Heroes we really want to see have a cameo in Justice League

With “Suicide Squad” opening last week (4 Aug) and the recent “Justice League” footage from Comic Con (not to mention “Wonder Woman”), DC fans everywhere must be excited that it’s finally time for their favourite characters to shine in the spotlight that Marvel has hogged for so long.

We already know Barry Allen/The Flash (Ezra Miller), Aquaman (Jason Momoa) and Cyborg (Ray Fisher) will be joining up with Bruce Wayne/Batman (Ben Affleck) and Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot), and quite possibly the other guy (spoiler warning, just in case you haven’t watched “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice”).

But of course, the Justice League is home to many amazing characters, and everyone has his or her favourite character who isn’t going to play a main role in the movie. Still, that doesn’t mean that they can’t be teased in one way or another. Here is a list of our favourites that we hope to see on the big screen.

Green Lantern (Hal Jordan version)

(Photo via The Wrap)

If you’re familiar with TV network The CW’s “Arrow” and “The Flash”, you may already know that the character of Hal Jordan has been teased several times.

If not, you may have remembered the role being played by Ryan Reynolds, who probably realised green wasn’t his colour and didn’t show off his not-as-powerful-as-Chris-Evan’s ass.

Long story short, Hal Jordan is a fighter pilot who comes into possession of a ring (that doesn’t need to be destroyed to save the world). The ring gives him power as a member The Green Lantern Corp, a sorta galactic peacekeeping corp. Using willpower, he can create constructs, fly, and basically cost the film a fair bit for computer graphics.

Why he’s needed: Marvel is pushing ahead with their galactic offerings in “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2″ and “Captain Marvel”, not to mention the Thor movies and the hotly anticipated Avengers: Infinity War.

DC needs a bit of catch-up in this department to expand their universe beyond Earth, and The Green Lantern would be perfect for this role. Plus, he’s an original member of the Justice League. And someone needs to redeem that role after Reynolds redeemed himself in “Deadpool”.

Martian Manhunter

(Photo via ComicBook.com)

J'onn J'onzz is well-known to many DC fans, as well as those who’ve watched the Supergirl television series. He’s very obviously alien, has telepathic abilities, has most of Superman’s powers, and can shapeshift. Basically, he’s been termed the Swiss Army Knife of superheroes, and it’s hard not to see why.

Because of DC’s somewhat messy continuity, the Martian Manhunter’s backstory differs slightly depending on which universe you’re looking at. In a nutshell, he was born on Mars when Mars was still a thriving civilisation way ahead of Earth. J’onn’s race was destroyed, in some storylines, after a civil war between green-skinned and white-skinned Martians, leaving him as the last of his kind.

While on Earth, he often shapeshifts into a form that is said to be neither completely Martian nor human, but a compromise in between. He often finds work as a detective (a Manhunter was basically a Martian policeman), before joining up with the Justice League.

Why he’s needed: there are several reasons why the Martian Manhunter would be great for DC’s film universe, most notably because Superman is, well, Superman. And Superman may one day get too big for his own movie.

Think about how Marvel has moved towards introducing the less popular and prominent members of the Avengers in their own movies, while established ones like Iron Man start integrating into the universe as a whole.

There’s basically only that much of Superman we can take in a single sitting. Even the original Man of Steel 2 project was changed into the “Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice” that exists today.

Additionally, having the Martian Manhunter opens up other options for DC films, much like how “Wonder Woman” tells the backstory of Diana. Let’s also not forget that, like the Green Lantern, the Manhunter is a founding member of the original Justice League.

The Green Arrow and the Black Canary

Stephen Amell as the Green Arrow on “Arrow”. (Photo via ET Online)

Oliver Queen and Laurel Lance will be familiar names to anyone who has spent enough time watching CW’s “Arrow” series, and their inclusion in a film universe might be shaky because of their prominence on the TV screen, but that hasn’t stopped a Barry Allen (played by Grant Gustin on TV) from appearing, of course.

The Green Arrow is a vigilante like Batman, relying on his skills and tech to combat his opponents, instead of any special superhuman powers.

The origin story for the Green Arrow is also somewhat similar to Batman’s — Oliver Queen is a playboy billionaire who got stranded on a deserted island where he learnt survival skills that helped him to be the crime-fighter he is today.

Katie Cassidy as Laurel Lance/The Black Canary on “Arrow”. (Photo via TVLine)

Black Canary’s is a little more complicated (thanks again to DC’s changes), so her iconic Canary Cry, using sonic waves, is either a product of technology, a metahuman gene, or being cursed by a wizard (yes, really).

The two generally come as a pair (they’re usually lovers) and fight crime in Star City, but they have also themed up with the Justice League on many occasions.

Why they’re needed: having the Green Arrow around will definitely give Batfleck some solace at not being the only non-super-powered guy in the bunch, while the Black Canary would most definitely please those who’d like to see more female superheroes on the big screen.

Besides, the Avengers have Hawkeye, who has never gotten his own movie either, so they could slot Oliver Queen in nicely without having to worry too much about fleshing out his backstory.

Or they could just grab Stephen Amell and Katie Cassidy (who play the Green Arrow and the Black Canary on TV) from the CW and bring them over to the movie universe.

Zatanna

(Photo via Comic Vine)

The DC film universe hasn’t really ventured into the realm of the occult and magic yet, but fans of the Justice League will definitely recognise the name Zatanna.

One of the DC universe’s greatest magic-users, Zatanna isn’t just a superhero mage, she’s also a prominent stage performer.

She comes from a great lineage of magicians (in the DC universe anyway), which includes Leonardo da Vinci, and counts among them an ancestor from Atlantis (Aquaman’s home), which just basically means she’s very powerful.

In addition to controlling all the elements, she can also move things with her mind, teleport and travel through dimensions. All that while looking cooler than the Four Horsemen from “Now You See Me”.

Why she’s needed: Marvel is already touching upon magic with the introduction of Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, and they’ve explored other aspects of the occult in Netflix’s “Daredevil”, which remains connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe despite the lack of cameos.

Sure, the upcoming “Suicide Squad” might add a bit of depth to that with the introduction of the Enchantress, but surely a full-fledged magic-using member of the Justice League would be much higher profile.

Additionally, she’d probably be a better option than Doctor Fate (another sorcerer in the DC universe), even if it was just to avoid comparisons with “Doctor Strange”.

The Wonder Twins

Those of a certain generation will remember the Wonder Twins Zan and Jayna. Together with their space monkey, Gleek, they appeared on the Superfriends TV series in the 70s and 80s, along with famous names like Superman, Batman, Aquaman and Wonder Woman.

The twins have some interesting powers, with Jayna being able to transform into any animal (regardless of whether it’s an actual creature or a mythological ones), while Zan can become water in any form and also absorb the water in the surrounding area. Which basically means he can become a typhoon or a bucket of water.

To activate their powers, they need to touch each other and speak the magic phrase “Wonder Twin powers activate”. If they can’t touch each other, no fancy transformation.

Why they’re needed: look, Marvel made an awesome movie with a talking raccoon and a tree-alien that says five words. There’s no better way to prove that DC is capable of catering to similar audiences than a pair of alien twins with a space monkey.

(Photo: Hanna-Barbera via Youtube)

It’s understandable, of course, that this list won’t please everyone. There’s always someone out there who likes another character or doesn’t like one of those listed, or basically knows the DC universe better than we do.

However, it may seem a bit greedy to hope for a massive influx of Justice League characters at this stage of the DC film universe’s life.

Maybe one day we’ll get to see Hawkgirl and Hawkman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Atom and Firestorm, among others, on the big screen. But for now, we’ll just have to settle for “Suicide Squad”.