tryouts of people like Porcupine Pete and Infectious Lass, giving an opportunity to Easter Egg some Subs / Rejects / etc. appearances without actually having to give up any limited storytime).

After the credits, cut to the team in space, with slightly older founders leading a team of other Legionnaires with flashy visual powers, such as Sun Boy and Shadow Lass, dealing with Dark Circle piracy or something. Lead into a larger plotline as Imra discovers information about their larger plans, and puts it together with the assassination attempt on Brande 'last year.'

Cue the larger plotline, in which the Dark Circle is using something, perhaps even a Sun-Eater, to destroy the credibility of the UP (turn to the Dark Circle for protection from the world-destroying threat that the UP can't protect you from!). Worlds are voting on whether to secede, etc. and the Legion has to find the Sun-Eater (which hides in subspace or something when not in use), perhaps requiring the introduction of a character like Dawnstar or Shikari, and the Espionage Squad being unveiled as the Legion gains useful insider information from Chameleon Boy, Shrinking Violet and / or Invisible Kid, who are infiltrating the Dark Circle and sending back reports on what world is the next target of the Sun-Eater!

In typical tradition, some things will change, and perhaps that doomed world that the Legion doesn't save will turn out to be Trom, whose last surviving son joins the Legion, seeking to spare other worlds the fate that came to his planet. It's formula that the first encounter with the big threat has to end with the team being beaten back and / or failing, as the awesome power of the Death Star is showcased to establish the bad guys as truly badass. The A-Team (er, I mean Legion) then fall back and weld armor plates to the van (er, I mean recruit some bigger guns, bust out the Fatal Five, whatever) and go back and spectacularly kick the bad-guys asses, with one Legionnaire sacrificing their life to blow up the Sun-Eater. (Which might end up being Invisible Kid, who has used his infiltrator status to sneak aboard the vessel at it's core and detonate it from within, again, marking a difference from the comics, but leaving things similar at the end, with the only 'dead' Legionnaire being one that did already die in continuity, and the Sun-Eater destroyed via the ultimate sacrifice of a Legionnaire, and not-entirely-coincidentally giving Invisible Lyle a more heroic death than the one he got in the comics...)

End with the Legion on Shanghalla, with mention of new recruits arriving from all over the United Planets, inspired by how Lyle Norg and the Legion saved the United Planets from the Sun-Eater threat, leaving the show on a high note, despite the final scene being of a graveyard.

My brother and I have discussed this MANY a time, and have come to this conclusion:

1st movie: a whole, large Legion faces the Dark Circle, headed by the disgruntled Leland McCauley, who hires the Fatal Five to go to the past and kill young Superman (who doesn't actually make an appearance, just mentioned as greatest hero or something). The Dark Circle storms the time institute, where the Legion meets them and fights. The Fatal Five (minus Validus because of size) escapes to the past in a time bubble. Legionnaires Cosmic Boy, Saturn Girl, Lightning Lad, Brainiac 5, Shikari, Wildfire, and Karate Kid get to a still intact bubble and follow, leaving the rest of the Legion to face a Dark Circle army and Validus, some good fight scenes. Throughout the movie, we flashback to key Legion moments, such as founding with the three, freeing Mon-El form the Phantom Zone, and others, to give the history and such necessary. Brainiac 5 takes down Tharok in a fight (with thier brains too!), Karate Kid takes Mano (because Mano can't lay a hand on him), Wildfire lets Persuader cut his suit, detonating it and stopping Persuader, and the rest gang up on Emerald Empress, plus L. McCauley might have snuck aboard as well and Shikari could have hunted him down so he didn't shoot lil' Kal-El. At the end, when faced with being trapped in the past, Brainiac 5 tells the rest of them "The time institute will most likely NOT attempt to rescue us" and when they all complain, he says "but I estimate a 99.9% chance that Invisible Kid has already convinced them that we can and may already have altered the past, and thus have florged the whole timeline up". that or elemant Lad, as we may have Validus kill Invisible Kid...

2nd movie: Basically the story from '84 Levitz-Giffen run where the Villains all got together and took on the Legion that way. This would give VILLAIN backstory this time, especially with Mekt (whom we beleive the perfect casting would be Mark-Paul Gossaler from Saved By The Bell and Raising The Bar fame...seriously, look at him with long hair, imagine it white and him crazy...), and killing Karate Kid. Perhaps do the KK-Princess Projectra wedding beforehand or when the bad stuff goes down, twisting the knife in the viewer's backs...y'know what I mean...

3rd movie: The return of the Fatal Five as they have escaped their cells on Takron Galtos and freed other prisoners, taking over the planet as a criminal war-world! But wait, because the Sun-Eater is coming! So that's two problems, the solution being the whole working WITH Fatal 5 + Ferro dying = great movie and amazingly depressing/crazy awesome way to end the trilogy!

What then?; Perhaps a live-action show a-la Stargate or something with the whole series running through a Dominator War?

BTW, I'm dying to know if someone here is responsible for the faux movie trailer ...

Realistically, I think a kick-ass PiXar movie would make the most sense. If money were no object, live-action would be amazing!

I'd want it to be an original story with a full Legion membership in place. (the origin can be retold pretty quickly and simply) I'd keep the inspiration as a "young Superman" and throw him in as a cameo at the end to help end the threat. (maybe not even in costume)

*OR*
The whole story would almost be a replaying of the Legion relaunches with the bad guy (Time Trapper as Big Bad using pawns like Fatal Five) removing Superboy as the inspiration as a way to destroy the adventure era Legion. (general audiences will be familiar with the concept from "Terminator" which might help) There'd be a reboot one third through the film, but the Legion would somehow find a way to still emerge (a la TMK) and reinstate the inspiration as a "young Superman" leading to another reboot before the finale with a more modern Legion in place with Superman to help defeat the Time Trapper at the end.

I'd go with an established legion early on bringing in Superboy. I would sprinkle in the SP's chasing the members of the fatal five in the first twenty minutes or so. After Superboy is officially a member, it would spin into the sun eater and the legion gathering the fatal five. The climax would be the death of Ferro. This would have a big impact on Superboy and show him the meaning of sacrifice. The movie would fade with Superboy returning to the 20th century to his folks. At the very end, his legion ring would glow, the signal for him that he was needed again.

This sounds Superboy centric, and he would be the locus, true, but he wouldn't be the main feature, it would be the legion and how, even though they were inspired by his adult self in the past, how they also inspired him in the future. Kind of a self fulfilling prophecy so to speak.

Sorry, I know that many believe that Superboy takes away too much from the legion, but the legion ain't the legion without him. And Superboy with the legion is vastly more interesting to me than Superman ever was.

The second movie would be Mordru and the Dark Circle. The earthwar saga is still my favorite Legion story of all time. Sherman's art just blew me away and the story was great. I would include Supergirl in it so she would be available for the third movie.


The third movie would be, of course, the Great Darkness Saga.

And whoever they used for Darkside, please give him a deep, menacing, gravelly voice. If its animation, make sure its someone that gets the flow of the speech. Michael Ironsides is a good actor, but his Darkside was too...well, it didn't match the man or the charcter. The guy should make you crap your shorts just by saying "hello".

I like the idea of a Great Darkness Legion movie with a brief origin story recap at the start.

And the Pixar idea wasn't a bad one either, although I think I'd more prefer the super-realistic style used in Final Fantasy and Final Flight of the Osirasis animations flicks--if the computer generated animation method is used.

However--and I admit that I've said this before--the best route to take would be japanese style anime with a fuller North American frame rate. I can just imagine how cool that would look! Whooo Boy!!!

Anime, manga... might be too distracting for me, I guess it makes me think of the old speed-racer cartoons with the mouths. lol.

Pixar style? I don't know, maybe. When I think of the humans in Shrek, I think no, but when I think of The Incredibles I think it would work for me.

I think I prefer humans, even if casting can open up those cans of worms.

Story: Of those suggested the "new story line" idea sounds best to me as long as they pick a Legion version and stick to and build upon that canon. Originally I posted "Ferro Lad" but I'd just be peeved if they messed it up to get more screen time for the inevitable casting of Samuel L Jackson and Nicholas Cage.

I don't require the Legion movie to hold to any specific era of the comics. In fact, I specifically don't want it to. Comic book movies aren't usually based on only one era of the source material. They are never in continuity with the comics, so that's not a concern. In most cases, there are good ideas in more than one era of a series.

One thing I would prefer, is that the comic-book movie 'formula' of killing off the villain(s) at the end (see, most Batman movies, most Spider-Man movies, etc.) isn't followed.

The 'no killing rule' and quirky sense of optimism and *heroism* is a big part of the Legion draw for me. Turning them into grim warrior types fighting some intergalactic war or something would, IMO, rip the soul out of what makes them Legion.

Set, we agree on that. The legion was always about not killing. I realize that the actors would have to be fudged a bit agewise, but the overall tenor of the movies should start out with them being teens, not road warriors. Its okay for hollywood to show a little optimism, as long as they don't go stupid hookey.

Thats really why the Harry Potter stuff did so well, even though it was a kids story to begin with, it wasn't written syrupy sweet or dumbed down.

gene merodes or something like that. COOL movie - love it!!! I love their individual logos. love it.

Kristen Bell as Saturn Girl

Mark Paul Gossaler as Mekt Ranzz

And most definitely Kane Hodder as Persuader

These are almost must-haves.

I totally wanna' see Sam Phillips as the Emerald Empress.

Oh, yeah. I saw the youtube name. I was just wondering if he had an alias over here.

My favorite moment was definitely Colossal Boy's hand coming down. (Yes, i R big dork, it's true.)

I don't think I'd want an origin story, maybe a hint of one in the titles but I think the titles should set up the universe. It should start like X Men 1 with an outsider coming into an established world. Probably Supergirl or Superboy although with the superman movies as well as personal preference I'd want Supergirl.

As for story, I'd keep Waid's political movement idea. Actualy I'd do it a lot like the threeboot. The post zero hour team could look very much like Sky High and the pre crisis Legion is a bit distant from what we would do today. I'd keep the relationships from the silver age legion though.

I agree that the ADV 247-type origin and the Death of LL should be the first story arcs. I would try to lace in the idea that try-outs are an on-going thing with the team. Its a wonderful way to introduce characters who are an important part of LSH lore as well as throwaways. I really liked JLI's "Far From Home" animation, but I don't think you can do that as a 1 1/2HR theatrical release. Marvel seems to be doing non-theatrical DVD releases what's wrong with that for LSH.

The 2nd movie would briefly introduce the Fatal Five, probably in a big fight early in the movie and then the story would settle down to more character-driven / adventures in the 31st century. Ferro joins, etc.

The 3rd would then be the big "Sun Eater" epic. interwoven with the revival of LL to balance Ferro's sacrifice.

The next two back to smaller events, dealing with LL's return and Ferro's death, tryouts always tryouts, No big epic battles though you'd plant the seeds for Computo.

6th=Computo epic.

Back to the no so huge epic stories where we learn more about the characters as they deal with the aftermath of Computo.

And on and on. Every story doesn't have to be a mammoth-themed, large scale epic where some secret is revealed and a battle is fought that will "decide the fate of the universe".