DCU Movies

[Dipter]

Interesting news. Thinking of Zoe Saldana as Gamora, perhaps James Gunn will finally give us orange-skinned Starfire in live action. And green beast boy.

[James Cameron]

I don't know, man. I am in my 20s and I have grown up hearing how Superman is lame and he is only interesting when he is either evil or being used as a means to prop up Batman.

You see people of all ages and nationalities saying they love Batman and Spider-Man, meanwhile Superman fans are like a super specific section of people: Americans in the 40-60 age range who grew up reading Silver/Bronze Age Superman.

I see more fans of Henry Cavill than I see of Superman, and even Cavill's take only became popular in the aftermath of the Snydercut hysteria and Cavill's fame after the MI movie. It wasn't popular when he was playing the character.

Even DCAU, which people claim to be the definitive Superman from their childhood, did 3 separate evil versions of him and left no opportunity to show him as inferior to Batman in every way.

Superman is recognizable but he doesn't have a real fandom to speak of. Superman content might do decently on the basis of word of mouth if it is exceptionally good but the Superman brand alone does not get people interested.

I'm in my 20s too and I largely agree with you but I don't think that all of that means there isn't an audience for Superman. No matter what the audience is they are generally intelligent sensitive people who respond well to well-made content. All the movie needs to be is good and propped up enough to stand out from the zeitgeist of superhero fare.

Not everyone who went and saw Barbie played with barbie dolls as a kid. Not everyone who saw Mario played the games. Sometimes recognizability is enough, and for Superman, I trust that it's more than enough.

[king of hybrids]

Some very vocal people on social media I noticed are arguing Raven should be brown because she is ‘Indian’????

Azarathians had some Indian themes to their garb, but they were from everywhere including Gotham. They certainly weren’t defined by a skin color.

I think companies would be best to simply focus on telling a good story and ignore people on social media focused on identity over content.

In terms of arguements that Raven should be non white etc I’m pretty sure that’s more due to the Earth One graphic novels making her Navajo rather than Indian?

[jmc247]

In terms of arguements that Raven should be non white etc I’m pretty sure that’s more due to the Earth One graphic novels making her Navajo rather than Indian?

Unsure, this is the typical comment from that crowd.



I tend to think they mean Indian from India and they seem to think Indians equal POC when they come in all forms of melanin content. Indian is more a nation and culture then a skin pigment.

[Morgoth]

So far all DCU casting with the exception of Perry is consistent with the comics, just saying.
I can see them casting POC actors for Starfire and Beast Boy, but I really doubt they're gonna do it for Raven. Moreover, I can see them trying to cast someone known, Jenna Ortega, for example (no, I'm not saying it's my fan cast, just the first name that came to my mind).
Though it depends on age range of the characters.

[Factor]

I’d actually prefer if whoever is cast as Raven looks more similar to her original self than the stereotypical goth girl she’s become since. She used to have very distinct facial features that made her a lot more interesting than her latest looks.
Starfire can be any race since she isn’t meant to be any particular human race anyway, I just hope they bother making her skin look golden.
Oh and I really hope Cyborg and Donna are around from the start.

[El_Gato]

Unsure, this is the typical comment from that crowd.



I tend to think they mean Indian from India and they seem to think Indians equal POC when they come in all forms of melanin content. Indian is more a nation and culture then a skin pigment.

Twitter activists at it again lol they’re always champion race swaps over using actual POC characters. With that said however I have my view on who should play the main Titans

Ella Balinska would make a great Starfire, Jenna Ortega a great Raven, and Inaki Godoy a great Beast Boy! I’m assuming Blue Beetle and Supergirl will also be a part of the team along with Damian.

[Holt]

The real question here gets to the tone of a Teen Titans movie.

Do you try to go full New Teen Titans level dark and gritty or not? I think you should, but social media would not take well to it. Many concepts and themes don’t play that well today.

I would say it should be darker then what the DCAMU did with them, but along the same lines. Very dark with some characters not so much for others.

I don’t see them going that dark if for no other reason than it’ll almost certainly be aimed at a broader audience than the live action show wws:

[Vordan]

Gunn mocked the “**** Batman” line from the Titans show. Whatever this is going to be, it will be much lighter in tone I reckon.

[jmc247]

I’d actually prefer if whoever is cast as Raven looks more similar to her original self than the stereotypical goth girl she’s become since. She used to have very distinct facial features that made her a lot more interesting than her latest looks.
Starfire can be any race since she isn’t meant to be any particular human race anyway, I just hope they bother making her skin look golden.
Oh and I really hope Cyborg and Donna are around from the start.

I would agree with that. Classic Raven in look and depiction was more complex and more exotic then generic goth girl Raven.

They learned the wrong lessons from the animated series. A generic goth girl depiction might work for a AU, but the comics need complexity so too does big budget films.

[Laser_Man]

Twitter activists at it again lol they’re always champion race swaps over using actual POC characters. With that said however I have my view on who should play the main Titans

Ella Balinska would make a great Starfire, Jenna Ortega a great Raven, and Inaki Godoy a great Beast Boy! I’m assuming Blue Beetle and Supergirl will also be a part of the team along with Damian.

In my experience, those twitter activists type rarely ever read actual comic books. They just watch the movies and maybe few clips of cartoons. So I doubt they would even be able to name 5 POC characters from DC off the top of their head. Unfortunately, they have almost succeeded in snatching the comic book discourse away from people who read comic books.

[Morgoth]

The problem is, goth girl is a mainstream perception of Raven: animated series, DCAMU (if she's deaged to Damian's age, then beware of Damian/Raven shippers), even godawful live action show. And they're gonna try to make this as appealing as possible to younger demographics. And for younger demographics those versions are definitive.

[Holt]

Gunn mocked the “**** Batman” line from the Titans show. Whatever this is going to be, it will be much lighter in tone I reckon.

Yep. I think the tone of your average Shonen manga would work. Violent and dark when it needs to be, but also fun. These are young characters; there should be levity.

In my experience, those twitter activists type rarely ever read actual comic books. They just watch the movies and maybe few clips of cartoons. So I doubt they would even be able to name 5 POC characters from DC off the top of their head. Unfortunately, they have almost succeeded in snatching the comic book discourse away from people who read comic books.

TBH, meh. It’s Starfire and Beast Boy. I don’t really think the race of who plays them is that big a deal. I can totally see it btw. I’m also not sure why anyone here really cares about what a random poster on Twitter thinks? If they ain’t hurting or harassing anyone over their fancasts, it doesn’t really matter.

[Refrax5]

I think people on internet exaggerate the role played by "gritty" and "dark" nature as the reason behind DCEU flopping. The far bigger reason was the memeable things like the infamous Martha scene and Luthor being a weirdo. Or them dumping 50 different plot threads in BvS without any setup.

DC being all dark actually worked out in their favor because it gave them a distinct identity and a dedicated fanbase of people who thought they were somehow smarter for liking edgy movies instead of MCU comedies.

Because of Batman and Joker being the two biggest brands in DC, people have a wrong perception that DC has always been about dark gritty stories. The most popular Superman from last 20 years is Injustice Superman (not counting MoS which is also dark). Wonder Woman is often thought of as a female Kratos. Suicide Squad and Constantine are among the rising brands for DC.

Superman does not have a dedicated fanbase like Batman has. He can be molded in any way and general public will accept if its good. Only a handful of comic fan (like me and others here) will complain if Superman is dark, otherwise kids today have no real connection to Superman as a character.

I hate to say it, but going full dark and gritty is a safer bet for DC than trying to be a lighthearted comedies like MCU.

I disagree with that, generally. I don't think the movies were especially dark (although having a brutal prison shanking in BvS was certainly an odd choice), but that's definitely the public perception, hence it being a joke made in the trailer for Deadpool 2.

I honestly don't have a preference for either dark or lighthearted. I think they just need to go with whatever tone suits the character and the story they're trying to tell on a case by case basis.

As for Superman, he's not as popular as Batman, but he's still one of the most recognizable pop culture icons we have and plenty of non-comic readers know him from the Christopher Reeve films or Smallvillve or the cartoons. And I think a lot of those people would be put off by a dark Superman movie. Just because people aren't in the comic shop every Weds doesn't mean they aren't familiar with these characters and have strong opinions on them. A large amount of the discourse around these movies come from casual people who have strong opinions despite oftentimes not knowing what they're talking about. Gunn, Safran and Zaslav are very aware of the backlash against Snyder and are trying hard to talk up their new Superman as being kindhearted and gentle in every interview.

And Gunn is edgy, but in an irreverent Kevin Smith type way. Even his horror movie, Slither, is pretty lighthearted and comedic.

And no, I don't think being dark worked in DC's favor since the movies were largely unsuccessful. Whether you personally liked them or not, they didn't catch on with the public and there's a negative reputation for DC now that the new guys are very obviously trying to correct.

[Refrax5]

The argument is more that she should be black.

I don't care who they cast as long as they're good, embody Starfire, and are made up as a golden alien with big/long red hair.

If they turn her into an ordinary looking human....i don't want it

Oh, I totally misunderstood. I was having flashbacks to the Titans TV show and the reaction to Starfire's casting in that.

I don't really care what race the actress is, either.