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Going the Extra League

News
12 December 2018
Looking at movie leagues.
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DCโ€™s superheroes come together this weekend in your Sunday night movie on M-Net, Justice League. Forming this powerhouse of superpowers is Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg, and The Flash; but theyโ€™re hardly cinema's first league of legends. We take a look at five others.

  1. 20ย 000 Leagues Under the Sea

Of course, league doesnโ€™t always refer to a collection of people but also a unit of measurement. Captain Nemo hurtles through 20ย 000 of these units underwater in Disneyโ€™s 1954 live-action adaptation of Jules Verneโ€™s underwater classic.

READ MORE: Book to movie adaptations.

20 000 Leagues Under the Sea - Photo by Ed Clark:The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images

  1. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Much like Justice League brings together a collection of comic book characters, this 2003 film brings together a collection of literary characters, including the above-mentioned Captain Nemo. Joining him on his extraordinary adventures are Sean Connery as Allan Quatermain from King Solomonโ€™s Mines, Mina Harker from Dracula, Oscar Wildeโ€™s Dorian Gray, Sherlock Holmesโ€™ nemesis James Moriarty, and Moby Dickโ€™s Ishmael, amongst others.

READ MORE: The next James Bond.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen - Photo by Juergen Vollmer:Popperfoto:Getty Images

  1. A League of their Own

Leagues get sporty in this early โ€˜90s dramedy about an all-female baseball league, managed by Tom Hanksโ€™s Jimmy Dugan. Remember the song This Used to Be My Playground? It features over the closing credits, sung by Madonna who also appeared in the film.

READ MORE: Top 5 Tom Hanks' movies.

Rosie O''Donnell and Madonna at the New York premiere of A League of their Own - Photo by Fame:Liaison

  1. Major League

Another sporty entry, this one dating a few years earlier, it stars Charlie Sheen who played baseball in high school and starred in another baseball movie, Eight Men Out, just prior to this movieโ€™s release. Other familiar faces include Tom Berenger, Wesley Snipes, and Corbin Bernsen in the midst of his L.A. Law fame.ย ย 

Tom Berenger and Charlie Sheen promoting Major League - Photo by Janet Macoska:Michael Ochs Archives:Getty Images

  1. Sheโ€™s Out of my League

This more recent entry is a rom-com applying a metaphorical use of the word league, as Jay Baruchel's Kirk Kettner falls for a girl his friends deem unattainable. It's cute, it's funny, but you only need so many guesses to know how this one ends.

Jay Baruchel and Alice Eve at the Las Vegas premiere of She's Out of My League - Photo by Steven Lawton:FilmMagic

Join the ultimate superhero league in your #SundayNightMovie Justice League on 16 December at 20:05 on M-Net channel 101.