Why Nolan's Batman trilogy is bad for DC.

Why Nolan's Batman trilogy is bad for DC.

How Nolan's Batman trilogy has hurt DC more than helped it.

Editorial Opinion
By HeimdallUSA - Jul 20, 2011 05:07 PM EST
Filed Under: Batman

So much has been made of Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies. Ask most people and they will agree that they are great movies, not just great comic book movies but great movies that any fanboy or regular Joe can enjoy. For as great as Batman Begins and The Dark Knight are and as great as The Dark Knight Rises will be (or at least should be), the movies have set DC back in their attempt to match the success that Marvel Studios has attained.

Unless something has changed, Christopher Nolan has said that his Batman trilogy is not part of a DC Movie Universe and was never intended to be part of it. This wouldn’t be a problem if Nolan’s movies were a failure but they are perhaps the most successful comic book movies from a purely money perspective. Because the movies are so successful but were designed to NOT be infused with the rest of the DC Movie Universe when they do try and put Batman in with Superman, Wonder Woman and Green Lantern it is going to fail on a relative level. Batman can still be a success but let’s be honest; it won’t be as good as Nolan’s trilogy. Let’s say they do make another Batman and that they make it to tie in with everyone else, this would have to be done within the next couple of years and who is going to want to see another Batman origin story. No one is the answer, people will get burned out with Batman.

Of course Nolan is also on board to produce the Superman reboot but I haven’t heard yet if it going to be a stand-alone movie franchise like Batman or if he is going to try and make it a lead vehicle like Iron-Man was for Marvel leading into the Avengers.

I haven’t seen Green Lantern, never been a fan, but the numbers don’t lie that it was a flop when looking at it by the numbers. It made just over half of its $200million budget back meanwhile each Marvel movie within the Marvel Cinematic Universe has made at least $273million (The Incredible Hulk).

The only chance that DC has of attempting to do what Marvel is doing with the Marvel Cinematic Universe is somehow get Nolan’s Batman movies tied into the rest of the DC Movie Universe. If this fails then we may be stuck with more Green Lantern movies in relation to commercial success.

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skullgmo44
skullgmo44 - 7/20/2011, 5:57 PM
Marvel will always be ahead of DC. All I can say is that they better spend alot of time on the JL movie.
GothamsViper
GothamsViper - 7/20/2011, 6:01 PM
Marvel fanboys should not be writing articles about DC; anything. ~sigh~
thunderforce
thunderforce - 7/20/2011, 6:04 PM
As long as DC is run by a movie studio they will continue to be hit or miss , and it is alot easier to miss than hit as we have seen .
Anthrax
Anthrax - 7/20/2011, 6:04 PM
I agree dc sucks and wasn't TIH the leading vehicle
Anthrax
Anthrax - 7/20/2011, 6:10 PM
Grimlock I agree Nolan is not god just a oversees director
thunderforce
thunderforce - 7/20/2011, 6:10 PM
@grim , DC will learn that , it may take alot of fail first but eventually they will learn that .
Anthrax
Anthrax - 7/20/2011, 6:11 PM
Marvel actually had a plan unlike dc who started making gl while talking out of their ass and look what happened a flop
JayJayCAW
JayJayCAW - 7/20/2011, 6:12 PM
you seem to forget one very key point in all of this, DC has already said that they are not interested in making a "Movie Universe" like what Marvel is doing, they are only making the solo films where the title role is the only hero on the planet.

If anyone is still hoping for a Justice League film, they can forget it simply cause it wont happen cause DC is run by a bunch of morons who clearly dont give a shit what there fans say or want (sadly I am one of them), example........Smallville.....Green Lantern (still liked both tho lol) and ofcourse........the DCnU Reboot crap
Anthrax
Anthrax - 7/20/2011, 6:16 PM
Sadly that moron who has dc by the balls is one of the most oversees person of all time Is Geoff he [frick]ed up green lantern I say falcon punch him in the balls!
ISleepNow
ISleepNow - 7/20/2011, 6:17 PM
Ha Ha! "Nolan's Batman movies are bad 'cause all the usual CBM's look like crap by comparison" Maybe peoplke need to take up the challenge and improve their work then. Jon Favreau has, Matthew Vaughn has..
Supes17
Supes17 - 7/20/2011, 6:36 PM
Wtf? Seriously?
You know what's bad for DC? Warner Bros
They've [frick]ed up EVERY single movie since Batman Returns
If Nolan wouldn't have asked for creative control over his own franchise, WB wouldve [frick]ed those movies up as well!

Nolan actually made a smart move not tying his franchise with the ither DC films..
Imagine if the most critically successful DC franchise was connected to superman returns and Green Lantern?!
naterator
naterator - 7/20/2011, 6:46 PM
WB and DC need a divorce for sure.
Supes17
Supes17 - 7/20/2011, 6:48 PM
@naterator: True. That's where the problem lies...
LP4
LP4 - 7/20/2011, 7:07 PM
@nailbiter- Agreed man, NOLAN IS GOD. =D

@Superman17- True man! I'd hate it if Nolan's brilliant Batman films were somehow connected even LOOSELY to Superman Returns aka- Stalkerman Returns and/or Green Lantern...yeah the CBM that is apparently without substance and about a green hero named- Gumby.

;P

@naterator- For once in a long while...I gotta agree with you there. WB sucks.
AnthonyMango
AnthonyMango - 7/20/2011, 7:14 PM
If they did do some sort of tie-in between the Man of Steel and Green Lantern films, as well as make a new Batman series, it doesn't mean anything one way or the other by default.

For instance, the idea of the origin story. Does it need to retell the origin? Not necessarily. Incredible Hulk and Punisher: War Zone are two examples of follow ups/reboots that didn't have to tell full origin stories. Granted, they weren't 5 star films, but that's not an issue with the origin story, that's just a problem of overall story telling. (Example, Ghost Rider has the origin, but that wasn't good, so that throws the whole "origin = good, no origin = bad" thing out the window).

Plus, if they do a Justice League film, then this Batman would need to be different. In the Batman comics as well as the Bruce Timm animated series, he was a more realistic and down to earth character in comparison to whenever Batman is teamed up with the others in a Justice League format. Therefore, if they did a new Batman series, they COULD have more gadgets, show off the detective side more, and tone down the gritty realism. Nolan's films are fantastic, but that doesn't mean that they're the only way you can do a good Batman film. A different direction, as long as it was handled with the right care and wasn't over the top and cheesy like Schumacher's films, could be just what they need to make it so it's different enough and can work in the Justice League format. Whereas the Nolan trilogy is giving us the darker and realistic villains, a new series could give us the ones like Clayface, Mr. Freeze, Firefly, and still have enough room for realistic ones like Hugo Strange, Penguin, Riddler, Deadshot, etc.
HeimdallUSA
HeimdallUSA - 7/20/2011, 7:43 PM
@mbembet- As I said in my article, the Nolan Batman movies are probably the best CBMs out there to date.

I will admit that I didn't think about it being WB who is messing everything up, even if it is there fault DC still needs to standup and say "stop being dumb".

The only reason I write about DC even though I am a Marvel fan is that I got into this debate with several DC fans at my workplace and I wanted to get a bigger perspective on it.
Chewtoy
Chewtoy - 7/20/2011, 9:28 PM
Well, if we're playing the "Nolan's box office dwarfs everyone" numbers game, then it's worth noting that Nolan's two Batman flicks made $1.373b vs. Raimi's first two Spider-man flicks $1.605.

To catch up to Raimi's success with all 3 Spider-man flicks, Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises will need to make $1.122b worldwide.

It can be done (The Return of the King came close), but so far only Avatar and Titanic have managed to make that much.
SupermanReturns2006
SupermanReturns2006 - 7/20/2011, 10:15 PM
I go for Green Lantern
Oxion
Oxion - 7/21/2011, 12:04 AM
....it will never end. Fact is, Marvel has simply pushed more heroes out the door over the past couple of years than DC has, doesn't make them better. 2nd, box office numbers only mean so much, everyone went broke to go see Hangover 2, made so much money but that movie sucked ass. 3rd, they both do their thing in their own rite, sometimes DC is on top, sometimes Marvel is on top. Marvel maybe dominating in Live action, but I know people who look forward to more of DC Animated movies and animated tv shows (which tend to stay on air longer than Marvels) than they do both Marvel and DC's live action. The argument will never end and both companies will do sum shyt to mess up franchise characters or take away somethin from their origins and never put on the big screen the stories we love (Marvel Zombies, Batman: Knightfall ect.) Just take it for what it is, great rivalry between two great companies.
croniccris
croniccris - 7/21/2011, 12:17 AM
ya nolan set the bar high doesn't mean it can't be reached....
LP4
LP4 - 7/21/2011, 2:46 AM
I just think it's impressive that some people here are comparing Nolan's bat-films to ALL of the Marvel films combined. It's like...Nolan is THAT good. He's so talented that people compare just 2 of his batman films to the possibly- dozens upon dozens of Marvel cbms out there.

Go Nolan!
molee
molee - 7/21/2011, 2:56 AM
if they ever try to make justice league i'm pretty sure that the batman there wouldn't be nolan's, cuz his universe doesn't seem to be compatible with that of other dc characters.
but i still want nolan to make more batman movies.
i agree that nolan's batman "good" for dc!because its AWESOME for dc!
LP4
LP4 - 7/21/2011, 2:58 AM
@Grimlock20- Dude, you're taking MrNoFear's comment waaaay too literally. He meant it in the figurative-sense. Obviously there's no way Nolan's Dark Knight film ALONE could out-gross all the Marvel films box-offices combined, that's impossible. We're comparing like what...1 film against like 20 or more?

What MrNoFear meant and is something i strongly agree with is the fact that Nolan's Dark Knight film grossed more money than ANY of the Marvel films to date. No other films whether Marvel or even DC could top Nolan's 2nd Bat-flick. And keep in mind that is ONLY his 2nd one. I'm sure he can top it with the 3rd film and psychologically blow us all away with how epic it is.

2012= The World's Finest =D

Separate films but still it is going to be an awesome year!
LP4
LP4 - 7/21/2011, 3:02 AM
^ Oh and I forgot to add. When I said Nolan's Dark Knight film outgrossed all the box-offices of all the Marvel films i meant- INDIVIDUALLY of course. Individually speaking his 2nd Batman film is still the highest gross for a CBM ever. It made over a billion dollars.

Nolan shouldn't be hated on or looked upon as some sort of disease just because his Batman is a little more realistic than the one in the comics. Come on people, I'd say Nolan's done a pretty nice job.
batman92
batman92 - 7/21/2011, 3:50 AM
marvel fans can talk about Chris Nolan all they want because you know what? no marvel film will ever be as great as Nolan's batman and superman films .
95
95 - 7/21/2011, 4:22 AM
DC's approach: To develop solo cinematic experiences for each of their characters.

At one point I remember reading that their JLA would be a it's own universe, separate from the solo adventures.

I say... 2015, release a JLA film. Branch off from there.

The spin off won't affect the JLA film and the JLA film won't hold back the solo adventures.

Hopefully we can see a Batman film with Robin and the other more colorful villains.

We don't need another origin because Christopher Nolan has done a great job of creating The Dark Knight legend that will go down in his cinematic history.
6of13
6of13 - 7/21/2011, 4:43 AM
I know Nolan said his Batman existed in his own universe, but I always thought that it could still belong to a unified DC movie universe.
adiyosua
adiyosua - 7/21/2011, 4:53 AM
I don't care whether The Dark Knight will be dangerous for DC or not.. Batman from DC Comics. That's it. The Dark Knight has set the standard.. Everyone, including Matthew Vaughn in an interview, said that they wanna make movie like Batman Begins or TDK.. Marvel flopped in Elektra, Daredevil, Punisher, etc.. DC flopped in Batman and Robin, Catwoman, etc.. Marvel has made good movies, but don't forget DC always set the standard, from Superman 1978 until 30 years later, TDK 2008..


Let's see Avengers the next year.. Even Marvel needs a bunch of superheroes and god (Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, CA) to take on one normal human dressed up like a Bat... Hahahahah
adiyosua
adiyosua - 7/21/2011, 4:53 AM
I don't care whether The Dark Knight will be dangerous for DC or not.. Batman from DC Comics. That's it. The Dark Knight has set the standard.. Everyone, including Matthew Vaughn in an interview, said that they wanna make movie like Batman Begins or TDK.. Marvel flopped in Elektra, Daredevil, Punisher, etc.. DC flopped in Batman and Robin, Catwoman, etc.. Marvel has made good movies, but don't forget DC always set the standard, from Superman 1978 until 30 years later, TDK 2008..


Let's see Avengers the next year.. Even Marvel needs a bunch of superheroes and god (Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, CA) to take on one normal human dressed up like a Bat... Hahahahah
Trapdinsteel
Trapdinsteel - 7/21/2011, 5:40 AM
@HeimdallUSA

I disagree. Nolan's Batman films were solid films receiving critical acclaim, fan support not to mention TDK made a ton of money. Your logic is flawed because even after the absolutely horrendous Batman & Robin Movie as well as Batman Forever, Nolan still had success with his movies, people still came back to see Batman. Those crapfests were not connected to a DC Universe nor were they very good, how do you explain the success of the current franchise then?

Marvel studios has control of Thor, Hulk, Iron Man, and Captain America so they can easily merge them into an Avengers Movie. With DC it is certainly not that simple. They can't seem to get their crap together and get the right people in place to launch the rest of the Justice League characters properly. Superman is in ongoing legal hell which was known years ago so I'm sure that has made things difficult as well.

TDK is the 6th batman film in the last two decades, and it did just fine. The character has been around for a very long time, people like Batman and will continue to after Nolan is done with him.

Don't be so sure that the Avengers is going to be the gigantic success that you think it is either. I hope for the best sure, however does the general movie going public really care that a bunch of superhero's are teaming up in one film? Doubtful. I want to see the Avengers, you want to see the Avengers but that does not mean everyone else will.
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 7/21/2011, 5:45 AM
@ grimlock

actually, back when Nolan was announced as a producer on Superman, he DID state that his Batman and Superman movies will exist in their own universes with no other heroes. he said that they are the only superheroes in their respective worlds.
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