My Opinion On 10 Year Plan and New DC Movies!

OK where to start. First I believe they said on the 10 year plan you’re going to focus on the core members. I think that’s wrong, even though I probably like them the most. They’ve just kind of been played to death if not in the movies, TV or cartoons. I’d like to see a lot of other DC’s lineup even B heroes and B villains. Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, Justice Society, The Question, Ray Jr. DC has so many good characters and stories stories. I think Black Adam with Justice Society even though I’m not a big black Adam fan, this should be interesting. Move away from the main characters of the Justice League and like a fine wine, let them breathe. You can make a lot of major stories with all the rest of the DC universe, then when they are a bit forgotten go back. Oh with Shazam I always thought that seemed like the base was comedy with bunches of drama here and there, it didn’t work, I know what you were trying to go with the movie “Big”. Stay with the movies being Drama base with jokes and comedy here there and call throughout, I think that’s what “M” is doing and that’s why they’re doing so well reminds me of Superman 2 awesome movie for its time because of that formula ! Also I wouldn’t turn down any hero even if they’re not that powerful, perfect example Darkman 1 Great movie with Liam Neason, the second one was all right and then everything went downhill. But Darkman 1 was a great formula. You didn’t even know what was going on and all of a sudden the mob boss comes in that’s chopping off fingers with a cigar chopper, Great movie, great bad guy And I don’t think dark man compared to a lot of other people wasn’t that popular to get his own movie over some other heroes. I’d like to see The Question , Horseshack from Watchmen done like Darkman ! I think those are my major points. Hope other people contribute to this topic and add their opinions to DC movies coming out and how they should be !

3 Likes

They want to focus on the big three I believe because there isn’t already or so, the focus is not centered. Will there be another Henry Cavill Superman movie? Yes? No? We see his Superman in Shazam, without the face of course. Are they going to bring Henry Cavill back and restore the Snyderverse as some people want, cite, or claim? I dunno, but they need to do something. Right now, things are so loose and discombobulated. If you cannot get the main 3 in order, then what guarantee is there anyone else can be in order?

WB kinda looks like a joke right now. We see they can or are making Shazam, Black Adam, Birds of Prey, etc. but what about Superman? We don’t know - fans and general audiences don’t know. Again, if they can’t do justice to the Trinity, how the hell can they be expected to do justice to others? Personally, I wanna see the characters you bring up, but at the end of the day this is a business. Investors think Batman and see dollar signs, say Blue Beetle, Black Canary, hell Ambush Bug and they’re like ‘what?’ Imagine if General Motors was falling completely off from making good, profitable cars. They have no plan to stop BUT decide to make airplanes! Get your house in order BEFORE you branch out like that.

I disagree. They are doing a way better job with characters like Billy and Aquaman than myself and Clark. Therefore they should focus on what they are doing well, which is giving characters their first live action movie.

A key problem with Clark is the general public has such a clear idea of what his movies should be thanks to the Donner films that deviations are seen as treachery and mimicking it is seen as copy and paste. Aquaman and Ambush Bug do not have that problem.

3 Likes

I never said they are not doing a job good on those characters you mention. And you are right about Superman, people want to keep Superman in the Donner 70s, even in the year 3057.

1 Like

I just think FRESH heroes that haven’t been at the movies yet, ones that people have not heard of their powers or their origin stories is the way to go. Not constant stale reboot after reboot hearing the same origin stories only done a little bit differently is the way to go. Show people something new fresh, jaw dropping and unexpected and you’ll have some people from the comic books that will know them. But it will be a surprise and unexpected, not people knowing some more what’s going to happen maybe not in the exact way. Also keep it drama-based, drama based, drama based with humor throughout. Not some silly wacky comedy movie with a little drama here and there !

2 Likes

I just don’t have much faith that it will work. There is Aquaman which made $1 billion. Shazam pulled a profit but eh. BOP basically flopped. Tomorrow Marvel could make a Squirrel Girl movie and make $1 billion because they already have such a following, whereas WB/DC doesn’t. Grant you, I love the WB/DC movies but objectively they cannot run a good biz here at all.

1 Like

I see your point the investors might not want to put money into it if it’s not a big name hero and take a chance ! But it would be nice if there was somebody that would. I just think Batman & Superman need to chill a little they’ve been rebooting too much too fast, I know Patterson’s doing Batman already just to give a little space between movies, give some time for people to forget a little, and get anxious for them and want them back rather than here we go again. Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash also Cyborg & Martian Manhunter can go on. I would also say they could probably give green lantern Hal Jordan a go, because they’ve given him enough rest although that’s if somebody can do it right I think you need like Star Wars graphics and to see if you can move the constructs and do it right as well as a space scene and flying. Regardless, get somebody that does sci-fi, not somebody leave that’s never done a superhero movie and wants to like Martin Campbell for that.

2 Likes

First off I wanna say I love this post.

It takes a lot of thought to write what you did and make a good argument around a new scope for the DCEU with particular attention put into the b and c list characters.

Truth be told while I know people really like the classic JLA established by Grant Morrison, I’m more inclined to watch a Justice League team that is without the trinity.

My favorite era of the Justice League include Detroit, international, and the Obsidian Age. I like them because they are interesting but also because the dynamic of the team is usually more interpersonal and are expansive with a large roster. I would enjoy seeing the DCEU highlight those mentioned b list characters like Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, and the question, but also see underutilized characters like Black Canary, Martian Manhunter, Green Arrow, plastic man, Atom, Green Lantern, and Dr. Fate to expand the tone and creative direction of the DCEU.

Basically I would be interested to see a international inspired era, remix with the Meltzer team from the mid-2000s that is known for it’s large roster.

Obviously it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have Superman, Wonder-woman, and Batman movies, but we should have a universe that doesn’t rely on them. Considering the fact they could use those characters to even focus on their legacies.

Think of Batman and his bat family(Nightwing, robin, Batgirl, Red hood, Batwoman)

Superman and his family(supergirl, kypto, Connor Kent superboy, and Johnathan Kent)

Wonder-woman’s Amazonian sisters and the Wonder-girls( Artemis, Nubia, Donna Troy, and Yara-flor)

Anyway,
Great post.

2 Likes

If I’m being perfectly honest, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are the three biggest reasons I like DC. Take them away and suddenly I’m less interested. That’s not to say that I don’t like other DC characters, because I do. If I’m being honest though, my interest level in anything DC peaks with Superman, and then revolves around the DC Trinity and Justice League.

Why do I say this? Because I think a lot of fans are like me, and even more are just mainly into Batman/Bat family. The idea of shelving these characters in favor of others is just not at all appealing to me. At the same time, I realize there are fans out there wishing for a glimpse of their favorite characters in a movie or show.

So why not do both? If they release 3 or 4 movies a year, for sure they’re not gonna all be DC Trinity. Just like right now, the next three movies are Black Adam, Shazam, and Flash. I know I’ll be attending them all, and whatever they have cooking for the big 3 down the road :slightly_smiling_face:. I don’t think one has to come at the expense of the other, but that’s just me.

1 Like

Marvel built it without their trinity (Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and X-Men). What really helped them is they were making the public perception of these characters. Captain America had some fans, and bombed by some reports. Thor and Iron Man were practically no names. Hulk is considered to have bombed, and that was the biggest name they had. If they were not the only ones doing a cinematic universe at the time it would have been a failure.

3 Likes

I hate to bring up current predicament we are in but the fact that only one member of the trinity succeeding in the current dceu, Wonder-woman, and consider that while great, she is also the least popular of the the trinity, the other two had left and are possibly coming back now but years later and after a corporate merger basically forced a new focus on them yet again with finger cross that another Justice League controversy won’t happen.

If you know anything about the MCU and marvel comics, What I remember about marvel years ago was that, Spider-Man, hulk, and Wolverine and or the X-men were their most popular brands at the times, but they couldn’t use them in the films because legal reasons, so they have to work to make relatively unpopular characters Iron-man, Captain America, and thor to become the A-listers they are now.

Showing you just have to just put elbow greese to highlight unknowns to make them significant characters in their respective universe.
Peacemaker is also a example of that working right now.

Evidently if you look at the trinity right now.

Batman is doing great in his own separate universe right now with the Matt Reeves Batman movies and the spinoff projects with penguin and Catwoman.

Superman is also semi-successful on television with Superman and lois and other possible television projects “promising” something great, like the animated cartoon, J.J. Abrams take on a alternate Superman, and something similar with michael b jordan and his Val-Zod Superman project.

Wonder-woman like I said was not the most popular of the trinity but she does have two solid movies with potential for a expanded series with the other Amazons. CW did cancel a Yara-flor show, but that does not mean it can’t be reworked either into a stand alone movie or a HBO MAX series, so there is promise for more Wonder-woman related projects in the future.

But my point, is that the trinity does not need to become pillars of the dc universe because they already are known and beloved enough known that featuring them everywhere is redundant for a healthy DC cinematic universe.

1 Like

Booster Gold does have a lot of potental

2 Likes

It does because beside anything with Blue Beetle: Jaime Reyes or Ted Kord, you got potential for a low-key Justice League of America team and with his ability to time travel, we could see Legion of super-heroes and the linear men.

1 Like

I want Booster Gold and Ted to be pre-estastished in the lore before they meet on the screen

1 Like

I agree with this post 100%. Maybe do one of the eras or JL teams in the comics where one of the trinities is leading the team and the others aren’t on the team, either busy with their own or other stuff or Superman being dead. I think that would make the team seem more Challenged, beatable and there’s a chance that the justice league could actually lose which would make the movie more exciting instead of them having all the heavy hitters and there’s no chance they’re going to lose !

1 Like

That would be an awesome origin story. But they shouldn’t start it at the museum when he is a janitor and have him flashback pieces of what happened that’s cheap. Start in the beginning when is football player, takes bribes and drops the ball, let’s himself got tackled to get his mom the operation on the moon. You can speed it up like Superman 1 but go through the whole story don’t stop somewhere and just do flashbacks that’s cheap. You can also tie in rip hunter, Legionnaires or Legion the museum mannequin where he gets his costume from.

1 Like

Point taken, and my comment didn’t mean to belittle the success of current/recent movies and shows featuring the big 3 and the other characters you mentioned.

As a Superman, am I happy with Superman & Lois? Absolutely. Do I look forward to other shows and movies? Also yes.

All I was saying is that developing movies for the big 3 and for the other DC characters don’t have to be mutually exclusive efforts.

2 Likes

Do another Watchmen Movie, do another suicide squad movie, do a justice Society movie or a justice league international movie or hey justice league Europe movie, or a justice league anarctica movie. ( But So God Help Me If I Got To Sit Through Another Batman Or Superman Origin Story. I’ll Put A Pencil Through My Eye That Would Put Keith Ledger’s Joker To Shame And That’s Hard To Do !

2 Likes

Well, considering what David Zaslav said in a Q&A during the earnings report back on August 4th…

Bryan Kraft

Hi, good afternoon. I need to ask two, if I could. I guess, first, David, there is a lot of reporting in the press about some rates being delayed and of course, the canceling of Batgirl. I think that film, in particular, was almost completed.

Can you just talk about the reason for decision to cancel Batgirl? What’s the issue? And what’s happening more broadly, Warner Bros. film business, changes you might be making and basically the direction you’re taking with the DC universe?

And then just had one for JB on the SaaS product…

Thank you.

David Zaslav

Great. Thanks, Bryan.

Well, let me start with the fact that the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group has fantastic IP and a great history, as you know, when they are turning 100. And between DC., the animation group together with the entire Warner library, our ambition is to bring Warner back and to produce great high-quality films.

And as we look at the opportunities that we have, broadly, DC is one of the top of the list for us. We – when you look at Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, these are brands that are known everywhere in the world, the ability to drive those all over the world with great story is a big opportunity for us.

We have done a reset. We’ve restructured the business where we’re going to focus – where there will be a team with a 10-year plan focusing just on DC.

It’s very similar to the structure that Alan Horn and Bob Iger put together very effectively with Kevin Feige at Disney.

We think that we could build a long-term, much stronger sustainable growth business out of DC. And as part of that, we’re going to focus on quality.

We’re not going to release any film before it’s ready. We’re not going to release a film to make a quarter. We’re not going to release a film under – the focus is going to be how do we make each of these films in general as good as possible.

But DC is something that we think we can make better, and we’re focused on it now. We have some great DC films coming up, Black Adam, Shazam and The Flash. And we are working on all of those. We’re very excited about them. We’ve seen them. We think they are terrific, and we think we can make them even better. And that’s what Mike and Pam and the team are doing and focusing on that.

Strategically, we’ve looked hard at the director streaming business. We’ve seen luckily by having access now to all the data, how direct-to-streaming movies perform. And our conclusion is that expensive direct-to-streaming movies in terms of how people are consuming them on the platform, how often people go there or buy it or buy a service for it and how it gets nourished over time is no comparison to what happens when you launch a film in the motion – in the theaters. And so this idea of expensive films going direct-to-streaming, we cannot find an economic case for it. We can’t find an economic value for it.

And so we’re making a strategic shift. As part of that, we’ve been out in the town talking about our commitment to the theatrical exhibition and the theatrical window. A number of movies will be launched with shorter windows.

Some might have different kinds of marketing campaigns where we take advantage of us having the biggest platform and a platform that all motion fiction companies look for. But we will always be agile. Our focus will be on theatrical. And when we bring the theatrical films to HBO Max, we find they have substantially more value.

And we have an ecosystem where we can have the premier motion picture business. That’s why most people move to Hollywood. That’s why most people got in this business to be on the big screen when the lights went out and that is the magic. And the economic model is much stronger. And the other thing is that we’re going to focus very hard on quality.

I said we’re not going to launch a movie until it’s ready. We’re not going to go into movie to make a quarter. And we are not going to release a movie and we’re not going to put a movie out unless we believe in it. And that’s it. I mean, particularly with DC, where we think we want to pivot and we want to elevate and we want to focus.

…the objective is to grow the DC brand, to grow the DC characters, but also our job is to protect the DC brand, and that’s what we’re going to do.

And the “Global Powerhouse” graphic:

So I’m guessing Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are what they’re going to do. So that’s where you would most obviously start.

So do a Superman movie with a new Superman. And then do one or two HBO Max spinoff shows/miniseries that tie into that.

And since I have no creativity, my old stand by, adapt Paul Dini’s SUPERMAN: PEACE ON EARTH – that would be the movie.

As the holiday season approaches, Clark Kent reflects on the poverty suffered by so many throughout the world and decides to use his vast power to feed the starving and impoverished masses. As Superman sets out to accomplish the impossible, he encounters unexpected resistance to his humanitarian efforts.

And try for maybe 2025 as the release date for that. And do it as a Christmas Day movie too. Why not…

12.25.25.

It looks cool. :smiling_face:

Then do a Batman movie with a new Batman. Then do one or two HBO Max spinoff shows/miniseres that tie into that.

And still no creativity on my part, so just adapt Paul Dini’s BATMAN: WAR ON CRIME to serve as the movie.

After Batman meets a young boy whose parents were murdered, he reflects on his own life and examines the nature of crime in Gotham City.

And 2026 for that. And maybe put it out in October or November – release it when it gets dark early and when it starts to get cold.

Then do a Wonder Woman movie with a new Wonder Woman. And like the others, do one or two HBO Max spinoff shows/miniseres that tie into that.

And Paul Dini again with the adaption of WONDER WOMAN: SPIRIT OF TRUTH – that’s the movie.

Wonder Woman must seek the counsel of the only one she can trust. Just as her lasso reveals falsehood and fabrication on the part of her enemies, Wonder Woman comes to uncover the truth behind who she is, what she represents and the task ahead of her.

And 2027 for that. And a July 4th release date for that.

Then maybe do a Justice League movie. And depending on what other characters you use in that, I guess you can do a few HBO Max spinoff shows or miniseries with them.

And I guess you can maybe rinse and repeat this a couple of times and that’ll get you to 10 years. Or depending on how you space it out it could take about 10 years just going through it once.

Such as: one movie for each of the Trinity. Mixed with HBO Max spinoff shows or minis in between them. And then a trilogy of Justice League movies maybe.

And I’ll go back to my trusty “just adapt JUSTICE into a trilogy of movies”…

The first four issues are the first movie – maybe put it out in 2028.

The second four issues make up the second movie – maybe do that in 2031.

And the final four issues are the third movie – and 2034 for that one maybe.

Or you can do them every two years if you like: 2028, 2030, and 2032.

And do that and then you’re done.

Voila. :smiling_face:

2 Likes

Hopefully that’s what they plan to do and we will see that in the future.

It’s kinda complicated with the current DCEU because it seemed that previously they were focusing on this multiverse concept of continuity where these separate film universes were going to eventually going to be connected either in a single earth or just aware of their presence.

Hopefully they roll out slowly and not try to rush things because the MCU is planning ambitious projects.

If I were to see a Justice League film in the future, I definitely would use the Mark waid year one minseries from the 90s as inspiration for a soft reboot of the team.

3 Likes