How Many DC Movies Is Warner Bros. Developing Along With 'Justice League?'

In the wake of the uber-massive-success of Marvel's The Avengers, it wasn't a huge surprise to hear that Warner Bros. had hired a writer to revive Justice League. They're DC's answer to the superhero team and a project has been in various stages of development for several years. The key to The Avengers, though, wasn't just that it was a good movie. Much of its success was because it was more than a movie. The Avengers was an event with a four year, five film build up that started with Iron Man in 2008. Which begs the question, will Warner Bros. attempt to go the same route or will they jump right into a Justice League movie?

A report from Variety suggests the former. They've dug up that in addition to Zack Snyder's Man of Steel, the Justice League news, and the Wonder Woman news, Warner Bros. has six other characters at various stages of development. And no, that does not include Green Lantern or Batman, both of which might get rebooted. Read what's what after the jump.

According to Variety, Warner Bros. is currently developing Justice League, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Aquaman, Green Arrow, Lobo, Suicide Squad and Shazam. We'd heard about almost all of these in the past, but have likely forgotten because the latest updates were years ago. Others, such as Justice League, Wonder Woman and Lobo, recently got new writers. For the latest on each, click on the links.

There's also the question of what happens to Batman after Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale hang up the cowl with The Dark Knight Rises. Bale has suggested he'd come back in Nolan did, but Warner Bros. is betting another reboot is in order.

And what of Man of Steel, Zack Snyder's Superman movie set for release in 2013? That seems like the ideal, perfect place to pull an Iron Man, throw in a little reference after the credits and begin the cycle but preliminary reports suggest Snyder isn't interested in that.

Then there's Green Lantern, Martin Campbell's 2011 bomb starring Ryan Reynolds. Variety's report says Warners is already thinking of rebooting the franchise as opposed to just moving ahead with a sequel and bringing back Ryan Reynolds (for which a script was already commissioned a few years back ). The decision has yet to be made, however, I hope they go sequel. The film was obviously a mess but the groundwork was set and Reynolds is great. I digress.

One major component in several of those films is Christopher Nolan, directing one and producing another, and the article seems to suggest that after The Dark Knight Rises is out, Warner's will see just how involved he wants to be with the whole thing. Could he be their Kevin Feige? I thought that was Geoff Johns' responsibility?

Anyway, there are a lot of questions that need to be answered in the coming months at Warner Bros. considering how they plan on organizing all these incredible properties and getting talented people to go ahead and make it work. But the foundation has certainly been set in a major way. The main question is, will they have the guts to go for it in as big a way, or bigger, than Marvel did?

Do you think Warner Bros. needs to make a bunch of origin films before Justice League? How many would suffice and which ones would it be? Should Man of Steel be the unofficial start? Do you keep Ryan Reynolds as Green Lantern?