WB CEO Dismisses Superhero Fatigue, says DC movies are 'edgier' than MCU

[colonyofcells]

Dc movies can be edgier if dc erases the distinction between heroes and villains, if dc erases the distinction between good empires and evil empires.

[byrd156]

Apparently, some people aren't creators.
Or they're simply just comedians...
And can't understand having your creations brought to life so successfully on the big screen.

Unlike League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Elektra, Catwoman or the various Punishers.

GotG had every indication of being another Green Lantern up until it actually debuted.
It succeeded mostly because most suspected that it wouldn't.

And that's something DnA, Bill Mantlo and Jim Starlin, among others, should feel proud of.

I actually enjoyed the Thomas Jane Punisher movie....

[FishboneX]

I actually enjoyed the Thomas Jane Punisher movie....

Loved "Dirty Laundry", that was the best Punisher film of them all.

[Stazz]

They mean realism in the context of people actually fearing people like Superman (as they should) instead of unconditionally loving him as in say Pre-N52 (which they shouldn't). Think of it as X-Men, you still get the completely nuts comic book stuff but the way people react to them is how people genuinely would if they actually existed.

Yes. THIS.

The heroes and villains are what they are, but
1. the world around them is more relatable and grounded. Metropolis looks like a real city and doesn't seem particularly stylised, and I think the level of technology is about the same as it is in the real world, barring a few things that'll come about going forward, which I expect will be depicted as big deals. Compare this to the MCU, where in Iron Man 1, Tony Stark demonstrates his ridiculously advanced "Jericho" warhead, has a house that's run by his AI butler, and there's a revolutionary new form of energy generator that you can make a tiny version "in a cave from a box of scraps". Never mind the stuff we see SHIELD have, including the helicarrier.
2. People will react to what's happening in a believable way. There's a real sense of "Oh S**t" from the characters in MOS about what's going on, including Superman. They know this situation is serious and they can be in serious trouble. Also, I know a lot of fans hated the depiction of Jonathan Kent, but rather than being depicted as a wise humble man who automatically knew the right thing for his son to do, he was constantly worried, and went back and forth on what should be done, and sometimes even tried to override what Clark wanted in favour of what he felt was going to keep him safe. This is what a REAL parent would do if they had a kid who was unsure of himself and his abilities meant.
Compare this to the MCU, which is largely full of Joss Whedony snarky motherf****ers who always have a joke or funny reaction to things that are going on, sometimes inappropriately(Tony's making jokes within minutes of Pepper's apparent death in Iron Man 3 for instance, or earlier when they play up his escape from restraints for laughs just after he watched Maya Hansen get shot dead). Winter Soldier bucks this trend largely, so I have hope we can get a bit more weight to things going forward.

And to add another example to the "Battle of New York" Double Standards, remember the tracking shot that showed everyone fighting? It culminates in Thor and Hulk taking down a Leviathan and Hulk DELIBERATELY crashing the thing into Grand Central. But nobody ever brings that up.

[colonyofcells]

Hopefully, the dc movies will be as serious as possible :
http://media.comicbook.com/uploads1/...ice-124177.jpg

[Flash Gordon]

God, nobody is ever pleased. I never thought we'd have a SUPERMAN film I loved as much as MAN OF STEEL. SUPERMAN RETURNS almost killed the character. "Gritty" is just a buzz word and yeah a lot of the MARVEL films suck. THOR 2 was horrid. IRON MAN 2 was trash. IRON MAN and SPIDER-MAN 2 are my favorite superhero films, but that doesn't automatically make all of them good.

[Triple J]

This is an old video....but useful for those who claim that the fights in MOS were too much.

The fights in DC world are often catastrophic (it has been, in the comics). MOS, I believe is the first time they showed that in live action (even the cartoons had a lot of destruction).

[LoneNecromancer]

This is an old video....but useful for those who claim that the fights in MOS were too much.

The fights in DC world are often catastrophic (it has been, in the comics). MOS, I believe is the first time they showed that in live action (even the cartoons had a lot of destruction).

To be fair, I don't think the sort of people who complain about MoS being too violent are the sort of people who play video games.

But yeah, I see what you're getting at. The biggest DC event of all time involved the destruction of countless universes, it's not like things going boom is somehow against how superheroes function.

[Agent Z]

To be fair, I don't think the sort of people who complain about MoS being too violent are the sort of people who play video games.

But yeah, I see what you're getting at. The biggest DC event of all time involved the destruction of countless universes, it's not like things going boom is somehow against how superheroes function.

Many complaints seem less about the destruction in general and more with how it seems like an afterthought. I agree a similar accusation could be leveled at the Avengers but we at least see them trying to direct the damage away from civilians. So I guess neither movie is guiltless of this.

[Vanguard-01]

Many complaints seem less about the destruction in general and more with how it seems like an afterthought. I agree a similar accusation could be leveled at the Avengers but we at least see them trying to direct the damage away from civilians. So I guess neither movie is guiltless of this.

We also saw Superman trying to drive Zod away from the civilians in MOS. But, the uncooperative jerk just had plans of his own.

Oh, and of course the Avengers could make a more concerted effort to save civilians. There were SIX of them. Whereas Superman was fighting all by himself against an enemy who outclassed him in pretty much every way.

[Buried Alien]

We also saw Superman trying to drive Zod away from the civilians in MOS. But, the uncooperative jerk just had plans of his own.

Oh, and of course the Avengers could make a more concerted effort to save civilians. There were SIX of them. Whereas Superman was fighting all by himself against an enemy who outclassed him in pretty much every way.

One thing I wondered about the final battle in THE AVENGERS is why *S.H.I.E.L.D.* wasn't actively doing anything to protect civilians while the Avengers and the NYPD battled the Chitauri. Was it decided by the authorities above Nick Fury that S.H.I.E.L.D. was always going to nuke the city if the tide turned against the Avengers?

Buried Alien (The Fastest Post Alive!)

[Clark_Kent]

We also saw Superman trying to drive Zod away from the civilians in MOS. But, the uncooperative jerk just had plans of his own.

Oh, and of course the Avengers could make a more concerted effort to save civilians. There were SIX of them. Whereas Superman was fighting all by himself against an enemy who outclassed him in pretty much every way.

Came in to post pretty much this. Superman didn't have time to stop & tell a cop he needed a perimeter formed. Captain America was largely useless in the battle of New York, and had plenty of time. If Superman had stopped, who knows how many Zod would have killed.

Here's another thought though about the death levels: Captain America tells the NYPD to form a perimeter & get civilians out. Although we see the cop get on the radio (in a moment of comedy, by the way), we never actually SEE this perimeter. Or hear a response over the radio, for that matter. We can deduce, though, that a large portion of people saw the sky tear open & beat feet the hell outta there. Over in MoS, we are deliberately shown Zod's ship descending over Metropolis from many angles & viewpoints. We're shown the military knows it's coming. This would be picked up by satellites around the globe (Wayne Industries, for example) and it would be on the news -- so those inside buildings would still know (like the Daily Planet staff). Sure, not everyone will get out in time, but I'd wager a majority of them had split before the ship activated the world engine. We see people on the ground, but not as many as there would be if nobody had gotten out.

The death toll in MoS was vastly overexaggerated. As for Superman's "lack of emotion over it" or whatever, we will see it in BvS (supposedly). MoS had to end on a light note; if it had ended with Clark depressed over the loss of life, it would have had a downer ending and people would still complain.

As my grandfather used to say: "people would bitch even if you hung 'em with a new rope." lol

[Dr. Jan Itor]

God, I'm glad CBR has pretty much ignored this Variety article. The Nerd Internet is in full rage mode right now. Soooo many Hot Takes.

[Nite-Wing]

If Superman had flown away when Zod started fighting him(since Zod had pretty much been attacking Superman for the majority of the fight) he'd be golden. the sheer fact that they go into space knock a satellite out of orbit and it crashes directly over metropolis is another example of Man of Steel basically forcing the fight to stay in the city.
If they wanted to show Superman protecting the city they could have done that but that's not the way the fight was choreographed. Its just two super powered bricks knocking each other around the city

[mathew101281]

I think a dark JL movie would have been really popular 5 or six years ago, but I feel that there has been a definite shift in superhero fandom in recent years, books like Harley Quinn and Batgirl are light hearted and are among DC's most popular books. And pretty much all of Marvel's movies are on the light size.