With Guardians of the Galaxy right around the corner, and Phase Two of Marvel’s highly successful cinematic universe in gear, one could say Marvel Studios has engineered the formula for the ultimate (no pun…!) superhero film franchise. In contrast, longtime print rival DC comics has gone the traditional route and put their film rights in the hands of Warner Bros., with varying results. That’s not to say DC superheroes haven’t seen success on the big screen, but there’s nothing they have that comes close to the mainstream exposure of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — the secret of which is precisely the fact that all its films reside in that grand universe. The Marvel pipeline works to make everything cohesive; all the big heroes get their own films, but are not exclusive of other characters and are mindful of setting up forthcoming films. Their heroes are allowed solo movies to showcase just how heroic they are, but they are also allowed to play with each other.
The success of Marvel’s explosive cinematic universe, however, may have at last pushed DC to try a broader picture (probably once the numbers for The Avengers rolled in); the upcoming Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice film has indicated that a wider superhero world will be explored, as opposed to the adamantly isolated films they’ve put out in recent years. The idea is to tie in the previous Superman movie Man of Steel to a Christopher Nolan-esque (if not actually “Nolanverse”) Batman, with even a confirmed role by Wonder Woman (who has suffered a few abortive attempts at TV show and film these past few years).
Time will tell how much of this strategy DC is taking to heart, as well as how successful it will be; so far Dawn of Justice looks like a pretty obvious set up for a Justice League film, but there’s no word on how exactly their cinematic continuum is being plotted. There are about as many naysayers as there are cautious optimists, so it will be interesting to see if they can rise to the occasion.
In the meantime, it’s as fun an exercise as any to imagine what plotlines DC would have in store for their heroes, if they had Marvel Studios to craft their line up for them. Here’s what it might look like:
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