MAN OF STEEL Producer David S. Goyer Says WB Pushed Them To Compete With Marvel: "We Need Our MCU"

MAN OF STEEL Producer David S. Goyer Says WB Pushed Them To Compete With Marvel: "We Need Our MCU"

Although Warner Bros. execs have denied this in the past, writer/producer David S. Goyer has now confirmed that the studio was attempting to compete with Marvel Studios...

By MarkCassidy - Sep 23, 2023 09:09 AM EST
Filed Under: Man of Steel

Shortly after Marvel Studios struck gold with the launch of Iron Man and the MCU, Warner Bros. set the wheels in motion for its own shared DC Comics universe with Zack Snyder's Man of Steel.

Though there were a few bright spots here and there, the DCEU (as it was unofficially dubbed) didn't reach the same levels of success, and there was a perception that the studio rushed into things in an attempt to compete with Marvel.

WB execs often denied this when asked about it during interviews, but writer David S. Goyer has confirmed that this is exactly what WB's mindset was while chatting to the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

Goyer tells host Josh Horowitz that he feels Warners should’ve developed a standalone Superman sequel instead of rushing into Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

“I know the pressure we were getting from Warner Bros., which was, ‘We need our MCU! We need our MCU!’ And I was like let’s not run before we walk,” Goyer said. “The other thing that was difficult at the time was there was this revolving door of executives at Warner Bros. and DC. Every 18 months someone new would come in. We were just getting whiplash. Every new person was like, ‘We’re going to go bigger!'”

“I remember at one point the person running Warner Bros. at the time had this release that pitched the next 20 movies over the next 10 years," he continued. "But none of them had been written yet! It was crazy how much architecture was being built on air. This is not how you build a house.”

Goyer was also asked about the decision to have Supes kill General Zod during the climatic battle, and whether he anticipated the scene being so controversial. He says he felt this was the right decision for the more "grounded" story they were telling, before adding that he wrote a scene with Jonathan Kent taking Clarke hunting that would have teed up the Zod moment, but had to cut it due to time constraints.

The final film of the DCEU era will be December's Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which will be followed by the official launch of the new DCU with Superman: Legacy. DC Studios co-CEOS James Gunn and Peter Safran have been planning and developing this shared world for quite a while, so we can only hope that they don't repeat past mistakes.

MAN OF STEEL & DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE Star Henry Cavill Joins The Cast Of Live-Action VOLTRON Movie
Related:

MAN OF STEEL & DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE Star Henry Cavill Joins The Cast Of Live-Action VOLTRON Movie

Zack Snyder Shares Never-Before-Seen Photo Of Henry Cavill As Clark Kent In MAN OF STEEL
Recommended For You:

Zack Snyder Shares Never-Before-Seen Photo Of Henry Cavill As Clark Kent In MAN OF STEEL

DISCLAIMER: As a user generated site and platform, ComicBookMovie.com is protected under the DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) and "Safe Harbor" provisions.

This post was submitted by a user who has agreed to our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines. ComicBookMovie.com will disable users who knowingly commit plagiarism, piracy, trademark or copyright infringement. Please CONTACT US for expeditious removal of copyrighted/trademarked content. CLICK HERE to learn more about our copyright and trademark policies.

Note that ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.

1 2
BraveNewClunge
BraveNewClunge - 9/23/2023, 9:07 AM
“The other thing that was difficult at the time was there was this revolving door of executives at Warner Bros. and DC. Every 18 months someone new would come in. We were just getting whiplash. Every new person was like, ‘We’re going to go bigger!'”

Reeds2Much
Reeds2Much - 9/23/2023, 9:24 AM
"t was crazy how much architecture was being built on air. This is not how you build a house."

Sure is nice to hear our words coming from a pseudo-celebrity almost a decade after we've been saying them.
WEAPONXOXOXO
WEAPONXOXOXO - 9/23/2023, 9:26 AM
There were NBA basketball teams in the 80 saying they needed their own Michael Jordan.
Back to you Nancy.
bkmeijer1
bkmeijer1 - 9/23/2023, 9:31 AM
Although the quality wasn't always great (bar a handful of exceptions), I think the DCEU worked fine the way it did. It just took them way too long to figure it out.

Just hope that when Gunn's DCU starts, it's really a fresh start. Otherwise it'd be building another house of a foundation of air again. No need to rush it, so a half-reboot isn't necessary to keep some building stones.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 9/23/2023, 9:38 AM
Bro stating the obvious 10 years later
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 9/23/2023, 11:26 AM
@GhostDog - And 2 years before, lol. This trainwreck will never end. We're in a nightmare loop of DC hell.
GhostDog
GhostDog - 9/23/2023, 11:38 AM
@ObserverIO - the monumental waste of this wonderful IP is going to be studied one day
Forthas
Forthas - 9/23/2023, 9:40 AM
What should have happened is that Man of Steel 2 should have featured a cameo from Christian Bale's Batman where they might have had a disagreement, but not a full on battle to the death like we saw. Then if they had taken out all the cameos from other super heroes and a focus on establishing Lex Luthor (with a more tradtional casting choice) the DCEU would have taken off. What an absolute shame! Ten years of a studio hacking away at the value of this brand to the point each new film is expected to lose money.
Fogs
Fogs - 9/23/2023, 9:49 AM
@Forthas - Agreed. That would make sense cause little by little Batman would need to invest in newer gadgets and training due to the cosmic/supernatural nature of the adventures that would ensue onwards.
Forthas
Forthas - 9/23/2023, 10:03 AM
@Fogs - EXACTLY! For the Bale Batman it could have marked an evolution from Gotham specific crime fighter to more globally focused especiually since the Joseph Gordon Levitt character could hold down the city crime front.

There were so many interesting ways to take the story with those two franchises. It is that the leadership lacked the imagination and creativity to make it happen.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 9/23/2023, 11:25 AM
@Forthas - Ignoring a successful and established Batman because they thought those movies were too realistic to be in the same universe, hmmm where have heard something like that recently? Oh yeah that's right they're making the same damn mistake this time around again.
Forthas
Forthas - 9/23/2023, 11:46 AM
@ObserverIO - I agree to a point! Nolan's Batman did have fantastic elements to it but they were subtle. Reeves seems to be embracing the reality part it a lot more. But at the same time, if that is what people want then why waste money on what is likely to be a more fantastic film franchise. Reeves Batman gives them the opportunity to ease into the more fantastic stuff. So yes another blown opportunity.
TheSuperMex
TheSuperMex - 9/23/2023, 12:56 PM
@Forthas - why would Bale’s Batman come back when he retired from being Batman at the end of TDKR. It would be John Blake who would be Batman/Nightwing/Robin.
Forthas
Forthas - 9/23/2023, 1:04 PM
@TheSuperMex - The same way it was Christian Bale's Batman who was Batman in the Dark Knight Rises after he retired in The Dark Knight. He would un-retire!
comicfan100
comicfan100 - 9/23/2023, 9:56 AM
That was pretty obvious. From having Batman AND Wonder Woman show up in the pseudo sequel to Man of Steel to hiring Joss Whedon and all of his Whedon-esque dialogue in Justice League, they clearly weren't confident enough to properly build a cohesive shared universe that stood on its own.
grif
grif - 9/23/2023, 10:17 AM
step one in making our mcu. only make one superman movie.
RitoRevolto
RitoRevolto - 9/23/2023, 10:24 AM
And that is why they failed. They should've made their own path and did their own thing while probably also taking into account what exactly made the MCU so successful to begin with.

Feige had his creative teams watch Superman 1978 whenever they were starting a new origin story. Tf were WB doing?
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 9/23/2023, 11:19 AM
@RitoRevolto - The problem is that they wanted to BE like the MCU but they didn't want to DO what the MCU did. If they did what the MCU did, they would have had all their success.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 9/23/2023, 11:21 AM
@RitoRevolto - It's like they said "I wanna be big and strong like a professional boxer" and so somebody gave them a set of dumbbells and they went "But it's too hard!!!" so they skipped the workout and just went into the ring and got their ass handed to them by the box-office.
Arthorious
Arthorious - 9/23/2023, 11:36 AM
@RitoRevolto - WB made the blue print but didn’t use it in the future.
1 2
View Recorder