237(1): Redoing my Life, This Could Be a Problem

This is only half the chapter; I’ll post the rest with 238.

Chapter 238 will be a big one. I’m planning lots of reactions and worldbuilding I’ve been putting off, plus a few other things. Been scouring my notes for two days.

Also, it’s been a slow week because I've been very tired due to not being to eat much due to the stomach bug i caught last saturday.

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“It’s fine, Grant. I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” I said.

“Still…” Grant Gustin’s voice trailed through the phone, full of hesitation. “I don’t know… I feel like I let everyone down.”

I sighed.

What Grant was calling me about was how The Flash had ended up being the lowest-performing film in the DCU so far. Reviews had started strong, but the numbers dipped slightly as time passed. It was still sitting at a 75% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes and an 88% audience score, which was solid.

The box office, too, was the lowest $703 million profitable, but underwhelming by comparison, especially when stacked up against Superman or The Batman. And I understood why Grant felt the way he did. This was his first big movie. Henry Cavill, Jensen Ackles, and Alexandra Daddario were already established stars in some capacity Grant wasn’t. His biggest success before this had been on television. Now he had just led a massive superhero blockbuster, and he felt like he’d let it down.

Which was very silly, since earning $700 million is nothing to balk at, but Grant kept comparing it to other DC films, not movies overall.

“You’re being too hard on yourself,” I told him. “We made our money back. Everyone that matters enjoyed it. DVD preorders are looking strong. It’s a win, Grant.”

“…Okay,” Grant said after a pause.

“Now,” I added with a grin, “why don’t you and Hayley take a little vacation? Clear your head.”

There was a faint chuckle on the other end. “Yeah. Maybe that’s a good idea.”

“And remember,” I said, teasing, “I’m writing Justice League now. If you don’t want me to kill off the Flash, do exactly as I say.”

Grant laughed. “Alright, alright. I get it.”

The call ended.

I dropped the phone on the desk and rubbed my forehead.

“He’s taking it too hard,” I muttered.

From my laptop screen, a familiar voice replied, “Yeah, seems like the trolls got to him.”

I turned to see Scott Snyder’s face on the screen.

“Yep,” I agreed, sitting down. “That’ll do it.”

Scott and I were deep into our weekly Justice League brainstorming session. The movie was still two years away, but we’d started on the script a while ago. I was in L.A., and Scott was in Long Island. Every week we jumped on a call to hash out new ideas, different angles, set pieces, character arcs, anything that could make Justice League one of the best team movies, even surpassing Avengers, which was a tall order.

“So… the Hyperclan?” Scott said, picking up where we left off before Grant had called.

I rubbed my temples. “I don’t know, Scott. The Hyperclan might be too early. I mean if we do them now, then what happens if we ever want to do Legion of Doom, which I want to do after this? It’ll start feeling like the Justice League’s whole deal is just fighting other evil teams.”

He nodded slowly. “Yeah, that’s fair. I mean, it can’t just be the Martians.”

“Agreed,” I said. “But what if we twist it a bit? Not just an alien invasion. We frame it like War of the Worlds meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers. There's something strange happening across the globe. People are disappearing. Paranoia sets in. Each hero is investigating something different in their city.”

Scott listened closely, eyes narrowed with interest.

“And then,” I continued, “they meet but they don’t trust each other. They could even fight. Until Manhunter shows up, reveals the truth, and brings everyone together.”

The concept was inspired by an episode of the Justice League animated series I remembered from my previous life. I checked if it existed here as well; it didn’t. In this world, the animated series had different episodes—the White Martian story had been replaced with Starro.

Scott nodded again. “Could work. But… won’t people expect something more like Avengers?”

I leaned forward. “I mean, it still is that, right? Heroes meet, don’t trust each other, fight each other, then team up for the final invasion just done our way.”

Scott smiled. “Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Let’s put this one on the A-tier.”

“Go for it,” I said.

Scott leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. “Y’know… maybe we use the White Martians to explain why the JSA era of heroes didn’t last into the modern day. We’ve already established that Batman was the first real hero in years, decades, even after the Golden Age.”

I perked up. “Huh. I was originally going to use ARGUS or some other black-ops–type group, maybe a quiet government crackdown on metahumans. But… White Martians might just work better, yeah.”

Scott nodded, satisfied. “Alright, I think that’s it on my end. Got anything else?”

I shook my head. “Nah, that’s a wrap for me too.”

With work out of the way, Scott and I moved on to some small talk.

He grinned. “So, I hear you’re going to D23.”

I chuckled. “Yeah. Feige and Iger both invited me personally.”

Scott laughed. “They really want you to work for them, huh?”

I shrugged, half-joking. “Hey, I won’t lie, I'm intrigued by Star Wars. Maybe once I’m done with DC.”

Scott raised an eyebrow. “Done? I thought you’d go down with this ship. Be in it ’til the end.”

I leaned back. “Every captain has to retire sometime. I plan to step away before the ship sinks, Scott and let’s hope it won’t. I think I’ll step away after I finish the story I set out to tell, maybe after the last Justice League movie with Darkseid. Tie up everyone’s arcs. Then leave the next saga Crisis and multiverse stuff to someone else. Maybe they can use that to reboot and keep this train chugging along.”

Scott smiled. “Reboot,” he muttered. “Jesus.” He started laughing.

I laughed with him. “Yeah, yeah. But seriously, maybe after that, I’ll throw my hat in the ring for Star Wars. Just to see what I can do with it.”

“Well, let’s just hope Disney knows what they’re doing until then.”

I groaned. “Don’t get your hopes up, my friend.”

We wrapped the call not long after. I shut the laptop, stood, walked out of my office, and dropped onto the couch in my living room.

I took out my phone and started checking texts.

Nothing from Margot.

Our last conversation had been her boarding her flight to Australia from New Zealand. She was going to visit her mother and come back a week later. But it was strange she hadn’t messaged to say she’d arrived; she must have landed hours ago.

I moved on.

There were a few other messages: one from Phil, one from Carter, and one from Mom.

I opened Phil’s first.

“It can’t happen this year. The house we were planning to use has an interested buyer. Sorry, Big D.”

I tapped out a quick response: “No worries. Let’s definitely do it next year. Go all out. Bigger, crazier.”

Phil and I had been planning to scare the hell out of Margot, Claire, and Lucy ever since they got us with their own prank. We’d vowed revenge. This year was supposed to be when we’d get our revenge… but things hadn’t gone the way we wanted. I got too busy, and now Phil had lost the perfect location. Next year, though. Next year we’d make it happen.

I backed out and opened Carter’s message he was texting about the loan I planned to take to buy a stake in the Golden State Warriors.

“Honestly, taking a loan right now is low risk for someone in your position. I still have contacts in the NBA want me to check out this deal?”

I texted back: “No need for that. Just give me the details on the loan. Come by the Midas office next week.”

Then I opened the last one Mom.

“Did you get that toy Alice wanted?”

I laughed. “No idea where she saw it, Mom. Haven’t found it yet.”

She replied almost immediately. “You and Nathan have spoiled her rotten.”

I smiled as I typed back: “She’s my sister. That’s the job. I’ll be coming by next week maybe I’ll take her on a little shopping spree.”

“That’s the problem, Danny…” she replied. I could hear the exasperation through the text.

I laughed out loud.

I had more unread messages, one from the DCU cast group chat, another from Matt, John, Lucia, and Joanna, and one from Joe Manganiello.

I was about to open them when the doorbell rang.

My brows furrowed.

Did I order anything?

No… no, I didn’t.

I stood up slowly, still holding my phone, and walked to the door.

I pulled it open—

My eyes widened in surprise.

“What the—”