The DCU is on the way! The first entry in the new universe is already distinguishing itself from its Marvel counterpart by making it an animated one. Marvel is no stranger to animation now, but it certainly didn’t start that way. Creature Commandos, a lesser known group, streams on Max on December 5, just a few days away.
One could say that Creature Commandos falls under the category of niche comic book characters and groups. Not many people know that both Frankenstein and the Bride of Frankenstein are characters within the world of DC. If you asked a random person on the street who Doctor Phosphorus is, there’s a very slim chance they’d be able to tell you. However, the same used to be said of Rocket Raccoon, Groot, and Yondu. Now, after James Gunn and Marvel made them a cinematic success, almost everyone in the US and many other countries could tell you who Groot is.
Gunn, regularly one to debunk rumors and answer fans’ questions, took to his Threads account to address an interesting topic: why there are few origin stories in the upcoming DCU and why there is a bigger focus on niche characters. You can read the interchange between a user and Gunn here, but Gunn essentially said that the origin stories for characters like Batman and Superman are so well known at this point, that it isn’t necessary to tell them. Interestingly, he ignored the user’s comment about the DCU’s focus on niche characters.
Obviously, Gunn likes to bring lesser known characters into the spotlight. The Guardians of the Galaxy movies are all massive hits. The Suicide Squad was generally well received even though it made very little money relatively speaking. Peacemaker was also generally well received. When I express my general dislike of all of those projects, I’m pretty much always in the minority, especially when it comes to Guardians of the Galaxy. Gunn clearly knows how to take niche characters and successfully shine the spotlight on them. When Creature Commandos releases soon, we’ll see if that success translates over to animated streaming as well.
Gunn’s focus on niche characters is definitely well deserved. In the Threads post, he argued that Swamp Thing actually isn’t a niche character, but I completely disagree. I imagine very few randomly selected people would know who he is, but that’s perfectly okay. The comic book world of DC is full of niche characters that have amazing stories told within their worlds like Swamp Thing, Mister Miracle, or the group H.I.V.E.. Even the New Gods could be considered relatively niche. Maybe that project could be revived in the new DCU.
However, I think the point of the Threads post was to inquire as to why there is so much of a focus on niche characters when the heavy hitters of DC are barely fleshed out in the new cinematic universe. Currently, only two out of the seven main Justice League members have been cast. Superman, as you probably know, is being played by David Corenswet and Hal Jordan aka Green Lantern is being played by Kyle Chandler. Hawkgirl is being played by Isabella Merced, but she’s generally not considered one of the main Justice Leaguers even though she’s frequently part of the team. So, where are the rest of DC’s bigger, more popular characters?
It seems as if a lot of fans think it’s odd to start a new DC universe and omit castings for Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and The Flash. At the moment, there doesn’t seem to be a coherent plan to bring the Justice League to the big screen at all. It would be very hard to imagine this will never happen, but wouldn’t Gunn want to prioritize DC’s most popular team and capitalize on the name recognition of its core cast of members?
I think there is a reasonable explanation for the lack of information regarding these core characters: they either haven’t done well at the box office recently, or Gunn is worried about oversaturating audiences with them. The Flash, in spite of some excellent Batman action sequences, was a huge bomb at the box office for DC and one of the worst flops in Hollywood history. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom made about 439 million at the box office on a budget of over 200 million and received pretty bad reviews. Wonder Woman 1984 lost over 30 million dollars, but was also released during the pandemic and on Max and in theaters at the same time.
Batman is the only Justice League member to see financial success at the box office, but in the past fifteen years, we’ve technically had five different actors play Batman in a movie. Ben Affleck, Michael Keaton and George Clooney were in The Flash (I’m not counting that tasteless Adam West cameo), Affleck also played Batman in three other films, and Bale played Batman in The Dark Knight Trilogy. Add to that several different TV appearances of Bruce Wayne, and you get a recipe that I’m sure Gunn is worried will cook up Batman fatigue in audiences. Personally, I could never suffer from such fatigue, but I’m a bit more of a fanatic than general moviegoers.
Gunn is stuck between a rock and a hard place: long time DC fans want to see successful versions of the Justice League members that have had some recent setbacks and niche characters too, but those recent setbacks indicate those characters may not make money, something Gunn must do for WBD. Therefore, he is trying to turn the niche characters into moneymakers.
Let me know what you think in the comments!