In 2013, the movie Man of Steel was unleashed on the population and, with it, the beginning of the DC Extended Universe. By this point, the Marvel Cinematic Universe had wrapped up Phase 1, and Iron Man 3 had debuted the previous month. Doubtlessly, the corporate suits sitting in the ivory tower at Warner Bros. thought they would replicate that franchise’s success, if not beat it. After all, they had more recognizable heroes! They had Superman! They had Batman! They had Wonder Woman! No one knew who the hell Iron Man was before his movie. Captain America? Wasn’t he from the 40s? The corporate stooges were probably already rubbing their hands, dollar signs dancing before their greedy little eyes.
So, what happened? How did the DCEU end after 16 films when the MCU (for better or worse…mostly worse) has continued to chug along, with its 34th feature film due to hit theatres in a couple of months? After all…Superman! Batman! Green Lantern…oh, right, he didn’t even get a movie in the DCEU. Get the picture? No? Well, read on, then…
Lack of Respect for Their Top Characters
Quick, who are the top three most popular DC characters? Superman? Sure! Batman? You betcha! Wonder Woman? Yeah, she’s popular, but you have to look at the dark side of the force for my third choice. That’s right, The Joker. He’s got his own comic, an actor won a flipping Academy Award for playing him, and whenever you ask anybody to name one Batman villain, be they comic book fan or not, survey says they’ll probably pick the Clown Prince of Crime.
So, reason number one for the DCEUs downfall is Warner Brothers shitting the bed on not one, not two, but three of the crown jewels of DC. Before you send me hate mail, I’m not saying Henry Cavill or Ben Affleck sucked in their roles. In this case, the actors couldn’t have saved the characters, even if they were Lawrence frigging Olivier. The fact is the filmmakers let down these three characters and immediately set a bad tone for the franchise.
Let’s take Superman. Here’s a question—how does he turn into Superman? It certainly wasn’t because of the influence of his adopted father, who discouraged him from saving people. You know you’re in trouble when your flagship character, who is supposed to be about Truth, Justice and the American Way, needs to ask a priest if she should save people. By Batman vs. Superman, there is a large contingent of people who hate him – right, because that’s what I always saw in the comics. People hate Superman.
Batman, who is supposed to be the smartest member of the Justice League is uncontrollably angry at Superman. Why? Superman helps people, doesn’t he? Oh, right, Superman almost destroyed Metropolis in Man of Steel. Right, because Superman destroys stuff while fighting people in the comics. Well, at least Lex Luthor doesn’t easily manipulate Batman. The same Lex Luthor who is a muppet-topped version of the Riddler without riddles. Whoops. Thank goodness the word “Martha” can stop him while in a murderous rage! Seriously, I can’t believe I wrote some of this stuff, and these things were all in movies that people actively defend.
Finally, the Joker—or should I call him, Gangsta Joker? I looked at Heath Ledger’s Joker and said to myself, “That isn’t the Joker.” Well, next to Jared Leto’s Joker, Ledger is practically on point with the comics. I’ve always wanted the Joker to have a grill, multiple tattoos, and act like a pimp in a nightclub. Joker is my least-favourite member of these three characters, but even I was shocked by the characterization. It was almost like, they were trying to piss the fans off.
That’s the thing. Comic book fans go to the movies to see their favourite characters come to life. That is your innate audience, your built-in cash cow. You get them onside; they’ll tell the rest of the folks to watch this movie. Even without being a comic book fan, moviegoers would know that Superman is a good guy, Batman is a smart guy, and Joker isn’t a gangster. Presenting them with these versions just served to piss off your ready-made fanbase and confuse the rest of the people. This all took place within the first three movies. By the time they got to Wonder Woman, so many people were already off the runaway train.
The Third Movie was The Suicide Squad
You’re DC. You have a bunch of characters outside your big three heroes (Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman) that you can make a movie about. You have Green Lantern, Aquaman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, Hawkgirl, Cyborg, hell, you want to go crazy, you got Booster Gold. At the very least, your third movie should be about the third member of the Trinity, Wonder Woman, no?
No.
Instead, you make a movie about The Suicide Squad, a niche storyline in the DC universe dealing with supervillains who are forced to take government jobs with the threat of having their heads blown off if they don’t. Clearly, this was DC trying to emulate the Guardians of the Galaxy and probably told themselves between coke snorts that they were just “misfits” like the GoG instead of real bad guys.
Uh…no. The Suicide Squad are not loveable losers who somehow find a way to save the galaxy. They are hardened criminals with no redeeming factors. It takes a specific type of reader to appreciate The Suicide Squad – I happen to be one – but it’s not for everyone. When you’ve just had two movies where people hate Superman, including Batman, and it’s been dark, dismal and cynical, you need someone who’s going to fulfill the role of traditional hero. We got that with the 4th film, Wonder Woman, but by then, it was too late – the horse had left the barn and was running over the meadow. Not only did DC shit the bed with this film, they double-downed with another entry – and even got the guy who helped Guardians of the Galaxy to helm it. And much like the first film, the second did nothing to save this franchise from its self-inflicted struggles.
No Vision
Maybe there was an overarching vision at some point in this whole mess – Zack Snyder’s Justice League showed a version that, while I personally was not a fan, was a clear vision. The problem? That movie was released as the 10th film in the franchise – 8 years after Man of Steel. By then, we had had movies of all shapes and tones; Wonder Woman was iconic and uplifting, Aquaman was heroic, the first two movies were dark and angry, Suicide Squad was a pit of nonsense backed up by craptacular CGI, Justice League was in turns angry and light-hearted – there was just no singular tone or vision. It seemed movies were just being released because they were in the can, and the studio wanted to recoup money. Anyone ask for a Shazam movie? Does it fit anywhere in the rest of the films? Not really, but let’s go ahead anyway! Because why not?
It inevitably was a runaway train heading to nowhere. The crown jewel of a storyline would have been to see the Justice League face off with Darkseid and his crew, but other than bits and pieces in the rambling nonsense that was Batman v. Superman, there was no setup to facing the Apokolips despot. When we do get Justice League, and everyone’s together to face…Steppenwolf. Because, y’know, Steppenwolf, there’s kids with his figure all over the place, and when Man of Steel was released in 2013, immediately the question on everyone’s lips was, “When are they doing Steppenwolf, man?”
That was it. Now, let’s take the MCU. I’m not the biggest fan of the MCU (especially not these days), but there was undeniably a vision. Phase 1 – introduce the Avengers, tease Thanos at the end. Phase 2 – have the Avengers fall apart, gradually bring Thanos into the storyline, establish what he’s after. Phase 3 – have a balls-out fight between all the good guys in the MCU and Thanos and his gang. Done. That’s how you do it. Not show Parademons in a dream in Superman vs. Batman and then oops, Darkseid did it again, he wants the Mother Boxes. That shows a shocking lack of planning and storytelling in a storyline, which was really what was going to make the DCEU compete with the MCU. Does anyone wonder why it failed?
Instead, we had the stories ramble as individual movies that did well (Shazam, Aquaman, Wonder Woman) got their own sequels while no one heard from Batman and Superman again. We’re talking to two flagship characters in the DC Universe. Gone, except for a reboot of the Justice League, which was only released through fan demand and with no intention of moving forward with whatever came from that movie. By the time Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom came out, no one was interested in continuing to watch a scattered mix of disconnected storylines that was going to be rebooted anyway. And that, friends and family, is what happens when you have no vision.
In Conclusion
I guess some folks miss the DCEU and wish that Zack Snyder could continue his nightmare world from his version of Justice League. Please don’t count me as a member of either school of thought. The DCEU is the best example of what happens when you turn a mammoth franchise over to the wrong filmmakers, with no idea of how to lay out your stories and themes in a coherent manner and all decisions are fuelled by greed and incompetence. While I hope that James Gunn does not repeat the same mistakes, I won’t put any stock into his version of the DCU until it’s proven on the big screen. Before 2013, I never would have thought in a million years that it was possible to fuck up a world that rich in storylines, history, and characters. Well, I was wrong; fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice…shame on me.