Hot on the heels of our recent report suggesting the WB had started zeroing in a new Batman – with Armie Hammer one of the names on the short list – for their “Justice League” exercise, The L.A Times has revealed that the superhero blockbuster looks to be hurriedly making it’s way towards the cameras, shooting next year for a 2015 release.

If the report is accurate, that would pit the film against another big superhero team-up due the same year, “The Avengers 2″.

Warners are said to be working on casting the thing, and finding a director (both Christopher Nolan and Ben Affleck have already passed on the opportunity of being involved), now that they’ve got a script – by “Gangster Squad” scribe Will Beall – coming together.

Had Warners lost that big court case over the rights to ‘Superman’ this week, and not reached a new agreement with the estates of Joe Shuster and co-creator Jerry Siegel, they wouldn’t have been able to use ‘Superman’ in the “Justice League” film – let alone any other future film. The uncertainty of the whole thing had WB concerned about “Justice League”, naturally, since Superman is a huge constituent of the gang. With a deal now made though, plans to add the Boy in Blue with his ‘Super Friends’ can push on.

As our Armie Hammer/Batman story stressed, the WB’s plan is to bring the superheroes together – Superman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern and so on – for “Justice League” before spinning them off into their own solo movies.