EDITORIAL: A Simplified Layout for the DC Cinematic Universe

EDITORIAL: A Simplified Layout for the DC Cinematic Universe

This is nothing but my ideas: a simplified layout for the future of WB/DC's budding DCCU. I feel that they have the potential for many great movies, so here's the basic format for that universe.

Editorial Opinion
By DodgerNYC - Sep 12, 2013 10:09 PM EST
Filed Under: Justice League

Hello, fellow superhero lovers! We all know that WB/DC is trying to create a cohesive DC Cinematic Universe that will (hopefully) be every bit as good as Marvel's amazing Movieverse.

Now, there are key differences between the Marvel films we've seen and the (admittedly fewer) DC ones. Marvel movies tends to have more of an adventurous, fun and comical tone that works well for families and draws in huge crowds. DC movies appear to be veering towards a deeper, grimmer tone that is more insightful and emotional that works just as well to draw in crowds. Neither method is better than the other one, and both work great for their respective movies.

I'll say it here and now: I love Marvel and DC both and have no real favorite. I just want to see both have successful Cinematic Universes. Since Marvel is doing fine as it is, I will give my suggestions on a future DCCU...

MAN OF STEEL
ARROW & FLASH shows
WORLD's FINEST 2015
WONDER WOMAN
JUSTICE LEAGUE
THE BATMAN & a NIGHTWING show
THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS
AQUAMAN
TEEN TITANS/YOUNG JUSTICE
BATMAN BEYOND



MAN OF STEEL & WORLD'S FINEST
We know the DCCU begins with the successful MAN OF STEEL movie, which introduced us to a new version of Superman (a role which Henry Cavill soared with! *rimshot*) and it's 2015 sequel that I will for now call WORLD'S FINEST. It will feature Superman fighting Batman (I'm sure everyone knows who's playing him by now), then they probably team up to stop Lex Luther from stealing 40 cakes. That dastardly crook!





ARROW & FLASH
I know not everyone agrees with me on this, but I love the CW's TV show ARROW, and I think with The Flash being introduced in season 2, it would be a wasted opportunity for WB/DC to not tie ARROW and the upcoming FLASH show into the building DCCU. Why not? If Marvel can have Agents of SHIELD tie into their Movieverse, there's no reason DC can't do the same. And this way, we get to enjoy a lengthy FLASH TV series instead of a single movie that wouldn't cover nearly as much story or villains as the TV show will.



WONDER WOMAN
I firmly believe that Wonder Woman HAS to have her own movie. Not just for storytelling purposes leading up to Justice League, but because it's not right that the most iconic female superhero of all time doesn't have her own movie by now. Frankly, it's embarrassing. We deserve to see an awesome WONDER WOMAN movie where audiences learn her origins as the secret demigod daughter of Zeus, making her a warrior deeply immersed in Greek mythology. I think Ares would be a great villain for Diana for face off against in her first-ever movie.



JUSTICE LEAGUE
Finally, the JUSTICE LEAGUE movie we've all been waiting for. I think that with Superman, a new Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, and even Green Arrow (if they wanted to include him) all introduced, they could finally pull of this movie. Ideally, I would want to see Supes, Bats, WW, Flash (Barry Allen), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan but not Ryan Reynolds), Martian Manhunter, and MAYBE Aquaman. I honestly have no idea who would make a good villain for them to fight. Is Darkseid too much too soon? Maybe Amazo? Starro? A White Martian invasion? Comment below with your idea for a good villain for the first JUSTICE LEAGUE movie! :)



THE BATMAN & a NIGHTWING show
With a new Batman introduced via WORLD's FINEST and JUSTICE LEAGUE, he can now star in his own new movie franchise that I'll refer to as THE BATMAN. Now, I think everyone has a good idea of what the new Batman needs to be (utilize his detective skills, use villains like Ridder, Harley Quinn, Hush, etc., and have his sidekicks featured). At the very, very least, we need to see Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, Jason Todd, and Tim Drake appear in these new movies. I think we should see Jason get killed and come back as Red Hood. I think we should see Joker cripple Barbara and have her become Oracle. But more than anything, we NEED to see Dick Grayson quit as Robin and become Nightwing. Honestly, I would love to see a NIGHTWING TV series that heavily ties in with THE BATMAN movies and uses Bat villains that the movies don't.



THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS
This movie has the potential to an epic space adventure with brave heroes, cool aliens, far off galaxies: Green Lantern could be the new Star Wars. I think that after JUSTICE LEAGUE with Hal Jordan, we should see a movie called THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS that stars many Lanterns, but prominently Hal Jordan and John Stewart (also, I really want Idris Elba to play John!). They could work together with other Lanterns (maybe Guy could make a small appearance, saving Kyle for the next GL film) and fight the Sinestro Corps War. THAT would be one heck of a space epic.



AQUAMAN
Poor, poor Aquaman. Everyone but the wisest comic book fans thinks he's a lame character. I won't lie, I do love making Aquaman jokes, but I also know that secretly, deep down, Aquaman's story is the tale of a man torn between two worlds who must claim his rightful throne, learn to rule a kingdom, and become a badass along the way. Now picture that in a beatifully-shot underwater landscape. An AQUAMAN movie has the potential to be badass and beautiful at the same time.



TEEN TITANS/YOUNG JUSTICE
I don't know if it would work better to have TEEN TITANS, YOUNG JUSTICE, or kind of combine the two teams into one movie. For the sake of simplicity, I'll just go with TEEN TITANS, since a wider audience would remember that show from their childhood. If could feature Nightwing, Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Raven, Starfire, Red Arrow, Speedy, Aqualad, Kid Flash, and more. Just think how awesome this movie could potentially be. If DC wants to construct a Movieverse, they would be fools to pass up this movie.



BATMAN BEYOND
When I was a kid, this was the coolest TV show ever brought into existence. Now that I'm older... this is still one of the coolest TV shows ever brought into existence. BATMAN BEYOND could knock the audiences' socks off with its sheer level of coolness. This is the perfect film to wrap up the old THE BATMAN film series and begin a new, though probably shorter, series of films set in future Gotham. Maybe they could even get Micheal Keaton to be an old Bruce Wayne. I think superhero fans would explode in happiness.

--------------------------------------------------

Well, that wraps up my list of movies (and TV shows) I think are critical to a successful DCCU. It ended up a little less simplified than I hoped it would be, but that's alright. To be entirely repetitive, here again are the movies and TV shows I want to make up the foundation of the DCCU: MAN OF STEEL, ARROW tv, WORLD'S FINEST, FLASH tv, WONDER WOMAN, JUSTICE LEAGUE, THE BATMAN, NIGHTWING tv, THE GREEN LANTERN CORPS, AQUAMAN, TEEN TITANS, and BATMAN BEYOND.

Thanks so much for reading my editorial! Again, these are simply my own opinions and ideas for future awesome DC movies, but I'd love to hear your own ideas in the comments below! And again, let me know who you all want as the first villain of a JUSTICE LEAGUE movie! Everyone please be polite and respect each other's opinions.
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pesmerga44
pesmerga44 - 9/12/2013, 11:22 PM
Every time I see Terra with the Titans all I can think about is how she was actually a sociopath that took great pleasure in causing the Titans as much pain as possible. She was also sleeping with Deathstroke at the age of 15 so it is a little weird seeing her in the Teen Titans cartoon as a sympathetic character.
aresww3
aresww3 - 9/13/2013, 12:19 AM
Zeus is not Wonder Womans father. Its a bullshit Azzerrelo story that needs to be forgotten in history. Its a god awful origin and it will be confusing, messy and will lead people to hate the movie. STOP IT BEFORE IT EVEN STARTS.
SnapperCarr
SnapperCarr - 9/13/2013, 1:11 AM
No. Just no.
aresww3
aresww3 - 9/13/2013, 5:29 AM
@mab - sorry, but the Zeus thing sucks as well. It [frick]s up her old power set which was much cooler and made her have great wisdom as well. It also makes her just a hercules clone. its boring.
QuestionDAnswer
QuestionDAnswer - 9/13/2013, 5:31 AM
Here is my DCU layout.

1. Man Of Steel
2. World's Finest
3. Arrow & Flash tv shows/ Do not tie the shows to the DCU, just have these shows be an introduction of the characters to noobs. Unless the Flash show turns out great. If it does, I would connect both shows to the DCU. I have no problem connecting Arrow to the DCU. But when it comes to The Flash, we still have to wait and see how his spin-off show will turn out.
4. Trinity
5. I think if The Flash show is a success, then he should get a solo film. The same with Wonder Woman, if people respond well to her appearence in the Trinity film, then she should get her own solo film. Another thing that DC can do is a GL reboot, before the Justice League film comes out.
6. Justice League
7. If DC waited to give The Flash and Wonder Woman their own films, and instead went with a GL film, then this would be the perfect time to give them their solo films, after they have already been introduced in a tv show and two team up films.
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 9/13/2013, 6:15 AM
Shows are the worst way to introduce a character. that's just a fact. its called "we don't want to take the risk of a movie so we settle for crap"
FirstAvenger
FirstAvenger - 9/13/2013, 6:50 AM
If anybody plays old Bruce in Batman Beyond it should be Adam West!
CapitanAmerika2
CapitanAmerika2 - 9/13/2013, 7:14 AM
1. Man of Steel
2. World's Finest: Batman and Superman vs. Joker and Lex Luthor
3. Wonder Woman- Cheetah.
4. Flash- Captain Cold
5. Green Lantern- Sinestro
6. Aquaman- Black Manta.
7. Justice League- Injustice Gang
8. Batman- Two-Face
9. Wonder Woman 2- Circe
10. Flash 2- Gorilla Grodd
11. Green Lantern 2- Red lanterns
12. Aquaman- Ocean Master
13. Man of Steel 2- Brainiac
14. Justice League 2- Darkseid
15. Wonder Woman 3- Ares
16. Flash 3- the Rogues
17. Batman 2- Scarecrow
18. Green Lantern 3- Black Lanterns
19. Man of Steel 3- Doomsday
20. Justice League 3- Crime Syndicate
Minato
Minato - 9/13/2013, 7:17 AM
I don’t think Batman Beyond should have a film. I might get a lot of flak for this but the show was pretty average. I like the show but not enough to follow a continuity. I would rather see a The Dark Knight Returns like movie where he hangs up the cape only to create an army.
QuestionDAnswer
QuestionDAnswer - 9/13/2013, 8:00 AM
In no particular order, here are the villians that can work for a Justice League film.

1. Darkseid
2. The Anti-Monitor
3. Imperiex
4. Amazo
5. Doomsday
6. Brainiac
7. Prometheus
8. Starro
9. Despero
10. Mongul
11. Ocean Master and The Atlanteans/ This is a great way to introduce Aquaman, before giving him his own solo film.
12. The Secret Society
13. The Crime Syndicate
14. The White Martians/ This is a great way to introduce Martian Manhunter, before he gets his own solo film.
15. An adaptation of Tower of Babel, with Ras al Ghul or Vandal Savage.
aresww3
aresww3 - 9/13/2013, 9:12 AM
@MAC - Dude, I respect your opinion. I mean I didn´t insult you did I. My problem with her having Zeus as a father isn´t that I love her being formed by Clay. Far from it. I´ll explain this later. The problem I have is rather that thematically Wonder Woman having a father erodes her mythos from the very centre of it. There are somethings in a superheroes mythos that are cosmetic, others that are central thematically. Giving Wonder Woman a father, is like having Bruce´s parents survive the mugging, or having Clark raised in an orphanige when he lands on Earth. I get that some people think the clay thing is weird, something I addressed in my take on Wonder Woman. But in every mythology of Superheroes there´s weird stuff, but if its at the foundation of someone mythology then you can´t just strip it away without corrupting the very basis on which the character is based. Its just like MOS with Lois figuring out who Clark is. Sure its strange that Clark is the wears glasses and therefore Lois can´t figure out who he is, but just cause in someways elements of that are silly, the dynamic that arises out of it, the love triangle is one of the most iconic and enduring in fictional history.
The same with Wonder Woman. The real point is not that she was born of Clay, its that she is the product of two women. The mythic "immaculate conception" which is a main stay of of "mythological and religious" parables, is subverted in the context of Wonder Woman because in affect Diana had two mothers, either Aphrodite and Hippolyta or Athena and Hippolyta or sometimes Hera, depending on the take. Thats a really controversial and revolutionary concept, and one that is unique to Wonder Woman. It is a much more subtle and interesting idea than just making her daughter of Zeus. Thats barely even an origin story, and doesn´t add that magical quality to her existence. Its just an easy answer, it doesn´t challenge the viewers ideas or values. It just makes her another demigod in a long list of demigods with the same origin.
Added to that if you make her Daughter of Zeus and take away the blessings of the Gods, her powers are just identical to Supermans. Where as before she had Wisdom Of Athena, Beauty and loving heart of Aphrodite, Unity With the Beasts from Artemis etc, which made her this powerful and very unique character and symbol of inner strength again making her Zeus daughter just takes all that away. Her powers are just Superman´s now basically.
If you want to know my idea, I had it so Hippolyta forms a clay model and prays to Hera to bring it to life. One day after hundreds of years on Paradise Island Hera runs along the beach claiming "Hera you promised us Paradise but you have cursed the Amazons" this is in reference to how unnatural it is and against the female instinct to not have family or children. Hippolyta, realzing she will never have children is pained by the revelation and falls to her knees in tears. This is when in the distance you see Hera is walking along the beach in a glowing gown, she walks up to Hippolyta, and wipes the tears from her eyes, she then presses her hand to Hippolyta´s stomach, and you see as her stomach becomes slightly plump. Hera has blessed her with a child, she is pregnant. Hera kisses Hippolyta on the cheek before disappearing or fading into the night like some ghostly apparition. We then cut to Hippolyta giving birth, she gives birth to a beautiful daughter, more beautiful a thing than anyone on the island has ever seen. We then have a close up of the crying infant, we fade into a shot of the statue, and we realize the baby and the statue are identical.

That is the way to fix this whole thing. Because as I said the importance of that part of the story is that WW comes and gains her power and training by women, not that she is born of clay. Thats cosmetic. But that her power and training are by women is the essential to her mythology.

As I said, you take away that Batmans parents died in front of him, you completely destroy the character. But how they die, as long as its by a criminal, it can be joker, it can be Joe Chill, damn it could even be a car bomb, thats fine, but if they don´t die, he ain´t Batman. Wonder Woman has a father, she ain´t wonder woman, she isn´t an emisssary of peace, she ain´t wonder woman, she didn´t grow up on Paradise Island, it ain´t wonder woman. plain and simple.
QuestionDAnswer
QuestionDAnswer - 9/13/2013, 9:19 AM
@dougieisrollingthejays

What about Wonder Woman? I think she needs all the exposure she can get, to generate buzz and get people interested in her, so they will show up to the theaters to watch a solo Wonder Woman film. The way to do this is with exposure in a Trinity film, Justice League film, and maybe a tv show. All of this would help to get people excited for a Wonder Woman film, because let's face it women haven't done real well on big screen when it comes to superhero solo films.
QuestionDAnswer
QuestionDAnswer - 9/13/2013, 9:39 AM
@aresww3
What about an adaptation of the Woner Woman animated film? Its one of the best DC original animated films that I have seen so far.
GinjaNinja
GinjaNinja - 9/13/2013, 9:44 AM
@markofthedemon NO, the way to get people excited for her would be to either show her in a film before hand. Or just make a wonder women film. People already know about her, the last thing we need is a TV show (that will probably be horrible like the last one) to tease her. They don't need to create the buz to make money. Think about it, how much "buzz" was ther before Iron man? Zero. It made money. Advertising is the key. Now a TV show to advertise a movie. That's just weak.
aresww3
aresww3 - 9/13/2013, 9:51 AM
@MAC - Yeah, I actually like that idea of yours of her villains using that against her and her having to adapt to not being her mothers blood. I´m not sure which route is better. However, in my take, I have it so Alkyone brings up the whole Pandora being made of Clay and brought to life by the gods and how she came to destroy the world. So Alkyone kind of taunts her in that way, convinced Diana is like another pandora. Glad to make a convert. ;)
aresww3
aresww3 - 9/13/2013, 9:57 AM
@markofdemon - I like the animated film and it did some really cool things, about gender relations. It was very clever in many ways, but to be honest I think they should go a bit deeper and mature in a film. Not played for laughs, but really trying to get to the woman behind the mythology. Kind of a Batman Begins for Wonder Woman and not the way MOS did it. I think Batman begins did things far better and I think that approach taken to Diana and her supporting cast could add some real much needed psychological depth to the character. But yeah I would defo take the structure of the animated film, and I´d like to see a much darker take on Ares this time. I mean, a guy who wants to walk on the back of 6 billion corpses is not a nice guy, lets see him amped up to Hannibal Lector style evil. In fact I think if anything, Wonder Woman is not whose going to sell a Wonder Woman film. Ares will. I have really taken the relationship between Clarice Starling and hannibal Lector as inspiration for my take on the characters.
QuestionDAnswer
QuestionDAnswer - 9/13/2013, 10:21 AM
@dougieisrollingthejays
Yeah but, Iron Man is a man and Wonder Woman is a woman, there is a difference. How do you know that a lot people will be flocking the theaters to watch a female lead in a superhero film? What if they don't give her a chance, even if the film turns out great and the film bombs at the box office? Then what, huh??? All because she didn't have any exposure beforehand to get people excited for her solo film. I'm sorry to say this, but you can't compare Tony to Diana. Iron Man can fill up a theater with boys who read comics, but who will Wonder Woman fill up the theaters with? She needs to generate buzz beforehand, because she is a woman. There I said it.
QuestionDAnswer
QuestionDAnswer - 9/13/2013, 10:30 AM
@dougieisrollingthejays
Dude, how many people do you think will show up to a solo Wonder Woman film, if there isn't any excitement beforehand? Get real, and stop kidding yourself.
BigK1337
BigK1337 - 9/13/2013, 10:49 AM
1. Batman/Superman - Since the film is already in production, I think it is best to wait and see how this plays out instead of giving inputs as to what should be included (except for Lex Luthur and maybe Braniac, they need to be in it).

2. Arrow and Flash - So far, Arrow really is turning out to be a great show to watch; so it will be awesome if that show is migrated to the DCCU. As for the Flash, well, I think it is best to stay as a tv show. Though in the past I believe that a Flash movie could work out, in fact I even came up with a fancast for it with the Rouge as the villains just to introduce the character. But honestly, it seems like the Flash will work better as a tv show more than a movie with its larger mythology in comics and the fact at how Arrow worked out.

3. Wonder Woman - No arguments there. A Wonder Woman film is so needed. I really think the villains Wonder Woman takes on is a ensemble of both Ares and Cheetah; basically to showcase the levels of evil she faces.

4. Justice League - Starro should be the main villain. It is the adaption of the JLA and people want to know the origins, so what better way to do that is by using the first villain they fought. And lets face it, Starro is the perfect starting villain to showcase how the Justice League is the ultimate super hero team.

From what I read, Starro is an eldritch abomination who travels across the galaxies conquering worlds and absorbing the residence's energy (well at least from what I heard from that Batman: Brave and the Bold episode, which really does capture how big of a threat the starfish is). The JL fight cosmic level of threats that could destroy the planet itself on a daily basis, so why not use Starro.

5. Batman - Like the Flash, I think Batman should of just be used for only a tv show. But then I remember Ben Affleck is playing as him, so that might be a challenge to get him to make television appearances all the time.

6. Green Lantern - No comment.

7. Aquaman - Makes sense really. Ant-Man is given a movie, so why not Aquaman. They are both the most underatted comic book characters to the publics eyes, so they both deserve a movie that says they are awesome.

8. Teen Titans - This is part of the reason why Batman and Flash should stay as tv characters, mostly to introduce all the characters within their mythos (including their sidekicks). So when a Teen Titans movie is made, the audience will be aware of who they are before even watching it. Though hopefully that movie will take the Young Justice route of portraying the team; it seems that emulating the Wolfman/Perez comics will only lead to crap instead of creating a new original story.

9. Batman Beyond - Well, I would very much like to see that movie as well. Hopefully done in style of the movie Akira which seems to be one of the inspiration for the show.
QuestionDAnswer
QuestionDAnswer - 9/13/2013, 10:52 AM
@dougieisrollingthejays
Also, not everyone knows about Wonder Woman's origins. The last show she came out in was seven years ago, and that was a team show, that didn't dwell into her origins very well. But I agree with you @MAC, with a very well known and popular actress the seats can be filled. But again @MAC, Ant-Man is a Man, so you can't compare.
aresww3
aresww3 - 9/13/2013, 11:05 AM
@Mark - Although I don´t agree with how your saying it, I certainly agree with what you are saying. But to be honest I think your right about most female superheroes, just not wonder woman, but if DC are serious about building buzz, here´s what they should do, once they get a brilliant script and I mean brilliant, they need to at the same time get the team behind superman and batman animated series to do a animated show based off Rucka and Simones run on the character. They need an exceptional actress to take interest as well, someone women will respect as well, much like Lynda Carter. And defo not Gina Carraro. That is really a dumb idea. Last but not least they need to make Ares into a badass villain, so that they can show alot of him in the trailers. If they are worried about a female lead, it will be a disaster if they start with one of her female villains. They could also get Steve to be a bit of an action man, hire Ryan Gosling to play him or someone like that. Then you can spoon feed people the idea of the female hero, by making Steve kind of like Jason Bourne, while Diana could be like a superpowered Maximus. So say in the trailer you have 3 shots of her doing her thing, you get one shot of Steve doing his, and some badass lines by Ares, showing he´s gonna [frick] shit up, and we´ve got movie sold. Plus the brand name of WW alone will generate interest. She´s more famous than alot of superheroes who even already have films. Seriously.
aresww3
aresww3 - 9/13/2013, 3:46 PM
@MMA - Good idea.
Lhornbk
Lhornbk - 9/13/2013, 6:00 PM
As far as the main point of this article, a big, huge NO to most of it. You're basically trying to take cartoons and make live-action movies out of them. That won't work. Yes, I do hope Arrow & Flash are part of the universe. Then have Superman/Batman (I refuse to call it World's Finest, that's just stupid. Maybe "Man of Steel: World's Finest", but just using the name World's Finest without referencing either character will just confuse general audiences.) Then Wonder Woman, then Justice League (although I am okay with doing Justice League first.) Then a solo Batman and some sequels. I'm iffy on having Robin in Batman, or Batgirl. I would like it, but I'm not sure about GA. Nightwing TV show might be okay. A definite know to a Teen Titans movie. I'm sorry, but a movie about basically the younger versions of the Justice League is just dumb, and I don't see general audiences accepting it. Same with Batman Beyond. Same with Aquaman. A lot of this stuff that you fanboys go on and on about potentially being so awesome, well it just isn't. Especially with general audiences. (The idea that a Green Lantern Corps movie could be the next Star Wars is ridiculous.)
Lhornbk
Lhornbk - 9/13/2013, 6:05 PM
@ MexicanSuperman, WB has never said one way or the other whether they will connect Arrow and Flash with MoS and the DCCU. So it is still possible.

To those discussing Wonder Woman, think about general audiences. I don't see them understanding either origin. I be written this before, there is no reason to show her origins all the way to birth. Just show her as an Amazon, the daughter of the queen. Come up with a decent explanation of her powers that makes sense, and go from there. Leave Zeus and the clay out of it.
Lhornbk
Lhornbk - 9/13/2013, 6:21 PM
A definite no to Teen Titans movie, not know.
MDC
MDC - 9/17/2013, 2:05 PM
If DC/WB really want to do a "simplified layout" for their DCCU, they need to start weaving common themes which carry over throughout the character's films.

Even something as straight forward as Luthor finds Zod's armor, leads into Brainiac, Brainiac ties into/brings in Doomsday. Who knows...whatever, but themes/threats/consequences all should build throughout each of the DCCU films. Otherwise all we have are TDKR with its themes and GL with its themes - as different as two films could get.
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