Will The DC Cinematic Universe Work Out?

[Lozjam]

So, all the way back in 2008, Marvel launched something extremely ambitious, cunning, and brilliant plan. Marvel, in the vain of having a large set of disappointing Super Hero movies, planned an entire reset to its apparent universe. They completely reset the lore for each superhero, and culminated inter-connectivity within each of its films. This would become known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. This was wildly successful, and Marvel really hasn't had a so called "bad film" since(even the duds such as Iron Man 2, are average at its worst, and still was one of the better superhero movies).

So, why did this work, without huge continuity errors? Well. It's because they took things slow; starting from 2008 to 2011, they introduced massively popular superheroes, Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor. Until 2012, where they culminated everything from those movies, and combined that while introducing many superheroes. Every small plot point from each of the movies proceeding it, led up to the Avengers(but each of these movies can be enjoyed on their own), and then, the MCU took off like a dream.

Now let's back up to DC. DC came late to the party. To be fair, they were busy with the Dark Knight Trilogy, which was extremely high quality, successful, and arguably better films than what Marvel was releasing at the time(I say this as an opinion, as Batman Begins and the Dark Knight are two of my favorite superhero movies of all time). And now: they have decided to go back.

So, they started with one of the favorites, Superman, in 2013. Which was filmed in my hometown by the way(right across from the road from my house they were filming) . And..... Meh. It wasn't atrociously bad by any means, but it certainly wasn't great by any means either. And then.... There was nothing. Until 2016. When everyone's mind was on Marvel's very successful cinematic universe with Civil War, Batman VS Superman released. This movie was a huge commercial success, but very critically panned for its poor pacing, and way too much backstory. And then Suicide Squad released, which was awful(except for a few moments with Harley and Deadbeat). The problems are that they decided to kick off this Universe, with really only one origin story for a single superhero. Superman was the only one with a proper title, Batman had a lot to prove coming after the Dark Knight(he really should have gotten his own movie), and there isn't much to get attached to these characters. Even more so, many of these movies are way bigger in scope, then they need to be. If Suicide Squad had not gone the "End of the World shtick" with the Enchatress, and focused something on a smaller scale(like Antman, for example), it would have been a way more enjoyable film.

However, admidst these stumbles, Wonder Woman recently released. And this one; utterly fantastic. One of my favorite Super Hero movies, and perhaps one of my favorite movies period. So.... This one gives me hope... So I am thinking to myself, can they really pull this off?

Sorry for long post, but what do you think? I certainly hope that the DC Universe takes off, as they have the opportunity to make a darker, more seriously lined universe compared to Marvel's light and funny universe(I want both to succeed). But they cannot do this like the crap of BvsS or Suicide Squad. So doing think they will pull this off, with Justice League releasing this year?

 

[Dio]

Yeah I think they will be able to pull it off if they learn from their mistakes with Pooicide Squad. I haven't seen Wonder Woman yet but from the sounds of it they are certainly capable of making outstanding films, it is all just a case of whether they manage it when they bring all the characters together.

 

[Link Floyd]

I think if they actually stayed true to the original comics and put more thought into character development, then sure, I can see it being just as good as the MCU.

 

[Spirit]

I doooooooont care, i used to maybe 5/6 years ago but now...

There are just so many superhero movies now and its gone on for so long that i dont even need to watch them to know what happens. The whole superhero thing is just so boring and formulaic now, especially the Marvel side of things.

I was always a DC girl growing up. In my opinion when comparing DC to Marvel its a case of the good is better but the bad is worse. To me, Marvel always held this dull middleground of playing it safe whereas DC went more interesting places. Events seemed to have more of a lasting effect on the universe and DC were always a lot darker, violent and interesting to me. They really pushed at the limits of what they could get away with (pre New 52 anyway).

So while Marvel's dull play-it-safe style translated well into dull play-it-safe and very predictable movies, DC joined in late and tried to do too many things too fast and emulate Marvel because of what was popular... i dont blame DC for doing it, its where the money is, but it hasnt played to their strengths.

The DC universe will work out because people still lap these kinds of films up. In a pro Marvel world, most DC films will be eaten alive by critics but will make money regardless.

For me, the DC cinematic universe will still be more interesting than the Marvel one because i prefer the characters, though i hate Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman so i'll never accept her as the embodiment of a character i love (though to be fair she fits the New 52 vision of the character perfectly, being a lame blow up sex doll with the personality of a very shallow puddle).

I stopped caring about DC comics a while ago (New 52) and i stopped caring about Marvel films ages ago too, theyre damn boring. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 was damn boring and EXACTLY what i expected from a Marvel movie, increasingly generic characters, bland plots, cheap laughs and a souped-up throw down at the end. So. Boring. So, so boring and its been this way for a while.

Unfortunately with DC emulating Marvel it means we wont get any adaptations of stories playing to DC's strengths. We'll probably never get a decent rendition of Hush put to film which would have worked well in an established cinematic universe which is a shame.

Anyway, it'll work out, it'll just get heavy criticism and not be as good as it could have been.

 

[Stitch]

If Wonder Woman is the new standard, than hell yeah it will.