The Marvel vs DC movie battle is starting to heat up on the side we didn’t expect. While we try to be optimistic about Batman and Superman getting their universe expanded at the box office, it’s going to take some time to forget what Warner Bros has done before. Apparently after Justice League hits in 2018, they’re planning on nine more films.
Marvel wasn’t always a successful source of comic book movies itself, with some laughable movies about various Avengers trying and failing before Robert Downey Jr. ever put on the suit. Perhaps after Christopher Nolan’s take on Batman proved that a DC license actually can be successful after three movies, Warner Bros started realizing they needed to catch up to Marvel before the house that Stan Lee helped build became the only one with a decent collection of theatrical releases.
After Zack Snyder took the reigns for Man of Steel and released the biggest hit for the character since the original Superman , it’s beginning to look hopeful for Warner Bros in the Marvel vs DC movie wars. They’re still treading some muddy waters though, full of the ashes from Batman and Robin and Superman Returns .
Much like Fox is planning with the X-Men franchise, DC seems to be reversing what Marvel has planned, releasing the ensemble films first and then branching off into separate movies for each character. This could backfire, since one reason The Avengers was such a hit was that it didn’t have to explain where anybody came from; it went straight to the story.
Something else to be concerned about is the rumor that Christopher Nolan , the man who made Batman a respectable movie character, probably won’t be involved in the expanded DC universe. We know Nolan isn’t the only talented director out there, and the Marvel movies didn’t die off just because Jon Favreau hadn’t directed anything since Iron Man 2 . Joss Whedon took over after a rocky start including Alien: Resurrection and the canceled Firefly , and turned The Avengers into a box office phenomenon.
8 Ways Zack Snyder’s ‘Justice League’ Can Catch Up With Marvel http://t.co/qKAKyJbFeH
— Yahoo Movies (@YahooMovies) April 28, 2014
The Marvel vs DC movie wars are just beginning, and Warner Bros needs something to generate the considerable income they were getting with the Harry Potter series. We can only hope they don’t sell out DC to a bad director again and spawn nine more laughable entries to compete with their biggest rival.
Sandman and Fables are the first announced expansions so far, though the former sounds suspiciously like a certain villain from the Marvel universe.
Could Darkseid, Martian Manhunter, and some of the more fantastic characters bring Warner Bros enough material to make them competitive in the currently fiercest round of Marvel vs DC movies?