Why A DC Cinematic Universe Could Be Epic

Recently, during the San Deigo Comic-Con it was announced that there would be a Superman/Batman film in 2015. I was one of the many people who were super excited about this. This meant that we are one step closer to a Justice League film. Many people thought it was a cheap marketing ploy and done solely based on monetary reasons, and while money does play a large factor in it, I think that it could work on its own level creatively.

The DC Universe is vast and epic. It contains several characters that have their own unique worldview, powers and skill sets. Superman and Batman were the first two in the universe, and it would only make sense to team them up. I was actually more excited for this news than I was for Avengers: Age of Ultron…But that is a story I won’t get into to. The main reason is because Marvel, while they have had amazing films in the past, have played all their cards by now. Yes, they have Ant-Man and Guardians of the Galaxy, but they had their team-up film and right now are not doing new that we haven’t seen so far in film. What DC is doing however, is something completely new. We have a superhero film. While not as big or spectacular as a team film, a “Team Up” film between two characters could prove to be the freshness we need in superhero cinema. Marvel has yet to throw two of their biggest heroes into one movie. And we all know how awesome a Science Bros movie would be (Iron Man/Hulk). Batman/Superman will help establish the Batman character in a world where aliens exist. We will get the Batman we all know at love that has rogues ranging from Clayface to Poison Ivy. We will also get a level of seriousness too it being in the same universe as Man of Steel. It could also be a quick Batman origin flick, showing quick flashes of his past and boom, right into the story.

Another reason this will work is because rebooting will be super simple with DC characters. Especially since most of them are Legacy heroes. You can have 3 Flash films with Barry Allen, kill him off in a big Justice League flick, and then easily reboot the franchise with Wally as the Flash. Then you can reboot that with Bart as the Flash. Same goes with Green Lantern. Hell, you could keep the Green Lantern movie in continuity (it would suck, but it would help). Just say Hal is off Earth fighting somewhere and they need another Lantern to take his place. Get John Stewart and bam, you have a new one. Then reboot with other Lanterns. It would take away the stigma of the reboot and would also allow for quicker reboots without repeating origins and getting complaints from too quick a reboot time. I will get back to reboot ideas later.

Then we have television shows. It was recently announced that Barry Allen would be a recurring character on Arrow for a few episodes and that would spin off into his own show as “The Flash.” We also know that Princess Diana of Themyscira (Wonder Woman) is getting her own show on the CW as well. This could possibly mean a DC Television Universe. TV shows that all happen in the same universe. It's brilliant. It also opens the door to something bigger in the Cinematic universe. There have been rumors that Flash is getting his own movie soon. I heard about that and then the TV show. Then I asked myself, why are we getting both? Will they be in the same universe? That is when it hit me… DC Multiverse. The multiverse has been a consistent factor in the history of DC. So, I thought why not include it? This is what could set it apart from Marvel. The TV shows are one Earth, and the movies are another Earth. Similar things happen on these Earths, but differently. Then we have the possibility of doing a Crisis on Infinite Earths film. This is where the fun really begins.

You would not HAVE to watch both the movies and the TV show, but only be aware that there are multiple Earths with similar characters. In fact the year the movie would come out you could have several of the TV shows such as Arrow, Flash and Amazon feel the effects of the film and then have the TV actors cameo in the film. That is when you reboot the cinematic universe. It would be a really ballsy movie and I would only suggest it after a phase 3. Do a final Justice League film and then boom, a few years later Crisis on Infinite Earths happens. The end of this will reboot the universe in order to save them all and bam, you have an in story reason for reboot the series. It could be controversial but it would be the perfect thing to keep the universe fresh. And it would undoubtedly put DC streets ahead of Marvel in terms of film story telling, especially if they make good films.