The Challenges to DC’s Ambitious Cinematic Universe are Staggering

By M.R. Gott on Thursday, October 23rd, 2014

Building upon the success of the unreleased Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Warner and DC Films have released their plans 10 upcoming films.

2016:

March 25: Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
August 5: Suicide Squad

2017:

June 23: Wonder Woman
November 17: Justice League

2018:

March 23: The Flash
July 27: Aquaman

2019:

April 5: Shazam
June 14: Justice League 2

2020:

April 3: Cyborg
June 19: Green Lantern

This brazen move has me curious not if the April 3rd 2020 Cyborg movie will be any good, but if Warner Bros will even make it to 2018’s Aquaman? While Man of Steel was a financial success, it wasn’t embraced in the same manner Nolan’s Dark Knight Films were. And to release a Suicide Squad movie in 2016 is bizarre especially since they already exist on the show Arrow. Hell the Flash TV show is building success and could very easily still be airing in 2018, are people going to pay to see a big screen version of a character played by a different actor than the TV show? I’m pretty damn skeptical. The greater the success of the show, the less people will accept a new Flash.

We’ve yet to even see an official trailer for Superman vs Batman, and while the footage from comic con looked cool, so did director Zack Snyder’s Sucker Punch. DC obviously wants to create a cinematic universe like Marvel did, but Marvel’s success came from a slow buildup. Technically every hero in the Avengers was in another Marvel film prior to the movie. Superhero flicks are expensive, even movies that don’t lose money are seen as failures and as saturation continues they aren’t as special as they once were. And notice there aren’t any upcoming Batman or Superman films listed, yet DC/WB has stated we should expect to see more solo outings from these two. The reason in my mind is simple. Warner wants to see how fan react to Dawn of Justice before moving forward with their golden goose properties.

Ray Fisher who plays Cyborg and filmed his part in Batman V Superman in July learned about his 2020 Cyborg flick, when it was announced publicly. There are many things that can happen in 6 years, and Fisher doesn’t even know his involvement in the DC Cinematic Universe beyond what he has already shot. Marvel’s plans were a meticulous slow build, DC is going full tilt.

The most damning information about these plans are 2016’s Suicide Squad flick. Director David Ayer says it will be a superhero dirty dozen, and that is not promising. Most solid movies have their own identity, they are not an amalgamation of other ideas. Aside from having no cast, Suicide Squad worked as a comic by bringing familiar villains together in a new concept. Even on Arrow most the the members of the squad were introduced prior to the episode. DC told the Arrow show runners that they couldn’t have Harely Quinn due to other plans. This now seems as though it means a Suicide Squad flick. This again doesn’t seem well planned since the Flash TV version is now separate from the Flick and Justice League version.

You can’t have Harely Quinn without Joker, so he also going to be introduced in Batman V Superman. Welding cool shit together, doesn’t ensure a cool product. This may be the watershed moment when comic properties begin to lose value. When a flood of rushed comic book movies show up in theaters, and lessen the value of the others.