how fuggin miserable are warner execs right now about marvel movies...

[Gardner Grayle]

See, I think we need to step back and consider that DC didn't start off as a unified universe because no one did.  DC was the first to start laying the building blocks of that shared universe.

Yeah, Marvel was able to really do it from the start, but that was after DC had been working on it for how long?

Actually, that was Timely/Marvel.  Sub Mariner vs the Human Torch came before the JSA.

[Scot Eric]

Don Blake.   

Yeah, like 8,000 years ago, grampa.   

[Hyperion]

One of the things that I think DC has always had over Marvel is that when DC acquires other properties- Charlton, Archie Adventure, Quality, etc- they try to integrate them into the shared universe. Marvel does not (Ultraverse anyone?). Yes, this does cause problems with continuity and such, but I also think it works to provide them with some more depth.

[Chooch]

I don't know that Marvel needs more depth personally.  Seeing Wildstorm get incorporated into DCnU just makes me cry.  I think it worked better with earlier acquisitions because the tones were similar.

[Gardner Grayle]

One of the things that I think DC has always had over Marvel is that when DC acquires other properties- Charlton, Archie Adventure, Quality, etc- they try to integrate them into the shared universe. Marvel does not (Ultraverse anyone?). Yes, this does cause problems with continuity and such, but I also think it works to provide them with some more depth.

I've always thought that too.  And loved them for it.  Except that much of the time it's kinda ham-fisted.  

FWIW, DC is doing it all over again from the start of the DCnU.  It's all on the table...Quality, Fawcett, Charlton, Wildstorm, and Milestone.  All in play.  Except the first gen of DC's heroes and the third gen legacies.  It doesn't make sense to me.

[pootboy]

http://www.movies.com/movie-news/geek-debate-marvel-vs-dc-who-has-better-film-future/7791

for a particularly tepid, non-committal take on the subject. 

the comments section makes better points than the article, if you're able to filter out the handicapable wonder woman fans.

[pootboy]

after reading through this thread and that article/thread again, i'm still not really seeing much light at the end of the tunnel for DC motion pichers.  batman is the only character they got with ANY "coolness" factor to the general pubics, and he's due for a loooong rest after this summer.  superman burned through his "wow" factor in the 70's.  most reguler folks are probably as excited about the superman re-re-boot (throw in a few more re-'s if you count his tv/pre 70's movie incarnations) as they are about a "one day at a time" rerun.  green lantern failing to gel was the pin to the balloon as far as i can see-- he's the most conceptually and visually striking of the B-listers, and if he couldn't push through the membrane, what fucking hope does aquaman or fucking green arrow have?   

that said a well-budgeted and written live-action JLA tv series would be flippin sweet.

[Gardner Grayle]

Who has the money for that?

[Marv-El]

Any of the four networks have the money. Of course ABC (Disney) won't be eager to pitch in, but the other three, as well as HBO, would be capable. AMC too, maybe, with that crazy Walking Dead success money. If the Simpsons cast get a million dollars per episode, there's money there and now is the time to make a pitch for it. I realize Fox started paying that after many successful seasons, but there's money out there.

[pootboy]

and anudder ting i just tunked....ok, avengers is the first movie of its kind.  i.e. a super-team of widely recognized, formerly stand-alone properties that already had their own franchises up and running.   that made it the event movie of all time and shit.  kinda like spider-man broke records riding on decades of pent-up demand, the avengers one-upped that and broke em all over again.  but this opens up the "victim of success" door a bit, as was already mentioned.  the whole comic movie phenom may be peaking as we speak.  how the fuck do you top this?  there's no big rockets left to fire off.  EVERY A-list character is now out of the bag.  avengers, especially considering how well it's been received critically-- is kinda like the grand finale at a fourth of july fireworks.  what the fuck left is there to do after that but pack up your blanket and igloo cooler and go home?  i mean, of course avengers 2 is gonna make money-- and so will the next slew of thor/cap/iron man sequels-- but i'm guessing the solo movies are going to have a lot less sizzle now that the level of stimulation has been raised so high.  it's like giving a kid a pickle-barrel full of every candy made for his 9th birthday, and then a single snickers bar for his 10th.  (and jesus, poor DC can't even get ONE new character accepted into the pop mainstream, even riding a 300 mil budget and promotional blitz...and now they have to compete with this?  entire fucking teams blowing the widdle kiddies minds??  aye chee wumba.)

this could be a game changer. basically what i'm saying is the superhero movie genre may have just blown a wad so big it slipped a fucking disk and will spend the rest of it's life hunched over gobbling fistfulls of oxy.

[pootboy]

but yeah, a fucking boardwalk empire/game of thrones level DC superhero show on HBO or something?  wouldn't even really matter who the heroes were if actual talent got involved.

[Marv-El]

Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. And as far as where can we possibly go from here, yeah, there will be a contingent who would see anything competitive from DC as imitative/bandwagon, but I don't know if the mainstream is really that aware. We know it's ridiculous to suggest a Hulk/Superman movie, but do the average moviegoers? With the toys, Legos, clothes marketed side-by-side, people don't get that there are separate corporations at work here (in fact, non-fans can be heard to say "Enough comic book movies already," because they don't see that six different companies are behind Hancock, Green Hornet, Batman, Avengers, Jumper, and Priest (and if the same companies are behind any of those, whatever. You see my point.)

And who knows what's up for consideration? Who would have thought we'd get Jonah Hex, The Losers, and Red before we got Wonder Woman? With Smallville gone (but with that ground broken), I'd love to see the New Warriors--Atlantean princess, skateboarder, giant wanna-be wrestler, telekinetic, ADD bouncer, and future celestial centurion. 

[Kimmel Prime]

I have always thought DC Characters were better served as a high end animation, like Shrek or Pixar  or better yet like Avatar/  I also think it should take a page out of X Men First Class and make it more of a period piece, maybe base it in the 50's or early 60's?


Imagine something like New Frontier done up like Avatar. That would be a fun movie.

[JSayonara]

One thing DC has going for it, is that it has more than just Super-heroes.
They just seem to not be able to fuck it up though.

Jonah Hex should have been the Dollars trilogy for the Z generation.

People should have gone to see that because it was a kick-ass cowboy film, and not even realised that Hex was inhabiting the same universe as Batman, Superman et-al.

Lobo, Sgt Rock, Warlord, The Zatanna family, Starman (Jack Knight), The Question, Swamp Thing, Preacher, Fables, Y: The Last Man, Sandman..

These films could all be done, with nary a hint of "Super-hero", just market them for what they are.

Sci-fi, Horror, War, Noir, Drama, Heavy Metal action..whatever.

And frankly, Warner's are stupid because they're sitting on their biggest gun.

In this day of Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, get frigging Sandman on screen and throw money at it.

That film could be an Oscar winner, if it was done right.
(and for fuck's sake, get Gaiman to write the screenplay and no-one else, you've already got a huge name right there before you even start.

[John Moores]

but yeah, a fucking boardwalk empire/game of thrones level DC superhero show on HBO or something?  wouldn't even really matter who the heroes were if actual talent got involved.

Well said.

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