What Are DC's Film/TV Crossover Rules?

[CBR News]

DC has two distinct movie and TV universes, and CBR tries to determine the rules for who goes where, and how multiple versions of characters fit in.


Full article here.

[Blind Otto]

Wouldn't it be fairer to say that the biggest obstacle is money?
Most of the big names on the silver screen would take a massive pay cut to appear in an on going tv series - look at how rarely we see Nick Fury on Agents of S.H.I .E.L.D as one example. If any of the stars of Flash or Arrow carried their roles over to the big screen, that could jump start their movie career - at the cost of the TV series. It's not as simple as having Weird Al showing up alongside Scooby Doo, you know...

[miketen]

It's just sad the WB/Snyder have screwed up Henry Cavill's version of Superman. Man of Steel was a if not great than good restart to the Superman franchise. There should have been a second Superman movie and maybe a Affleck Batman movie to establish his version of Batman before Batman v Superman. Also they should have called the movie Trinity instead of BvS since Wonder Woman had nearly as much time on screen in the movie as Superman did.

It's too bad that the TV universe can't cross over with the movie universe, it would have been great to see Grant Gustin on the big screen as Flash. Maybe in the future if they do a Crisis on Infinite Earths story...

[kalorama]

3. Non-Overlapping Counterparts: As above, these are different versions of the same character which are fairly contemporaneous but appear in different media at different times. The most obvious examples are Amanda Waller, Deadshot, Katana and Captain Boomerang, who each appeared on "Arrow" and who will all appear in the upcoming "Suicide Squad" movie. Because the "Arrow" versions are all dead, the two sets probably won't overlap.

The Arrow versions of Boomerang and Katana aren't dead. And while the Arrow version of Waller was killed off in the present day, she's continued to appear during the flashback segments of the show.

[Hypestyle]

I just hope that the trend continues of allowing characters to be developed for TV separate from the film projects. It was very annoying that Bruce Wayne never showed up on Smallville for all those years.

As a side note, I'd add that cartoon shows probably don't count among WB/DC management's concerns about "brand confusion" when it comes to TV adaptations.

[Baggie_Saiyan]

The Arrow versions of Boomerang and Katana aren't dead. And while the Arrow version of Waller was killed off in the present day, she's continued to appear during the flashback segments of the show.

Also from what I've read killing Waller in Arrow was a creative decision by the writers.

[kalorama]

Also from what I've read killing Waller in Arrow was a creative decision by the writers.

It was a good move, I think. While I did like Waller, killing her off has resulted in an expanded role for Lyla. one of the most under-utilized characters on the show.

[Frontier]

I remember back when there were embargo's preventing a lot of characters from certain families/franchises from appearing in animation or cartoons at the time. There was a Bat and Aquaman embargo during JLU, a Superman and Wonder Woman embargo in Brave and the Bold (at least up until it was revoked) and Young Justice (for the Wonder Girls, at least until season 2).

[superduperman]

DC has never been very consistent in regards to enforcing the barriers to characters and everyone knows it. That's probably why Johns is looking to get rid of it. Smallville couldn't use Bruce Wayne because of the movies but how many Batman cartoons were on the air at that time? Rumor had it that WB wanted to take Batman out of the Justice League cartoon but it, and more to the point, he, was too popular so they let it go. I'm not complaining too much that Supergirl doesn't take place in the MOS universe. And I think all the bad press from the movies isn't helping either. There is simply no reason to keep these old rules in place.

[superduperman]

I also think it's funny that Smallville more or less had Carte Blanche to use whoever they wanted except Batman. Remember the JSA episodes where we got to see the whole team in costume? Now LOT is debating if they can even use some of the members. I guess that's why the Arrow-verse versions seem so bland because we've been here before. Smallville did it first and did it better.

[Frontier]

DC has never been very consistent in regards to enforcing the barriers to characters and everyone knows it. That's probably why Johns is looking to get rid of it. Smallville couldn't use Bruce Wayne because of the movies but how many Batman cartoons were on the air at that time? Rumor had it that WB wanted to take Batman out of the Justice League cartoon but it, and more to the point, he, was too popular so they let it go. I'm not complaining too much that Supergirl doesn't take place in the MOS universe. And I think all the bad press from the movies isn't helping either. There is simply no reason to keep these old rules in place.

I don't remember there ever being an issue where WB wanted to take Batman out, but JLU definitely couldn't use any Batman villains or supporting characters (like Batgirl or Nightwing) because of an embargo.

[AnakinFlair]

There was also an embargo against using The Joker in the Justice League cartoons. They got to do it once, but then WB put their foot down and said 'No More'.




Or possibly 'Galifrey Falls'. It's subjective.

[kalorama]

I don't remember there ever being an issue where WB wanted to take Batman out, but JLU definitely couldn't use any Batman villains or supporting characters (like Batgirl or Nightwing) because of an embargo.

They would have been insane to take Batman out of JL/JLU.

[ejestrada529]

Sounds like a bunch of politics. In the comic books it's called multiple earths; multiple versions of the same characters plain and simple. Comic books characters sell; period! Whether it's on a TV series or on the silver screen, fans will always be interested. It has taken Hollywood this long to realize the potential of comic book characters and do to safeguard themselves to what characters can be used under what license Just sounds like a whole bunch of red tape to me. Regardless of its definition or defense, it's going to be complicated at the end of the day.

[Series5Ranger]

I don't remember there ever being an issue where WB wanted to take Batman out, but JLU definitely couldn't use any Batman villains or supporting characters (like Batgirl or Nightwing) because of an embargo.

I still liked how they worked the Nightwing Cameo into JLU during the embargo as a kind of protest .....