While the DCU technically got started with Creature Commandos, Superman is the true start to a universe that hopefully continues to blossom. The movie is directed and written by the creative head of DC Studios, James Gunn, who also famously directed all three Guardians of the Galaxy movies. The movie stars David Corenswet as Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor. Characters we've never seen on the big screen before like Guy Gardner's Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, Mister Terrific, and the Engineer.
This is clearly going to be a huge movie that lays some groundwork for a universe just being born into existence. This isn't Iron Man in 2008. This movie isn't being made with the mere possibility of creating a cinematic universe as a huge maybe. That's Superman's entire purpose.
There is most definitely a lot of hype and excitement for Superman. On YouTube, the trailer has 3.2 million views, and that's only counting the views from Warner Bros official account. That number goes up by millions more when you take other videos into effect. It's being written about and reported on constantly, and there's buzz galore. However, not all that buzz is good.
Take this with a grain of salt of course, but there have been several insiders that claim to have spoken to people who have watched Superman and have either said it flat out is a bad movie or that it's just okay. Bad and okay are not how you'd want to start a cinematic universe.
Fan response has also been a bit mixed. There are plenty of fans who think the movie looks great, and there are plenty of fans who think the movie looks, well, goofy is the best word, something that was only exacerbated by the strange wide angle lens shot of Corenswet flying. Critics of what we've seen so far tend to cite the costume design as a big plight on the movie.
Superman is an investment, so what happens if there's no return or not enough return on that investment?
If Superman flops, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow could be in immediate trouble. Zaslav may give it the unceremonious Batgirl treatment and axe a project that is essentially done to take a tax write off. It's possible that Supergirl could try to make up the loss of Superman, but if the latter flops, the former is likely to flop as well. If Superman fails, the most likely scenario is that all future DC Studios projects, except maybe some that are already filming, will be canceled.
The exception to this could potentially be The Batman Part II. Matt Reeves Batman universe has already proven itself to be financially successful. While it wasn't a billion dollar hit, The Batman still brought in a good bit of cash.
So, if Superman fails financially and all DC Studios projects are canceled or put on hold, what will happen to WB? There is a good chance Warner Bros would have to start selling their popular IPs that haven't been particularly successful as of late, but still prove to be popular like Godzilla and Kong, HBO, and, possibly DC Studios. It would either be that, or the sale of the entire company as a last ditch effort to at least get the people who own the sinking ship paid.
There was even a short lived rumor, which was probably just a speculation snowball pushed down a hill, that Zaslav had ordered Gunn to put as many characters as he could into Superman to show off the DC properties that could be made into movies to prep for a sale of DC. Gunn naturally denied this, but it's still possible Zaslav wanted him to do this as a sort of contingency plan for if the new DCU fails to meet financial expectations.
The question then is this: who would be up for buying such an enormous company or the rights to its huge IP? Sony would surely look into purchasing some of the IP as they have a hand on the rights to Godzilla already. Sony's movies haven't done well as of late, so they may not be looking to drop extra cash on new IP, but they could also view purchasing established properties and franchises as an investment opportunity. Another huge buyer could be Comcast, who currently own NBCUniversal and their streaming service, Peacock, a service that only has about thirty million subscribers compared to Netflix's three hundred million. Purchasing streaming rights or WB's whole streaming service, Max, could boost their streaming revenue exponentially.
However, the biggest buyer is, of course, Disney.
Disney purchasing DC or WB as a whole has been a topic of conversation before. If Disney bought the media rights to DC, they would own nearly every superhero in existence. To many, that’s a terrifying thought. A lot of fans of the earlier days of the MCU have lost hope in Disney’s ability to handle the franchise. They’ve had more flops post Avengers: Endgame than pre Endgame by far, but they’ve also shoveled more money at each movie. Handing Disney the keys to Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and more could certainly pave the way for some incredible spectacles of films, particularly an adaptation of the DC Versus Marvel stories. Batman versus Captain America. Thor versus Wonder Woman. Cyborg versus Iron Man. The opportunity for cinematic events is nearly endless. Say what you will about Disney, but they’ve been able to form a successful cinematic universe with much more ease than Warner Bros.
A lot rides on the success of Superman. The fate of the DCU and Warner as a whole likely rides on the film. Response to what we’ve been shown so far has been a bit mixed but on the positive side, but we won’t know how the film does until it releases. If it does poorly, we could see some drastic consequences that could potentially even include the sale of DC Studios to Disney.
What do you think will happen if Superman fails? Is a sale to Disney possible, and is it something you think would be good or bad for DC characters? Let me know!