It's no secret the DCEU has had a rough go at it so far: From the lukewarm reception of MOS to the movies being outright panned like BvS and underpreforming. And we all know what went ultimately down with Justice League where that movie was both a critical and financial bomb. Wonder Woman seems to be the lone exception to the rule achieving both critical and commercial success but overall it’s not unreasonable to say the DCEU has been very hit-or-miss in terms of success(probably even more so than Fox’s soon-to-be defunct X-Men franchise quality wise).
Comparatively, Marvel Studios seems like they can do no wrong. Of course, Marvel Studios did beat DC to the punch with creating the first ever successful shared superhero cinematic universe but Marvel’s continued success over DC is in a way kind of funny to me seeing as Marvel didn’t start out their universe with most of their A-list heavy hitters like DC did. If you told me seventeen years ago when superhero movies were barely a blip on anyone’s radar that Marvel would be able start a successful cinematic universe without characters like Spider-Man & the X-Men I would’ve looked at you like you needed to be put in a straitjacket and be sent to Arkham Asylum. The Marvel movies, regardless of ones individual opinion of them, have been both box office & critical successes...well except for Ed Norton’s first and final turn as the Green Goliath but that’s the exception to the rule. There’s no question that overall the MCU has a big leg up over the DCEU critically and commercially.
We now live in a world where both movies about a tree and a talking raccoon outgrossed the first ever Justice League film! I’m curious can DC ever truly rehabilitate from the failures of the past enough to become something that can finally go toe-to-toe with the box office champion known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe or do you think the damage is already done and it’s simply too late for DC to ever catch up with its competitor? Marvel seems to be firing on all cylinders with their universe: Can you think of any other studio that can release two billion dollar making movies within the same year? One of those two billion dollar making movies Marvel released this year was Black Panther which was a movie about a somewhat lesser known Marvel character made more money than all the DC movies ever released(yes, that includes the Nolan Batman movies). Marvel’s success is really impressive but as a DC guy I’m curious if you guys think DC will eventually rival its competitor eventually in terms of critical success and financial success? Marvel is without question the top dog while DC is kind of the underdog. I’m not sure my beloved Justice League will ever have a movie that rivals the gargutuan profits the Avengers movies make. Heck I’m not even sure there will ever be another Justice League movie. Can DC finally match what Marvel has? Will the tide ever change?