The DC Extended Universe came late to the comic book universe party and faced an uphill struggle in competing with the well-established Marvel Cinematic Universe. Warner Bros. Pictures saw the huge box office takings of the MCU and realised that creating a massive franchise in a similar way could be the future of film production. The distribution company certainly had the characters available to help them challenge Marvel but, up to this point, its model has been nowhere near as sound as that of the industry leaders. Did they introduce too many different faces too early?
The MCU began in 2008 with Jon Favreau’s Iron Man and, since then, there have been another eighteen instalments in the huge series. The movies have brought in an astonishing combined total of more than $6.6 billion at the box office, and they have mostly been met with favourable reviews as well. It did take a while for the franchise to really take off, with Marvel’s The Avengers in 2012 being the first major box office sensation in the series. This was the sixth title after Iron Man 1 and 2, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger.
Perhaps the main reason for the success of Joss Whedon’s introduction of the full set of superheroes in the same film was down to the fact that each of the main characters had been provided with engaging back stories prior to the film’s release. This is something that DC failed to do. Instead, Marvel’s rivals tried to give viewers too much, too early on.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016 aimed to bring in two major characters in the same film, and ended up being severely flawed because of this. Wonder Woman earned her own title film which was met with favourable critical reviews, but Aquaman, Cyborg, and The Flash didn’t appear until the release of DC’s answer to the Avengers in 2017. This led Justice League to also end up being an amalgamation of underdeveloped storylines and characters.
Aside from Wonder Woman, DC’s offerings to date have been ripped apart by critics. They have, however, done fairly well at the box office. There is also potential to massively extend the DC franchise and attract more viewers through other mediums. This has worked for the likes of Jurassic World and Tomb Raider in recent years. There is already a Justice League iGaming offering, which is one of the most popular online casino games on Betfair. DC should aim to break out into mobile apps and console games as well if they want to endear more people to their characters.
The gradual process to bring in the different aspects of its universe really worked for Marvel, and viewers had already formed an attachment to some characters before going to see them all in the same film. In the future, DC should slow down and create engaging standalone films for each of its heroes, so that when they do get together, the ensemble doesn’t feel like a complete mess of unevolved intertwining storylines.
