Apparently the former Guardians of the Galaxy director is joining the roster of DCEU directors.
I’ll be honest here. I really dislike this decision and hope it’s not 100% true and that Gavin O’Connor (The Accountant) is still on board since we’ve yet to hear if he is off the project. It’s a bad decision because it is very clear what Warner Bros. is intending to do here. It was apparent with the unnecessary changes made to the Suicide Squad which were in response to the nitpicks about BvS and the hiring of Joss Whedon to help with Justice League that they were attempting to satisfy everyone but the established fanbase.
What did all of these have in common with this latest decision? Well, it’s simple. They were all efforts made by the studio to emulate the Marvel aesthetic and style of storytelling via what I refer to as Marvelization. Why is this so problematic to me as both a DC fan and a supporter of the DCEU who has mostly been satisfied with the franchise, except for JL and SS? Warner Bros. has promised us time and time again that this franchise would be different and that it would be what we as both DC and DCEU fans would expect. That no longer is obviously the case. They want to placate everyone but DC and the established fanbase that has backed up this franchise since 2013 because they were optimistic about where it would go despite it’s faults. That’s not a great thing at all if you want to convince us that you’re confident in the product. It just means you are only concerned with that small group of people that are dissatisfied with it and made up their mind to not support it ages ago. A successful brand doesn’t do that. It focuses on the majority that it can please.
I have appreciated your contributions to the DC mythos like MoS, BvS, and WW but if you want my support as either a DC or DCEU fan then you need to not Marvelize your franchise. You should give us something befitting of DC that can’t balance the idea of escapism versus reality which the comics do great at. They don’t let the escapism run unfettered to the point the story is boring and not compelling. Otherwise, you’ll be seeing more of your DC-based films performing poorly like Justice League did in ways that most other DCEU films were successful. None of us want that but if you’re willing to o that then I guess I’ll be out.
I understand that not everyone will agree with me about the DCEU and this is by no means an attempt to bash the MCU as I love those movies too outside of the four that came before BP and IW, but it’s formula of mostly unfettered escapism doesn’t work for characters in the DC universe. It won’t work as they are supposed to be these great grounded heroes with humanity that leads them to be grounded in not just any reality, but OUR reality.
What do you think of this?