As a fan of the Justice League Cartoon produced by WB animation, I have always wanted to see a Justice League movie. Then Marvel came along and showed everyone on the globe that building a cinematic universe that crosses several franchises (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Guardians of the Galaxy maybe…) is possible. That makes a lot of DC/ Justice League fan think. Can this happen to DC too? Can we get a DCCU like the MCU?
We sort of got a DCCU running now; with Man of Steel starting the shared DC movie universe, and the no-official-title-we’ll-just-call-it Batman VS Superman movie coming up, the DCCU is definitely happening. Unfortunately this does not please everyone. There are numerous complaints concerning the DCCU. “Man of Steel sucks because (insert your own complaint here).”, “We need of Man of Steel 2, not Batman upstaging the new Superman in the next movie.”, “If there is no Godfather of the DCCU, a Kevin Feige equivalent, there is no point in having a DCCU.”… So I have decided to fantasize that I run Warner Bros, and I can make my version of the DCCU.
Before I start describing my dream, I would like to get something straight. I want to have a DCCU as much as the next guy, but I don’t want to the DCCU to be a carbon copy of the MCU, save for the characters. Therefore I want my version of the DCCU to bear a few differences with the MCU to differentiate itself from its competitor. First, there will be no end credits scene; everything the audiences need to know would be said in the movies. Using Thor: The Dark World as an example (SPOILERS for Thor: The Dark World), we would see Odin telling Lady Sif to send the Aether to the Collector in his throne room before the credits roll, instead of seeing Lady Sif talking to the Collector mid-credits.
Second, the tone of the DCCU movies would be more serious compared to the MCU movies. Not exactly Man of Steel’s depressing and over-serious tone, but more like The Dark Knight Trilogy’s tone; gritty, harsh, yet with a little humour from Alfred and Lucius to lighten the mood and make the audience grin a little; that’s the tone DCCU movies should have. When the audience is watching DCCU movies, they should feel concerned, not relaxed. The thought “of course the protagonist would come out on top!” should never occur to the audience. But then again, there should be some light-hearted moments/ heartfelt moments to make the movie enjoyable, not depressing from start to finish.
Third, emphasis of ripple effect must be made. One major complaint of Iron Man 3 is that SHIELD and the superheroes established in the Avengers are non-existent in that movie where there are terrorist bombings and the president is taken hostage. An effort of explaining where the other superheroes are must be made to avoid similar criticism, especially with the likes of Superman and Green Lantern around. If the movie does not tell the audience why these Gods-among-men are not helping out in, let’s say, Flash’s movie, the audience would be confused, and trolls would have new and easy targets to bash.
Fourth, in line with being more serious than the MCU movies, DCCU movies would have some kind of lesson or morals, so that these movies don't feel like place-holders/ obligatory introductory movies. Also, adding (read: NOT shoehorning) some kind of lesson into movies make them more re-watchable, which would benefit the franchise.
Now, the background of my version of the DCCU. It is quite simple, The Dark Knight Trilogy was done and completed, and it has nothing to do with the DCCU. Ryan Reynolds’s Green Lantern happened, and it has nothing to do with the DCCU, it is treated like Ang Lee’s Hulk (more on that later). Man of Steel happened, and it is in the DCCU.
Also, since I am not that talented and not that picky, I would not name my movies, I would just label them till they are distinguishable, as you will see.
Wonder Woman Movie 1
The movie right after Man of Steel would be a Wonder Woman movie, which is long over-due. I must admit I am not a big Wonder Woman fan, the majority of my Wonder Woman knowledge comes from the animated Wonder Woman movie and the Justice League cartoons, and even now my knowledge on this matter is limited. So I would be more than happy if I can see that movie getting a live-action version with a few minor tweaks (SPOILERS of the animated movie below).
--Use a less revealing outfit. Definitely not the one in the animated movie, though I think the one used in the upcoming Justice League: War can do.
--Add in a scene where Steve Trevor chats with his friend from the Aviation academy, Hal Jordon, on the phone in one scene, perhaps the bar scene. When Wonder Woman asked about this “Mr Jordan”, Steve speaks highly of him for his fearlessness, and Wonder Woman says she think “Mr Jordan” looks down on women because of his playboy-ish personality, judging from the conversation Steve Trevor and Hal Jordan had.
--Make Ares more powerful, have him call down multiple lightning bolts at the same time, and he does not wind up in the Underworld as in the animated movie, as he is a god.
--When Ares is calling down lightning, have one lightning bolt be in green colour, and have a different shape as the others. This will be an Easter egg hinting at a future Green Lantern Movie, as this “lightning bolt” would be Abin Sur’s spaceship crashing down onto Earth.
--A few scenes after this “green lightning bolt” strikes, show some green energy shooting off into space. That will be the ring bringing Hal Jordan, Abin Sur’s ship, and Abin Sur’s corpse to Oa. It is not necessary to show Hal Jordan’s face if WB don’t want to announce this casting when this Wonder Woman movie is released.
--Have some military personnel, preferably that Jason Locke guy from the Matrix sequels who plays the exact same character in Man of Steel yell into a phone that Superman got struck down by a lightning/ got caught in some whirlwind during the final battle, and is unable to stop the battle. This explains why we don’t see Superman appearing, and hints at the fact that he can be affected by magic, Ares’ magic in this case.
--Another bolt would hit a guy covered with chemicals, hinting at a future Flash movie, and same as Hal Jordan, the movie can choose to show Barry’s face, or it can hide it. To my knowledge, the Speed Force is a vague concept, and no one has ever denied any relation of the Speed Force to magic, so I am putting this here. If I am wrong, please correct me in the comments.
--After Ares is defeated, undo the destruction by showing all the buildings magically reconstructing themselves/ reverting to normal as Ares’ magic no longer lingers. Have someone ask, “How is this possible?”, and then have another guy say, “magic of those gods?” This has to be done as this saves time on talking about the rebuilding, and it makes it easier for the citizens in the movie to like Wonder Woman, compared to Man of Steel, where the destruction of a few city blocks was not talked about, and people seemed to continue with their everyday life, without the smallest bit of anti-Superman sentiment.
--Hades has to be done right for the fist time in human history. Come on, the Disney movie Hercules, Clash of the Titans, Wrath of the Titans, the Percy Jackson movies and almost every piece of literature get Hades’ personality wrong. The plot point that Hades removing Ares’ bands can be retained but please get his personality right. His personality in the Greek Mythology was great, and it was usually tweaked by authors to serve the plot of whatever he/she was writing. Therefore getting this aspect right can up the movie a few notches by providing the audience with more topics and tit-bits to talk about.
The lesson of the Wonder Woman movie would be more or less the same one in the animated movie, that treating the opposite sex with respect, the two genders living in harmony and not segregation, etc etc is good. As I stated above, having these lessons makes the movie worth re-watching, and it provides movie fans something to discuss among themselves, which is free promotion for the movie (e.g. The Dark Knight and Joker's philosophy).
Please read the other parts as I continue to describe my dream DCCU that would only happen in an alternate reality.