A DC/Marvel Merger - WHAT IF two worlds collided?!

A DC/Marvel Merger - WHAT IF two worlds collided?!

The biggest CBM cross-over EVER may one day be coming your way... whether you like it or not!

Editorial Opinion
By roachyboy - Sep 03, 2013 12:09 AM EST
Filed Under: Comics
Source: Chris "Lucas" Roach



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!
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Minato
Minato - 9/3/2013, 5:43 AM
One of my favorite editorial in this competition so far. Great read creative content and an epic splash page that became my mac desktop. Thumbs up dude
unknownfacts
unknownfacts - 9/3/2013, 7:12 AM
Great idea but the CGI for Hulk and Green Lantern will set the studio back a pretty penny especially if people get tired of superheroes.Not to mention who gets the most face time which will make or break the movie.
Tainted87
Tainted87 - 9/3/2013, 8:03 AM
Will never happen.
WB is a minimalist company. Their idea of expansion means making two movies out of one story. They raise dairy and beef from the SAME cow.

Superman sells. Batman sells more. Would people watch a big crossover like that? Absolutely. Would people watch a small crossover like the next DC movie we'll be getting? You bet your ass.
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 9/3/2013, 8:57 AM
DC just needs to make a movie that isn't Superman or batman thats worth a darn... Then we will be happy. The general public is getting sick of Batman and Superman. Not to the extent of not watching the movies, but there is a reason MOS made 600 million and Iron Man 3 made 1.2 Billion. Iron Man may have been better (In some eyes) But it wasn't night and day difference. The fact is the Iron Man is more exciting right now then Superman... Why? Because we've seen Superman to many times now. That's the danger with Mos vs dk. Not risky because they are in the same film. Risky because people might think its getting a little old.
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 9/3/2013, 8:59 AM
@tainted so true. They don't give a crap about what the fans want to see. They don't care about the contenuity, they only care about making a buck. Marvel on the other hand is sort of the same way, but the people in the high positions all love the characters they are working with and want to see them doing what they do in the comics.
StatenMan18
StatenMan18 - 9/3/2013, 9:21 AM
This would be the sickest thing they could ever do but like what most of you have already said, because of basic financial reasons, idk how likely it would be they would actually make it. But man o man it would be awesome to see hulk and superman throw a few hits back and forth but obviously in the end they'd need to work together. Justice league and the avengers would IMO would be what the majority of the population would want to see but that would be such a big project and while I don't think that would really happen I have a little more faith in the idea that maybe just using one Character from each universe is more possible for the studios. And would need probably the two most popular characters. Spider-Man and superman, batman and wolverine, batman and Spider-Man and if we're lucky hulk and superman. But they'd probably go with Spider-Man for marvel and either or with batman or superman for dc. Just my opinion. awesome editorial btw
roachyboy
roachyboy - 9/3/2013, 1:29 PM
BATZ11, 2Challa and StatenMan18 thanks for the kind words, guys!
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 9/3/2013, 1:58 PM
Hope to see DC get a godfather like feige and turn their comic book films around.
roachyboy
roachyboy - 9/3/2013, 4:41 PM
me too mate, I am sure they are thinking about who that is going to be... if they don't already have someone in place.
roachyboy
roachyboy - 9/3/2013, 4:42 PM
** If you like the article, PLEASE click on the "thumbs up" and help me get onto the front page. Cheers guys!
roachyboy
roachyboy - 9/4/2013, 3:03 PM
worldbreaker I personally hope you're right. But you know what they, "never say...."
Moff
Moff - 9/4/2013, 3:22 PM
Great article, well written, thought provoking and opens up a great debate, clearly written by an avid comic fan. I think we all know it comes down to money. With comic book movies making masses amount of money at the box office, we will unfortunately continue to see remakes, relaunches and rehashes of the same series. The only way this will change is if ratings fall... So this puts us in a dilemma, is that what we want to happen? and do we even know somebody would plant the seed of a merger? I am not asking for spiderman vs batman, but both have enough lesser known characters with quality back stories, which intertwined could make killer story lines. So with that in minfld i would like to believe it could happen... Maybe. So Here's to run DMC and Aerosmith, Elton John and Eninem, Walt Disney and the US army (honestly) and to all those collaborations people thought that would 'never' happen.
LordVoltor
LordVoltor - 9/4/2013, 5:47 PM
I think this article opens up several cans of worms. Very thought provoking. I think a potential obstacle could be that how would they decide which superhero would win and which would lose? Not that it really matters in a vacuum or from a hypothetical standpoint, but business wise, they would run the risk of really pissing off one half of the viewers... I do think a collaborative plot would be pretty cool. They combined DC and Marvel in a video game and it was pretty cool... But that is beside the point.
roachyboy
roachyboy - 9/4/2013, 10:48 PM
Moff - Well written comment, my friend!Some good points in there!
roachyboy
roachyboy - 9/4/2013, 10:52 PM
LordVoltor - Another good point... It's delicate enough that Superman and Batman are fighting and potentially pissing off fans of the losing character (if done wrongly), I can't imagine the repercussion of enraged fanboys if this movie were to ever happen!
comical
comical - 9/5/2013, 4:54 PM
Great editorial. Sharp writing - this guy knows his stuff.
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