If I could control the DC movie universe...

So two things,

First, I haven't posted in a bit due to some personal craziness that is good I've just been crazy busy.  Second,  I recently have been in conversation with some fellow comic book fans on what DC should do on the heels of the Man of Steel (the trailer looks great) and the coming Justice League movie.  Now, in the interest in transparency, I did spend about a month or so this summer writing a script for a Justice League movie. (anyone reading this that knows someone in Hollywood, I'd love a lead...)  Now, until I register it, I won't be devolving specific details, I will, in the interest of this post, go through some rules that I think that Warner Brothers and DC Comics should adhere to in planning out their movie universe, and that I used to writing my script.  So here we go:

1. Be inspired by what Marvel has done but don't copy it.  I think the most important thing is for DC to see how Marvel has had success and do something different instead of copying them.  They could have a story of the Justice League fighting Darkseid's shock troopers and parademons but how different is that from the Avengers.  My theory and suggestion is do something different. Which bring us to some specifics of doing something different.  
2. Cast - Go Big and Go Diverse.  I think that most non-fans know at least 5-6 of the Big 7 - most of my students know or have some knowledge of Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern and Aquaman, so there is no origin movie needed before the movie for most of them.  Most people have not heard of most of the Avengers cast before the individual movies- but DC doesn't have to worry about that.  So I say, go with the Big 7 - and add on recognizable characters from other DC proprieties like John Stewart, Hawkgirl, Cyborg and Starfire- popular characters from DC cartoons and whom also bring diversity that the Avengers sorely lacked.  Use some of the not as well known characters as the point of view characters.  
3. Villains - Don't go big army with one bad guy aka Loki and the Chitarui.  Instead go with a villain trying to bring Darkseid to Earth, and work in maybe a more power house or powerful character to fight characters like Superman or Wonder Woman or use, ala New Frontier, Dinosaur Island to occupy our heroes.  Use Darkseid or an equally powerful villain at the end for the whole team to fight and barely win. 
4. Counter-government - While at the end of the Avengers, the team turns against SHIELD control, I'd say work it the other way - The League wants nothing to do with Waller, resists government control and Waller is trying to manipulate them.  They are also seen by the governments as both guardian angels but potential threats.  
5. Not the bickering type - Whedon thought was that the Avengers shouldn't exist and the Loki was trying to pull them apart.  The Justice League should be the gathering of heroes who don't have time to bicker (but can make jokes) but have to work together due to the threat of the event.  
6. Prior Relationships - I think it's ok to establish that certain characters have a previous unseen relationship - Superman can have met Wonder Woman, or have worked with Batman, or Batman might have worked with Flash on case before- but to keep those interactions few for two reasons - 1. not to loose audiences on the backstory and 2. the idea of young characters making up the Justice League.

So that's the movie, but after the movie, I'd have the movie universe go in a few directions.  I would keep the solo movies to certain headline characters, Flash, Wonder Woman, ect.  One of DC's strengths is the idea of legacy and family of these characters, which allows a franchise of movies focusing on different generations of characters under the same 'famil' or 'legacy'. I would also use the Justice League movie to set up some team movies- If Cyborg and Starfire are in the Justice League, have them spin out to a Teen Titans movie.  Maybe have a character find themselves on another Earth where Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are dead, and they have to work with other heroes against a threat.  Or even have Batman start a pro-active black ops teams to work in the shadows whereas the League is very public.  

I'd also take advantage that there are plenty of properties that would work well TV.  Arrow is ok-good, better than the 1st season of Smallville in my opinion, but I think Arrow and any other DC (or Marvel for that matter) property would do better on either a network like USA or FX (or even HBO or Starz or Cinemax) which allows for mature storytelling and also need less episodes in a season.  Arrow has already suffered from too many filler episodes or filler in episodes.  While I understand fans concerns that shorter seasons of shows Game of Thrones feels to compact, I would follow the format of Doctor Who.  12-16 episode seasons should fulfill the need for compact/tight story telling but also give the room to not feel too compact.  

So there you go - perhaps later, I'll list exactly what the plan would be for the movie universe....