WB/DC Give Us Their Cinematic Universe Through 2020

Okay, looks like Warner Bros. and DC Comics finally decided to show their hand. While many a DC fan has had to put on a brave face and confidently reassure others that the DC Cinematic Universe will eventually catch up to Marvel, even with the 8-year head start, there’s often a bit of hesitation. DC’s Cinematic foundation started on shaky ground among fans with the divisive Man of Steel and the ever-growing cast of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice still has us scratching our heads over the nature of all the reported cameos. Instead of building their world, Warner Bros. and DC looked like they were trying their damnedest to throw every hero in the DC Universe into one film, reversing Marvel’s formula of solo movies leading to a team up film. It also didn’t help that WB pushed back the release of Dawn of Justice to May of 2016 only to push it up to March in order to avoid direct box office conflict with Captain America 3. And even though WB/DC claimed to have nine movies lined up through 2020, Marvel still trumped them with films scheduled for release through 2028.

Yesterday, however, WB/DC, after sporadic announcements about their films including the casting of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Black Adam for the upcoming Shazam movie, finally gave us a map of their cinematic universe through 2020.

 

Obviously most of these films aren’t surprising. We’ve known about Justice League and Shazam for a while and Suicide Squad was only recently announced. The most surprising part of this lineup is the splitting up of Justice League into two films, something we’ve only seen with the final movies of book adaptation series, and their placement in the order; part one will follow the Wonder Woman solo movie with part two released two years later after solo movies for the Flash, Aquaman, and Shazam. It’s an odd thing to do when one would logically assume the two films would be one continuous story. Breaking them up with three solo films, presumably origin stories, in the middle seems like a bit of a gamble. Of course, the two Justice League movies could technically be standalone movies with the second part acting as an extension of the finished story from part one with the films sandwiched between adding to the build up. Or they could be a bunch of solo origin stories with no connection to the Justice League narrative. Either scenario is likely until plot details are confirmed – the Schrödinger’s cat of fan speculation, if you will.

Oh, and before I forget…

Ahem!

OHMYGODWE’REGETTINGAWONDERWOMANSOLOMOVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, Sam, calm down. Deep breaths. In and out. There we go. Now…continue.

So, yeah, we’re actually going to get a Wonder Woman solo film before Justice League! The assumption is it will be some sort of origin story since producer Charles Roven recently let slip that her backstory would be more in line with the New 52 comics where Diana learns she’s a demigod, the daughter of Hippolyta and Zeus. The solo movie could potentially piggyback off of Diana/Wonder Woman’s cameo (however large the role is) in Batman v Superman, telling her origin in its entirety for the cinematic universe. Or the film could go with what seems to be the most popular narrative structure of WB/DC, non-linear storytelling with more flashbacks than you can shake a stick at. One can only hope that the creative team selected for the project has something better up their sleeve. And, sorry Marvel, but looks like DC’s beating you to the female superhero solo movie. Better get cracking on a Black Widow or a Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel movie STAT.

The announcement also confirmed the casting of Jason Momoa as Arthur Curry/Aquaman and Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/The Flash. Momoa’s rumored attachment to playing Aquaman has been around for so long I think we’re all breathing easier now that the cat’s finally out of the bag. The casting of Miller as Barry Allen is definitely an interesting one. While Grant Gustin embodies aspects of the Silver Age Barry, in personality and looks, on television, Miller’s casting appears to be more on point with Zack Snyder’s atypical casting decisions. With the myriad casting rumors going around about every other character, Flash seemed to be one of the furthest from our minds. Though now that Miller is confirmed for the role, I’m genuinely interested to see what he brings to Barry on the big screen.

Momoa’s casting is easily the most inspired choice and yet he’s the most radical departure from his comic book counterpart. Arthur Curry, in the comics, has been Whitey McBlonderson since his inception, but putting Momoa, a man of Pacific Islander heritage, in the role feels almost like a “well duh!” moment of realization. Not only does it further diversify the cast, but it shows that the casting director, Snyder, and hopefully some of the producers are thinking more about what works for the character rather than strictly adhering to the comics. Perhaps Momoa’s casting could affect the comics should he prove likeable enough to audiences.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t pumped for the future of comic book movies. In my world, there isn’t a war between Marvel and DC movies. I get to watch all of them, so how could I possibly lose? Okay, there are ways I could lose, but right now I need to live in my delusions of a well crafted universe for the DC Comics characters I love. There are a few things worth noting, though. One, the list doesn’t include planned solo movies for Batman and Superman, which WB is totally gonna do because do I really need to explain it to you? Two, Guillermo Del Toro’s Justice League Dark and Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s Sandman movies are still in the wings for the time being. Whether WB plans to add them to the lineup or keep them in development hell remains to be seen.

Oh and apparently Green Lantern is getting rebooted. So…Hal Jordan again or can we just skip over to John Stewart?

Satisfaction Not Guaranteed: Wonder Woman and the Internet

I’m going to start this with an apology to Bill “Jett” Ramey from Batman on Film. Mr. Ramey, Jett, I apologize for jumping the gun. I’ll admit it, I fucked up in my own personal reaction to your speculation on how Zack Snyder and David S. Goyer would try to incorporate Wonder Woman and the Amazons into the DC Cinematic Universe (DCCU). I can’t speak for the rest of the internet, but I can speak for myself: I’m sorry.

For those of you wondering why I’m apologizing to a person I’ve never even met or spoken to, the last two days have been a bit weird, yet strangely familiar, if you’re part of the fanboy/fangirl community. In his Batman on Film Mailbag article from January 4th, Ramey answered a series of questions from the website’s fans regarding any number of things, but what’s on many a Bat-fan’s mind is the still unnamed Man of Steel sequel that will feature not just Batman, but also Wonder Woman, The Flash, Lex Luthor, and possibly any number of other characters from DC Comics. In answering a question about how big Wonder Woman’s role would be in Batman vs Superman, Ramey responded:

Personally, I’d say it’ll be about on par with Scarlett Johansson’s first appearance as Black Widow in IRON MAN 2. I believe that it’s a cameo-plus type of role that will (hopefully) serve as a springboard to a solo Wonder Woman movie.

With all that said, I’d bet a year’s pay – in MONOPOLY money, of course – that the “Amazons” of this cinematic DCU will be descendants of those “ancient Kryptonians” who attempted to set up Kryptonian outposts throughout spacedom thousands and thousands of years ago. Furthermore, I say that Wonder Woman will be powered-down, if you will, relative to Superman because these Amazons have evolved and adapted to living on Earth for hundreds of centuries. And since Kryptonians are produced without any “He’n and She’n” – Jor El and Lara excluded – couldn’t this original Kryptonian on Earth have used this reproductive science to create an all-female race? I say yes!

And then the internet blew up.

The problem is, a lot of us, me included, missed the key element of the response. Ramey was speculating on the “Kryptonian ancestry of the Amazons” based on how he perceived the projection of the DC Cinematic Universe as depicted by Snyder and Goyer. None of it was based on actual information acquired from any inside sources. Unfortunately, a lot of websites started to report his answer as though it was fact, prompting another round of internet flame wars over the supposed rewriting of Wonder Woman’s origin.

What this ultimately comes down to is Ramey struck a chord in the nerd/geek community, one that will continue to be sensitive to any piece of information, rumor or otherwise, simply because what he said isn’t that far off from what could happen in Superman vs. Batman, or Batman vs. Superman. Reactions to his speculation are representative of the community at large, specifically those who’re invested in Wonder Woman and her place in the burgeoning DC Cinematic Universe or the DCCU as a whole. And like Ramey’s speculation, all roads lead to Superman and Man of Steel, because, more than likely, responses to this “news” were based on whether someone loved, hated, or meh-ed the film, which also indicates their level of trust in the filmmakers and probably Warner Bros. To be fair, expectations have been high not just from fans, but from the studio as well since Warner Bros. has made The Avengers their personal Moby Dick, driving the DCCU, at break-neck speed, towards a Justice League movie. On the other hand, Goyer and Snyder, under Christopher Nolan’s aesthetic umbrella, are still responsible for the final product, which has left the foundation of the DCCU uneven at best.

Then there’s Wonder Woman, a character who has continually been put on the backburner, finally making her big screen debut. Given what we know about Snyder and Goyer and their need to justify/rationalize/ground DC’s comic book characters in “reality”, the stakes are very high as to how she’ll be portrayed and how DC’s cinematic equivalent of Thor will fit into this universe. And when I say she’s the equivalent of Thor, I’m not endorsing the whole “magic and science are one and the same” angle that Thor did and applying it to Wonder Woman. That’s what worked for Thor because that was the actual comic book origin of the character. Wonder Woman is different in that her origin is intrinsically tied to Greek Mythology, which, for some, could be perceived as too “out there” for the reality of the DCCU. So, based on what people seem to think are Goyer’s brilliant strokes of “tweaking” the mythos, Ramey’s speculation appears to be a plausible alternative to Wonder Woman’s comic book origin.

And while Ramey was only speculating, the acceptance by a lot of people of this adjustment to Wonder Woman’s origin, feeds into the same ideas shared by DC Comics’ president, Diane Nelson, and executives at Warner Bros. who continue to claim Wonder Woman is “tricky”. We can suspend our disbelief over alien colonizers from Krypton but entertaining the idea that Greek gods, goddesses, and monsters are real or that a heroine can be molded from clay is a step too far? Maybe it would clash with Space Jesus, a.k.a. Superman, and his message of hope? I’ve also talked to or seen people point to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and their science-based approach, using Thor as the example of how the fantastical was grounded. There was also the alteration of the Mandarin in Iron Man 3, which was itself a divisive adaptation amongst Iron Man fans. What we’re looking at, though, is a comparison of apples and oranges. Most of Marvel’s characters started in the Silver Age, an era where science-fiction stories were the bread and butter of the industry. Not only is Wonder Woman an enduring character from the Golden Age, which also spawned Superman and Batman, but she’s a surefire in for the magical community of the DC Universe who will also be making their big screen debuts either through Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Neil Gaiman, and Goyer’s Sandman or Guillermo Del Toro’s Justice League Dark movie. If Goyer and Snyder squelched Wonder Woman’s fantastical origins in favor of whittling the square peg into the round hole, how would they explain The Endless, Zatanna, Etrigan, Deadman, or John Constantine? The Kryptonians can’t be responsible for everyone’s origin and if you can’t embrace the fantastical elements that make Wonder Woman special, then clearly your approach is in jeopardy.

So, yeah, I think this started off as an apology and then spiraled into my reasons why that speculation is both plausible and problematic at the same time. Yep, sounds about right. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to sit in the corner and rock myself back and forth for comfort while I debate how Ramey could be right, why I want it to not be true, and how I secretly think he’s on to something.