Shock… Horror….Rage… Happy dance?
Whatever your initial reaction to this is, it isn't going to stop the inevitable, but don’t let it get you too riled up! There are no plans for this to happen… YET. One can hope that it never will. That said, history shows us that when two forces set out in competition to dominate a market one unfortunately falls into the abyss. What wrestling fan back in 1995 would have ever predicted that
WCW would to be bought out by Mr. McMahon?! Who would have fathomed five years ago that the only people with a Blackberry phone would be your grandma and those who just don’t know any better?! But surely I can’t be insinuating that one day we will see the
fall of DC or Marvel, can I? Well in short, yes.
Imagine after the current race for Superhero supremacy runs its course, when we have been treated to a healthy dose of fresh DC and Marvel films over the next decade or so. What then? What state will the franchises be in? Some will prosper, others may be damaged goods. There’s no way to predict how and why, but I will say this… there will come a time when the only ‘new’ angle an audience has not seen realized in a live-action cinematic form is the cross-over of brand universes.
Superman vs.
Spiderman?
Batman vs.
Captain America?
Justice League vs.
The Avengers… on film????? (Mind blown!) It’s not out of the question, when all other avenues have been exhausted, or one film company takes an unfortunate misstep that leads to financial losses and the selling of properties, that this might come to pass.
I am a DC guy – Haters' gonna' hate (in the comment section). I do love the Marvel films, have watched them and will continue to do so. With that said, it’s a whole different level of excitement I feel when I hear about the next DC cinematic adaptation. Being a DC fan has not been an easy ride though, the slow build and decision-making towards to first step in their shared universe has been frustrating and almost painful at times, even though we have had the amazing
Nolan Trilogy to hang our pride on for the last decade. Now it’s time to step up the plate and unleash the catalog of characters that deserve the light of day, and have yet to see it. Still, how would I feel if all the current movie plans turn into disappointments, the franchises were temporarily destroyed and then Disney were to swoop in and buy up every superhero property? What if
FOX surprises us all and can make
X-Men on par with
Batman or
Iron Man, and takes over the box office? What if
Sony buys up the Fox properties and combines them with the
Spiderman world, only to be bought out by Warner Bros? Endless (admittedly unlikely) possibilities!
Warner/DC and Disney/Marvel are the current top dogs though, and the thought of their hero’s being owned by the same movie company terrifies me! With the way things stand, Disney/Marvel is the clear leader in the shared-universe race, and it may not be too unrealistic with the current behemoth set to stay on course with Phase 2 and 3 for them to continue swallowing up properties like a greedy Superhero-eating Pac-Man. They set the pace, made the model and delivered on a consecutive basis with its films in Phase 1. Warner/DC had Batman. Then he retired (well at least Godfather Nolan hug up the cape, anyway). WB have clung to the reputation of Christopher Nolan’s amazing trilogy as long as they could, venturing out alone only with misses on
Superman Returns &
Green Lantern. However, things are about to change, and so is the whole game. There is no doubt a lot is at stake, mistakes have been made, and it’s time to do it right.
Zack Snyder's Man of Steel was personally one of my favorite DC film to date, but I can empathize with the complaints from fans, and DC is not unaware of their concerns. I've had my fill of fan-rage over the “Superman doesn't kill” or “the millions he should have saved” complaint (Sigh). However, what Superman SAVED was the life of his sequel, a chance to grow into the character we know and love, and the possibility of a future for a shared DC-on-film world.
The ball is now rolling, and with the right stories, directions and marketing, there is no reason that Warner/DC couldn't be competing, or even overshadowing the Marvel team-up features of the future. This is not going to be an easy task though, as Marvel is investing in some great directors and seem to be taking their phase 2 movies even more seriously. What DC/Warner have going for them are a few household names in their roster that have yet to be realized on the big screen, (
Wonder Woman,
Aqua Man,
The Flash) and although Marvel has made an art out of making relatively unknown characters part of general pop culture, (Iron Man) they may have already started to run their course, eventually becoming just another "Hero-I-used-to-be-excited-about" film. While other big, sometimes arguably wrongly-done names in the Marvel catalog are still owned by competing companies, Warner/DC has all their big dogs under their umbrella, and ready to pounce. That name power may just give them the edge if they handle their properties right. Also, they could outright own the ‘Female Superhero’ if
Wonder Woman was given the right treatment. This would land them a whole new, currently under-tapped female demographic. If the scales were to heavily tip in their favor, who knows how Disney may react. Probably not buy selling their Marvel catalog/company, by any means… but you never know!
Right now, for DC at least, it all comes down to the next film. If they land a win with the controversial
Ben Affleck casting addition to the Man of Steel sequel and the film is better received than its predecessor, then we are in for some stiff competition between the two companies for the foreseeable future. In that victory would be the already established Bat-reboot, with
'Batfleck' surely chomping at the bit to helm his own Batman franchise... and what a director he is! To me I think that it’s a great move by Warner/DC. However, if I’m wrong and it all falls apart… if the franchises are too badly damaged then we may be seeing some crazy shifts in properties sooner than you think! I’m not saying the Warner Brother’s would easily contemplate giving up their Heavy-weight Superheroes either, but another
“Schumacher” era would surely be disastrous, and nobody is in the business of losing money.
In closing, I think that the genre as a whole is big enough for everyone to play in. No one company is thinking about giving up any properties just yet, or contemplating selling off their characters to the enemy for a quick financial fix. Right now, it’s simply a fight for the best possible Superhero movies to be made by all competing companies. For all us fans, that can only be a good thing. Competition brings out quality, bold decision making and genuine pride in the product. There is no doubt that we have been treated to a number of great
COMIC BOOK MOVIES over the last decade or so. However, I expect (and I hope) that the best is yet to come!