Well no-one knows for sure and certainly for me it is all guess work but you can't help but think that DC is still thinking they can compete with Marvel with a 2015/2016 release date. BUT surely anyone can conclude that this time DC should just admit defeat and just accept that Marvel just beaten them to it on this occasion. You can't compete with what Marvel did. The reason The Avengers made so much money this time last year was because of how well they introduced all the characters in their own stand alone films. Imagine if after Iron Man they had just gone ahead with an Avengers movie without ever introducing us to Thor and whoever else. The film would have never broken all the records it did.
Now I recognise that the Justice League and The Avengers have very different tones and perhaps doing a bunch of set up films may not be ideal for the kind of film fans will pay for. They must start by introducing the new characters that the mainstream audience either don't know about or aren't interested in. Despite my own problems with Man of Steel (see my review for more on that) it was a good way of introducing Superman to today's audience. They gave him his own tone and didn't completely take the Batman Begins approach. This can be done for characters like Flash, Wonder Woman and even Aquaman. They just have to find the right tone. As for Green Lantern I was happy with the 2011 film and I would just reintroduce him with some kind of sequel.
One of the most glaring problems for DC is Batman. After Nolan's trilogy no-one really knows how to reintroduce him for a Justice League movie. The answer is simple. You wait. Give all these other superheroes a chance at a movie before trying to bring Batman back to the big screen. Nolan created a Batman that everyone loved and cared about, but that story is over and he needs to be somewhat rethought out and the audience needs time to a different take on Batman. But when they do bring him back this is what will separate DC's build up from Marvel's. They reintroduce Batman in a Batman & Superman crossover film after a Man of Steel sequel. By doing it like this it automatically introduces Batman as character that exists within a wider universe. This film should be Batman centric but includes Superman as a character who recognises Batman's skill and is trying to recruit him for a team of superheroes. This Batman should still be dealing with the death of his parents and eventually sees the Justice League as a way of coping with it. You could have the story being Batman having a new kind of family without it coming off as sappy.
I hope you all enjoyed my ideas for the DC expanded universe and I also hope that if anyone knows a Warner Bros. executive you send them my way.
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Steven Hunt's ideas for Justice League - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOc7wdFOigY&feature=c4-overview&list=UUtCnugua4UR8eldyQ55Ktpg
