I consider myself to be kind of a huge superhero nerd. I love Marvel, I like DC, I can rattle off completely useless trivia about almost all of my favorites. So, you can imagine how much I am loving the influx of comic book movies that has been happening over the past decade. The superhero film has pretty much evolved into its own genre at this point, with Marvel dominating the box office with almost every new release. DC on the other hand, has not fared so well. In fact, they've pretty much been flopping with every film they have put out. This is really disappointing to me as a fan of the genre because these are characters that I love and that I grew up with. To see them basically ripped to pieces, it's disheartening. So, in my infinite wisdom, I have decided to go over all of what the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) is doing wrong and how it can be fixed, in the hopes that they will finally get their act together.
In 2013, the DCEU officially began with "Man of Steel", a Superman movie, the first since "Superman Returns" in 2006. No one really knew what to make of it; it was to be directed by Zack Snyder, of "300" fame, and appeared to be darker than any other Superman film we had seen thus far. When it did come out, fans and critics alike were extremely unimpressed. Just as they have been with "Batman vs Superman" and "Suicide Squad".
The problem with all of these movies can be traced all the way back to "Batman Begins". "Batman Begins" was a very successful film released in 2005, directed by a Mr. Christopher Nolan. A lot of what made this movie so well received was how much darker and more realistic it was compared to the other superhero films at the time. Aesthetically it was muted, the setting was gritty and grimy, the characters even had much darker viewpoints and aspirations. And the reason this worked so well, is that it was a Batman film.
Canonically, Batman is already a pretty dark character, it makes sense for films about him to be the same way. Superman, on the other hand, is not. Superman has always been the light to Batman's dark, I mean he is literally powered by the sun. And this is where Snyder's Superman faltered. Instead of making him this bright character, he made it Dark and Gritty™. And it was a resounding failure. The same goes for "Suicide Squad", which was supposed to be the saving grace for the DCEU. It promised to be different and funny and off the wall, and what we were given was a supreme disappointment.
If you look at the MCU, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, all of their films feel different. "Iron Man" is different from "Thor" and both of those were vastly different from "Guardians of the Galaxy". Everything that has been released thus far in the DCEU has felt the same. And that's a problem. You can't have everything be Dark and Gritty™, it just doesn't work for all characters. It's okay for superhero films to veer on the whimsical side, or to be a comedy or a heist film, etc. You need to find something that makes sense for the character.
Another area that DC is struggling in film-wise, is that none of their characters feel well developed. They're all very one dimensional, very one sided if you will. This is most prominent in the newest entry to the DCEU, "Suicide Squad." Besides pacing issues, this was my biggest problem with the film, the characters were not developed enough at all. I do understand that it can be more difficult with such a large cast like they had, but if you look at the newest Captain America movie, they had an even larger cast and managed to make them all multidimensional. I don't mean to compare the two because they are different, but the situation is the same. Characters should have more than two characteristics, and in a movie like "Suicide Squad" when the entire film revolves around the squad, all the characters should be highlighted at some point.
In all honestly, the best thing the DCEU has going for it right now are its television shows on The CW. They are some of the only things right now that truly capture the essence of the characters they are based on, "The Flash" being the best example. It's super campy, but it's still a good show. It's realistic without being gritty, it's funny, it's optimistic. The Flash has always canonically been an optimistic character over anything, and I pray they carry this over into his movie in 2018.
The point I'm trying to make is that DC needs to get its act together. Quick, fast, and in a hurry. Because I am getting so tired of being disappointed by these films, and expecting nothing but bad because of what they have done so far. And it isn't like they have a whole lot to fix, in fact, it's only a few things. It's just a few large things, that need to be addressed. I pray that they see the light before they finish up "Justice League" and "Wonder Woman," Because I really do not want to be disappointed again.
