Marvel vs. DC Cold War: Team-Ups and Ultimate Ensembles

DC unleashed its full film slate at an investor’s meeting that signaled to the viewing public that DC has entered the feature film space with an all in mentality; a nuclear bomb of a film slate showing with release dates and characters never before shown on the big screen. Of course, this was done as a reaction to the overwhelming success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and criticism of DC’s inability to follow suit with its own properties. The DCCU is born and what do they decide to start off with? The ensemble cast to rival all ensemble casts before it, the introduction and prelude to the Justice League in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. What was first thought to be a Man of Steal sequel, became the prelude to arguably the greatest collection of superheroes known.

How does Marvel respond? Marvel reveals its own film slate by one upping DC’s investor meeting announcement and holding a private media event at the El Capitan Theater with movie titles and logos and some exciting appearances to present to the world Marvel’s response to the justice league prelude in Captain America: Civil War. Confirmations of the inclusion of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Cyborg, catapulted Marvel into action to feature Captain America, Iron Man and Black Panther in its own film opposite the prelude to be released just two months after DC’s entry. If that were not enough, Marvel seized an opportunity for no compensation to include Spider-Man in Captain America: Civil War. Marvel is doing everything it can to keep its strong hold on the comic book movie verse it reinvented and hold off DC as it enters the competition swinging. Marvel knows expectations may rise after DC’s entry and does not want to see ticket sales plummet because it was not able to match what came before.

What other surprises will the Justice League prelude produce? A recent poster depicting Jason Mamoa as Aquaman writes “Unite the Seven”. Now, in addition to the costumed superheroes already confirmed to be appearing in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, we know that The Flash has been cast with Ezra Miller taking on the feature film character and given a solo outing. We also know Green Lantern is slated for a solo outing. And there are your seven members of the Justice League. Might we see a cameo of one or both of these characters in the prelude before part 1 of the team-up? Will we see Ezra Miller don the costume sooner than expected? If the DCCU is to play catch-up to the MCU, that might surely happen. The third Avengers romp is broken into two parts and will feature a cosmic battle to end all cosmic battles in the Infinity War with Thanos and his Infinity Gauntlet. Surely the two part Justice League movie will feature a cataclysmic event to rival the Avengers Infinity War. Thor: Ragnarok comes out right around part 1 of the Justice League movie. By Feige’s own admission, the third Thor film will change the landscape of the MCU. How will this movie do that and compete with the ultimate team-up that DC is bringing? Thor has to come out hammering with more than just his lonesome to survive, no?

With both companies firing away with feature film properties, one way these companies might vie for our attention is including team-ups that will cause fans to flock to the theaters and might explode our weak little hearts in the process. BvS and CA:CW may just be the beginning. The solo Flash movie may include Green Lantern as was once rumored or even more of the DC characters as the movie comes out very close to the premiere of part 1 of the Avengers. Might we see the feature film presentation of the Flashpoint story to compete with the third Avengers outing? Marvel and Sony’s Spider-Man might include the Black Widow for example. Would that inclusion be enough to steal ticket sales away from Wonder Woman which would have been playing in the theaters for roughly one month? Aquaman and Black Panther will be released right around the same time. Some jockeying for release dates is sure to follow, but if these two films come out around the same time, how will one film compete for our attention over the other? It seems that a primary method the studios will use to compete for ticket sales may be the inclusion of major characters in supporting roles or even co-starring to bring us team-ups that would make us, the consumer, hard pressed to choose one franchise film over the other. That is what Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Captain America: Civil War is telling me. After all, there can’t be room for both DC and Marvel in our wallets, can there? That is my conspiracy theory and I am sticking to it! Thanks for reading.