With Avengers Infinity War mouth-wateringly close, now seems like the perfect time to reflect on what has made the Marvel Cinematic Universe such a meteoric success. Or more specifically, what are they doing differently to rivals DC, who, with the exception of Wonder Woman last year, have struggled to produce a film that completely unifies its audience?
I want to start by saying that this article won’t just be a Marvel fan-boy bashing DC and brown nosing the MCU. It will, however, be a Marvel fan-boy breaking down both superhero franchises and analysing where it went right, and where it went wrong. And maybe squeezing in a pun or two along the way, who knows?
I’d love the DCEU (DC Extended Universe) to succeed as much as any other adult with 20+ Funk Pops decorating his shelves at home would. They have an incredible line-up of characters that goes far beyond staples like Batman and Superman, plus an roster of iconic Villains that dwarves their comic-book counterparts; The Joker, Harley Quinn, Lex Luthor and Darkseid to name but a few. Plus, it’s not like they don’t have the pedigree to produce a quality series of films, the Nolan trilogy remains the absolute panicle of comic book movies and The Dark Knight, for me, is the best movie the genre has to offer.
But despite this, the DCEU is stumbling. Man of Steel was fine but forgettable, Batman vs. Superman was incredibly divisive and Suicide Squad was a killer croc of shit. In fact only Wonder Woman from their first five outings has managed a critical score over 60% on Rotten Tomatoes, in contrast to the MCU, where the lowest critical score is held by Thor: The Dark World) at 66%.
The glaring cause of this, especially in the first few DCEU films, is they seemed intent on achieving 20 films worth of exposition in just two years. Man of Steel was a solid place to start, nothing that was going to set the world alight, but a fun ride none the less. From here, they could have kicked on. Instead we got the lifeless Batman vs. Superman. A film which tried (and failed) to deliver our first introduction to Batman, Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor, Doomsday, Cyborg, The Flash and Aquaman in to just two and a half hours.
The sour taste that Batman Vs Superman left in fans’ mouths is still lingering almost two years later. It’s easy to see why when you consider that it’s a film which managed to squander two of the most beloved story arcs in DC history, the dark knight returns and (spoilers) the death of Superman. Blending these two storylines together meant that neither was given the treatment it really warranted, so the impact of both stories was ultimately lost. Realistically, if BvS had released in another five years’ time, after a number of standalone outings that allowed us to form attachments all of the characters, this could have been something incredibly impactful.
Compare this to Marvel. In 2008 (yes that is 10 years ago) the original Iron Man was released. The film itself is a riot; Robert Downey Jr gives the portrayal of Tony Stark that any fan would be yearning for, but most importantly, this was the first of Marvels now infamous post credit scenes. In this instance, Nick Fury emerges from the shadows and drops the two words that sent nerd culture into a spiral, ‘Avenger’s initiative’. The reason I mention this, although Marvel does start building its world and planting seeds right from the start, they keep it contained to an elegant scene after the credits have rolled. They didn’t make the mistake of bogging down the rest of the film in the aid of heavy handed character introductions.
The aim of both franchises was to make their team up movie as great a spectacle as superhumanly possible. No matter which side you fall on, the dream of seeing all your favourite heroes united on screen is one we all shared. Marvel gave us exactly that in 2012, when it released The Avengers, the culmination of everything that had come before it. The film itself was actually nothing to ground-breaking; the plot was very straightforward, but we didn’t anything complicated, the whole thing coasts on the buzz and nostalgia of see the characters we’re already invested in come together. However DC’s offering failed to reach the same dizzying heights.
I actually liked Justice League a lot more than most critics seemed too, but this movie had so much it needed to get through in the early stages, it often felt messy and disjointed. Trying to follow Bruce as he rounded up the rest of his super-friends whilst trying to justify all of their motivations and set up a villain was nearly impossible. At its best, Justice League genuinely does give us the nerdy moments that we craved, particularly in some of the quips between the unlikely allies. The biggest compliment I can give to Justice League is that despite its lacklustre villain and the laughable attempt to CG off Henry Cavill’s tash, it could be a nice steppen-stone (that was a stretch, I’m sorry) for the universe going forward.
One point it’s important not to forgot, is that Marvel fired up their money printing machine much earlier; in fact they had a five year head start. But whilst you could argue this is a disadvantage, in the sense that any attempts Batman and friends make to recreate their rival’s success, will be scrutinised and compared, much as I’m doing now (I’m a hypocrite), you could argue that DC had five years to watch the success of their opponents and observe which aspects worked, and which flopped. When the MCU first started, no one knew if this kind of interconnected universe would be a success, no one knew if people would understand that every film plays into the next one, we didn’t know if actors would commit themselves to recurring roles that lasted a decade. DC didn’t have that burden; they knew a connected universe would transfer from the pages to the big screen in an effective way. They had already seen middle aged men on YouTube, wearing poorly sewn Captain America outfits, going crazy at teases of characters that wouldn’t feature for another thirteen films. (See ya soon, Thanos).
DC should be commended for not outright copying what had been done before and going in their own direction. But in trying to be different, they seem to have worked themselves into a hole that is proving very difficult to get out of, committing to a darker and grittier tone which original filled me with optimism when they first announced they were taking that route. One of my main criticisms of the MCU is they sometimes fumble the chance to produce an emotional moment in favour of trying to force a laugh. This was especially poignant in Thor: Ragnorok, but I digress. My point is that a dark comic film could, and has, worked. But there’s a fine line between gritty, and dull.
2018 looks set to be Marvels year with Infinity War almost guaranteed to take the world by storm when it finally hits theatres at the end of April (*Squeals*). To cleanse the palette we also get Ant-Man and the Wasp in the summer, whilst DC’s only release sees everyone’s favourite Dothraki Jason Momoa reprise his role as Aquaman, a film I’m quietly optimistic about. Little is known about Kevin Feiges plans once the third phase of his masterplan is complete, although the recent news that Marvel Studios have acquired the assets from 20th Century Fox does mean that characters from the X-Men and Fantastic Four franchises are now at his disposal. Hopefully we get a version of Galactus who isn’t just a big cloud. But don’t count DC out just yet; once Infinity War and its unnamed second instalment are out of the way, the coast is relatively clear for them to come out fighting with everything it has. Which is apparently around 20 new flicks in development. They’ve also secured world renowned talents including Gal Gadot, Margot Robbie and the Academy Award-wining Jared Leto for at least a few more films.
The incredible thing about comic book movies is that they will always have a die-hard fan-base who will go and see any and every film that either studio will churn out, myself included. But DC are dangerously close to losing some of their fanatics who feel burned by the franchises shortcomings, which is a sad thought when these projects are supposed to be made directly in service to them. You’ll never please everyone; we geeks are very passionate about this stuff, but the DC camp needs something to shout about instead of hiding in their fortress of solitude. Will they learn from their past mistakes, or will rushed character development and convoluted plots continue to be their kryptonite?
