We have now progressed through a total of three movies within the DC Cinematic Universe. With that I can say without any doubt in my mind that I have high hopes for the future of DC’s movie slate. Following a two-year hiatus from Man of Steel this year we have been provided with two more than satisfactory movies, Batman Vs. Superman and Suicide Squad. Both movies have accomplished more than enough by establishing some of the DC universe’s core heroes along with some of their sinister and lesser known villains. However, there seems to be some confusion and backlash towards the direction that this film franchise in particular, and I’d like to provide my interpretation on what exactly the directors and producers want to portray with their film line up. Spoiler alert for the text provided from here on out.
I’ll open with Man of Steel, Superman himself kicks off the extended universe with his seemingly ninth reboot. Even though it may have been another reboot to the Superman franchise it was our first movie to ever give us that universe similar to what Marvel comics had established, and what better way to do it than with DC’s first superhero ever. The film opens up with the destruction of Superman’s home planet krypton while among the chaos he gets rocketed as a baby to Earth to live among human kind and one day be a symbol of hope to his peers among him. But that’s not openly accepted from the humans among him as he ends up fighting another kryptonian who survives and is hell bent on terraforming the Earth to become a new krypton, through the manipulation of its atmosphere. The battle that ensues ultimately ends with several areas of metropolis becoming leveled as the rest of the world looks on conflicted after Superman kills Zod.
Followed by his morally grey act of heroism the events that follow make up for Batman Vs. Superman. The symbol of hope that Superman was told to be had now been sullied by the rest of the world’s population. There are two pivotal characters who want nothing more than the riddance of Superman, Bruce Wayne and Lex Luthor. Among the civil unrest Bruce was there as he watched Superman drive Zod through thousands of buildings and tons of dollars of collateral. So Lex Luthor makes it a point to pit the already irritated Batman against Superman to rid the world of him once and for all, for it’s Superman’s godlike power that makes Luthor feel weak. As a backup plan to the entire fight if it were to ever go south, Lex combines his DNA with that of the fallen kryptonian Zod to make a creature with immense hatred for all of mankind itself, Doomsday. It is up to Batman and Superman to put differences aside to take down the even larger threat of Lex’s creation, which ultimately leads with the sacrifice of Superman himself. What’s so powerful about these two films alone is that it’s a story of redemption for a man who has only had to save the world twice, and through his death he inspires the hope that his father had meant for him too in the beginning.
After the closing of these events, Batman makes it a point to create a team of other heroes to protect the Earth from all threats that aim to destroy the world. But there’s also another person with that in mind. Enter Amanda Waller and her Suicide Squad. Waller is the director of a government group known as A.R.G.U.S. which for short, is a secret government group dedicated towards the research and defense against super powered beings. She uses Superman’s death as a means to finally band together her own team of metas however, they’re not heroes and they’re not concerned with saving the earth. Amanda proposes her team be consisted of the world’s most dangerous criminals to conduct covert missions for the government whenever needed. Her way of getting them to cooperate is by implanting a micro bomb in their neck, in case they’re disobedient or intentionally fail the mission she detonates the bomb. Disposing of the villain and throwing him or her under the bus if word was to ever spread of any mission that they carry out.
The arc of these three movies alone were to show how the controversy of an alien from krypton can be used for good and evil. Superman was the perfect plot device in DC’s way of storytelling, which comes on as more complex than any other studio that has tried a connected universe. Any of the events that take place in these movies come with consequences, and also lead to connections and tie ins with the following films that make the world truly feel like a comic book come to life. So I can honestly say that my boyfriend and I are excited for the following films we’ve fallen in love with its storytelling and only expect to be blown away further.
