Do you think DC has gone the wrong way with their movies?

[Buried Alien]

Does anyone think this would look better as the poster for an Ultraman solo movie?

The only Ultraman likely to carry a solo movie would be this one:



Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive! )

[Desh]

Yes. They weren't able to get Superman totally right, which is a serious set back for them. What works for Batman may not work for Superman.
Marvel is currently stomping them financially and critically. Aside from the Nolan Batman films, I don't think anyone who has made a DC film in the last... psh... I don't even know how long, has had a strong vision for how to satisfactorily portray these characters in feature films. Man of Steel has its virtues, and I do kinda' like the movie, but it has a lot problems and I think its 55% or so tomato rating is pretty fair. Marvel, on the other hand, is totally on the ball and crushing it. You can give them a D-list character and they'll make that character better than whatever Superman's got going on. That's pretty sad.

[Sutekh]

Hard to say.

Batman lends itself pretty well to grim and humorless, and while I found the Nolan Bat-films to be ponderous and dull (except for the occasional snark from Alfred or Lucien, to lighten things up) and talky (Bane, in particular, needed a warm glass of shut-the-heck-up in the worst way), they obviously appealed to millions of people not-me, so they are absolutely a success, which, unfortunately, seems to have given some people the idea that this dark-and-grim format is the *only* way to go.

I'm not sure that was the right direction to go in with Superman, who, to this kid who grew up with Christopher Reeves-as-Superman, wanted something more hopeful and inspiring.

DC attempted 'lighter' with Green Lantern, and that wasn't well-received, which makes me feel like they've reacted and pulled away from lighter fare, blaming it for Green Lantern's perceived issues. (Just as Avi Arad once blamed the issues with Catwoman and Elektra on, 'fans not going to see movies about strong kickass women' when, IMO, he would have been more accurate to say, 'fans love strong kickass women, but don't like movies that suck').

Hal Jordan, pre-Johns, was pretty serious, and not even a little tiny bit a 'frat-boy,' so perhaps some of the issues with the lighter tone of the Green Lantern script is that he had to be written as kind of an unlikable chode, completely undeserving of the ring, to get that characterization. That sort of tone might have worked better in a Young Justice movie with Conner and Bart (less so, Tim, but every group needs a straight man to put up with their shenanigans...), IMO, but with Hal Jordan, it just kind of made a classic character, originally as mature and serious as Batman, come off as a juvenile case of arrested development. Even Guy might have worked better with a lighter tone (not being funny himself, but his attitude provoking snark from others much more naturally).

Anywho, after Green Lantern, I'm not sure if DC hasn't been scared off of attempting anything that isn't terribly serious, and giving the impression (true or not) that they are afraid of, or even embarrassed by, the bold larger-than-life four-color superheroes that are their bread and butter. Seems odd, if that's the case.

Still, it's DC's call. If they aren't confident that they can make a movie that isn't Superman-acting-like-Batman or a TV show that isn't Green-Arrow-acting-like-Batman, all terribly serious and weighty, instead of heroic and inspiring, then that's probably a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[Pharozonk]

If Green Lantern was DC's best attempt at a "light-hearted, fun" superhero movie, they really need to go back to the drawing board.

[lancerman]

To answer this question. No. I think the Marvel is light and fun thing is overblown. Iron Man 3, Cap 2, Incredible Hulk, Thor 1, and Thor 2 to an extent were all pretty dark and serious. Atleast serious.

The ones that were really light were Avengers, Iron Man 1, Iron Man 2 (which was probably to it's detriment), and Cap 1.

But also look at the context. Do people really expect a lighthearted Batman movie? And MOS wasn't all that Dark. It was serious, but it was serious in a DBZ way. The darkest part was the Zod death, and tbh that was more of a comic fan thing than anything else.

I just think it's very overblown. Even the Superman poster, again context, he's meeting the darkest Superhero for the first time.

[PyroSikTh]

...and because the DC characters tend to have a less grounded nature to begin with, so you need that darker tone to offset, IMHO.

Pretty much this. It sounds weird, but the more bombastic, over-the-top characters of DC actually work better in a grim and gritty world to ground them, while Marvels more straight and "realistic" character benefit a lot from the light-hearted, over-the-top nature.

To answer this question. No. I think the Marvel is light and fun thing is overblown. Iron Man 3, Cap 2, Incredible Hulk, Thor 1, and Thor 2 to an extent were all pretty dark and serious. Atleast serious.

Did you really just call Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 serious? Iron Man 3 revolved around it's "hilarious" twist, and Thor 2 turned Selvig into the most slapstick character since Charlie Chaplin.

[Lee Stone]

Are we ready?

JLMovie.jpg

[DochaDocha]

I need to see more movies before I can really say. Obviously we had the Nolan series, but that's not going to be the standard for the new continuity, and thus far the new continuity has a grand total of one entry.

[FlashingSabre]

Oh God yes. Superman and Wonder Woman do not work the same way as Batman.

[Vanguard-01]

Until we see the other movies? We have no idea how dark DC's movies will be.

Even if they ARE dark? Heroes exist to drive back the darkness and to make the world better than it was before. Having them start out in a dark world makes perfect sense.

In comics, the world never really gets better, because comics are intended to go on, and on, and on, effectively forever. If the heroes DO make the world better? Suddenly there aren't new stories to be told anymore. In the movies, however? It seems that Marvel and DC seem to plan on doing limited runs of their movies, with reboots coming as needed. In such a format, it IS doable to have the heroes beat the bad guys and permanently improve the world.

Even the Nolan movies showed that Batman was at least making progress in cleaning up Gotham. In a shared universe with Superman and Wonder Woman in it? Then the odds of improving a dark world are much better.

And by the way? Man of Steel wasn't even that dark. The world was no different from ours. The only "darkness" that keeps getting pointed at was Superman's killing of Zod. Superman still journeyed the world, protecting and saving people without thought of recognition or reward. When the Earth was threatened, he stood up and offered himself up to Zod, rather than see the world come to harm. When Zod threatened to destroy the world anyway? Superman stood up and fought against a vastly superior enemy in order to save the world.

None of that is "dark" in my book.

If you're referring to the "darkness" of the pictures of the next movie? Those pics have a filter on them. They won't be that dark in the actual movie. That Superman pic? Likely filtered. And even if it isn't? That's clearly Gotham Superman's in. It's supposed to be dark. Wonder Woman? Go to her forum. We have an official, unfiltered version of her pic there. She's much brighter than you think she is.

This perception that DC's movies are "dark" is based entirely on false assumptions and skewed personal views. Heroes fighting the bad guys and triumphing is not dark.

[Sacred Knight]

With all the success that Marvel is having with fun lighthearted comic book movies do you think DC has made a mistake by going the more serious dark route with theirs.

Only time will tell. There's only one movie released in regards their newly planned movieverse, and that was a hit so the evidence thus far would suggest no. But again they're only one movie in.

On a personal level though, I think virtually every Marvel movie ever released has been overrated. They're all mediocre to me at best. So I'm fine knowing DC isn't copying them.

[The_Greatest_Username]

I think it's too early to tell. Man of Steel was far from my favorite movie last year, but I don't think it was as dark as some made it out to be. Still, I'm hoping for a little bit more humor or light-heartedness in the next films. That's not to say I want the DC films to go the way of Thor 2 or Iron Man 3 (I hated both of those movies) and overuse humor in lieu of a good story.

Ideally, I'd like to see Superman's "light" play off of Batman's "dark", but it's hard to tell if that's what we're going to get in Dawn of Justice.

[lancerman]

Pretty much this. It sounds weird, but the more bombastic, over-the-top characters of DC actually work better in a grim and gritty world to ground them, while Marvels more straight and "realistic" character benefit a lot from the light-hearted, over-the-top nature.



Did you really just call Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 serious? Iron Man 3 revolved around it's "hilarious" twist, and Thor 2 turned Selvig into the most slapstick character since Charlie Chaplin.

Iron Man spent the film having a terrorist scare the crap out of everyone, a science experiment that blew soldiers up as human bombs, Stark's girlfriend getting infected with a virus that could kill her, and villains who could kill by touching you to long. The twist was literally 5 seconds of the film to reveal the reversal of Killian, most people got over it immediately, comic fans made a big deal of it because of "omg Mandarin".

[SiegePerilous02]

No. We've only gotten the one so far, and it wasn't even that dark, like others have said. Superman killed someone, but that's hardly new to the character. Hell, at least he and Lois didn't giggle like a pair of schoolgirls after killing Zod this time like they did in the "lighter, more fun" Superman II. MoS was a solid (if flawed) first outting, and we need to see more before we can determine how successful they are. Hell, MoS may not have made as much money as WB was hoping, but it wasn't a bomb by any stretch of the imagination.

I'm hoping that the DC Cinematic films function better as stand-alone entires than the Marvel movies, all of which seem like really long commercials for the next installment. MoS didn't have one of those stupid after-credit scenes, and I'd like it if they kept it that way.

[Vanguard-01]

Here's that official unfiltered Wonder Woman pic, by the way.

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