Mark Millar is something of a icon in the comic book and pop culture world, he has delivered some great work within the confines of the big two with the likes of
Civil War, The Ultimates, Justice League and
Swamp Thing along with
his own creator owned titles that sometimes miss the mark but are all seemingly published with a movie deal attached.
Millar is also a vocal fan and commenter of pop culture and while those comments are sometimes, quite frankly ridiculous (does anyone remember that
Blade Runner 2049 Joe / K "Joker" embarrassment?) he nevertheless comes at them with a lot of knowledge in the creative industry.
In an interview with
Yahoo!Movies the Kick-Ass creator weighed in on the rivalry between the
Marvel Cinematic Universe and the
DCEU and while he feels the latter were always going to inherently be less successful, stating:
“I think it’s really simple, the characters aren’t cinematic, and I say this as a massive DC fan who much prefers their characters to Marvel’s. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are some of my favorites, but I think these characters, with the exception of Batman, they aren’t based around their secret identity; they are based around their super power. Whereas the Marvel characters tend to be based around the personality of Matt Murdock or Peter Parker, or the individual X-Men, it’s all about the character. DC, outside of Batman, is not about the character. With Batman, you can understand him and you can worry about him but someone like Green Lantern, he has this ring that allows him to create 3D physical manifestations and green plasma with the thoughts in his head but he’s allergic to the color yellow! How do you make a movie with that? In 1952, that made perfect sense, but now the audience have no idea what that’s all about.
The comic book creator, whose work is often criticized as being tone deaf and mean spirited continued on the topic of the modern sensibilities holding DC back:
“People will slam me for this, but I think the evidence is there. We’ve seen great directors, great writers and great actors, tonnes of money thrown at them, but these films aren’t working. I think they are all too far away from when they were created. Something feels a little old about them, kids look at these characters and they don’t feel that cool. Even Superman, I love Superman, but he belongs to an America that doesn’t exist anymore. He represents 20th Century America, and I think he peaked then.”
What do you think? Are the characters the problem in the DCEU's failings? Or is it something else? Do you think it's a narrow view of the longevity and versatility of these characters on Millars part? Leave your thoughts below.