As for Aquaman, I personally prefer the newer bad-ass one as King of Atlantis to the older, whatever the hell he did, character. Compared to other JLA cast-members, Aquaman sits pretty low (Batman being my favorite).
Whatever he did? He, um, well, he talked to fish. That's right! He talked to fish! The King of Atlantis thing is definitely cooler, but it is an obvious ripoff of Namor now.
The only issue with either of these two water heroes is that they are useless outside of water, and most villains, being human and all, breathe air and prefer to stay on land. I never understood the Entourage created draw to Aquaman personally, but it has created a fanboyish desire for a movie.
...As for the proposed Avengers movie, my estimate is that the "New Avengers" seems to make far more sense in today's context given the characters who already have movies, or those who will in a very short period of time (I believe Thor and Cap coming after Iron Man). They're more recognizable, IMO, have a bit more story behind them, and really anything with Spider-Man is going to draw more people in these days... Thats just the way it has worked so far.
I agree that New Avengers has more draw considering the target demographic. I am closing on 30 (28 now) and I am drifting away from the target demographic. Even though I read the comics as a kid I have to admit that the original Avengers were not exactly the most exciting bunch. Looking at the three mainstays, Cap, Iron Man, and Thor, they were a righteous bunch of do-gooders while the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and a few individual heroes, such as Spiderman, were more awesome in that they were gruff, dealt with lots of personal issues, and had a bad side.
All that said:
Given that Spider-Man belongs to Sony, Wolverine to Fox, and I believe the rest would be "exclusive" to Marvel's new production company, we'd have to see how the characters are used.
Unless Marvel has some sort of clause in the licensing agreement that allows them to use their characters in other non-solo movies we may see the originals out of necessity.
I'd love to see McGuire, Jackman, and Downey Jr. matched with the upcoming characters... Furthermore, with the right director (Snyder? Favreau?), it could really be awesome.
Suddenly the paychecks just pushed the budget higher than Spiderman's alone.
Despite my love for anything Batman, I hate Superman too much to pick JLA over The New Avengers. But thats just me...
Well, let's all be honest here: Marvel has much cooler characters. If I had to choose it would always be Marvel over DC, but if I can get both I will take it, because Superman is where it all began, so there is history there.
