As a Superman fan, I feel like at this moment in time I am content with what DC/Warner have been doing:
Recent animated movies, from Death & Return to Red Son to Man of Tomorrow.
The Snyder movies, including the upcoming Snyder cut.
Superman & Lois.
News of the in development movie by Ta-Nehisi Coates.
If things remain at this clip, that’s a pretty steady diet of Superman. Of course I would be ecstatic if there was another Cavill Superman movie, but I wouldn’t go as far as saying they’re “out of touch” if we don’t get it.
On other fronts: Wonder Woman is a success on the big screen. Batman is being filmed with lots of buzz surrounding the movie. Aquaman, Shazam, and Joker are successes. Flash is in development with some crazy multiverse ■■■■. Black Adam is in development. We’re getting Suicide Squad soon. That’s not to mention all the shows on CW & HBO Max, in addition to regular releases of animated movies. And these are all movies & shows with different tones & approaches. I don’t know… it feels like they’ve been doing a decent job keeping folks entertained with DC content.
The competition is fierce and it is real. Marvel is big right now, and they are taking it to WB and DC. In competition, you always tend to overthink things, just like in business. But, as a musician and songwriter, I always find that the best way to operate, keep it simple. Thinking outside-the-box and trying new and different things should always be welcome, but those decision come at a cost, a cost to the fans and a cost to the bottom line. I also believe that COVID(anyone ever hear of this COVID thingy?)offered WB and DC an opportunity to step back and take a look at how they wanted to move forward, and in doing so, changes appear to be on the horizon. We will soon find out if those changes are welcomed or not. In the end, they answer to us, whether they want to admit it or not. That’s why I believe the community is so vital. They read these comments, so it’s always important to be honest.
As a DC fan, a movie like Gotham City Sirens would be low on my want list. Would I go see it ? Absolutely. But there are a lot of movies I would like to see made before that one.
I can confirm that not everybody wants the same thing.
Because everything they’ve put out in the DCEU hasn’t been anything that interested me.
Now… I did like Doom Patrol.
But I can tell you right now, that it’s definitely not something for everyone.
I’m looking forward to Justice League Dark (if it ever materializes), but I’m sure the Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman fans will be like ‘why are you wasting all that money and talent on something like that??’
I honestly don’t want a bunch of R-rated movies. I want movies I can watch with my brothers and the rest of my family. I hope DC invests in some lighthearted movies. That’s what I feel they get wrong about Superman. Superman is light. He isn’t constantly unhappy and brooding like his Gotham Neighbor. I would love to see a Superman movie that actually brings people joy. Not one that makes you leave the theatre thinking, “That was depressing.”
Same, that’s why I could never take my parents to watch Snyder directed DC stuff. I know they’d for sure get bored watching them.
I ended up showing them Justice League War at one point which they enjoyed. Even though I still had an issue with Superman’s characterization like the DCEU one at least the movie overall had a nice mix of tones and fun-ness.
I’ll probably show them Shazam and Wonder Woman one day.
Alternatively, I don’t want a bunch of PG-13 movies about characters that deserved content that ought to have been Rated R (Like Hellblazer style stuff), or a bunch of Rated R movies for content that didn’t need to be Rated R, if you get my drift?
If they ever wanted to put Swamp Thing on the big screen that would be an option. Lobo too comes to mind. But I definitely think the big characters (Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman) should stay in the PG 13 range.
One thing that has occurred to me is that WB has already done the MCU model. “Set of interconnected movies with a single creative visionary, so that the whole is really what counts and the individual directors are secondary?”
Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt. Hell, WB invented it and Marvel copied the idea. It was called “Harry Potter.” (Note: I’m giving WB credit for the movies, obviously not the story from the books.)
So with the DCEU they went in a different direction: let the directors make the films they wanted, with enough tie-in to Zack’s central storyline to make it make sense. To me, the essence of the original DCEU movies wasn’t “gritty,” it was “strip away the excuses and contrivances from the comics, and ask what it would be like to actually be these people.” What does it mean to “do the right thing” when you can essentially do anything? What does it do to a man, devoting his life to a cause that, writ large, is doomed to futility, and all while continually staring into the abyss of human depravity? What would it mean to be an immortal who literally walked away forever from Paradise, into an all-too-real world of failed, short-lived mortals?
To me, that’s what the DCEU was trying to do. It just never had the time to really answer its own questions.
