10 years after Zod’s snapped neck, Martha, “some kinda Suicide Squad”, CGI moustache, rennouncing your wish, the hiearchy of power changing, and Speed Force PS1 graphics, the DC Extended Universe finally comes to a close. And it ends the same way it started - with a Rotten score.
Looking back at all this wasted potential, what would you have done differently with the DCEU, and what are your hopes for James Gunn’s DC Universe?
Hopes? None. Warner Bros. has no fucking clue how to use DC characters and ideas in theaters. They may get lucky with specific movies being decent, but the best movies are not even as good as the worst of the animated movies and series. They keep throwing money and names at live action, instead of focusing on telling good stories that stay true to the essence of the characters.
I don’t see Gunn doing any better tbh. For one, he’s going to be hamstrung by whatever Warner decides is the goal. For another, he’s going to end up limited by whatever flawed view executives have of the servers characters. And then he still may not have a grasp of what either comics fans or non comic fans need from a movie featuring DC characters.
I think that another risk you run by putting Gunn in this role after he found the only success in modern DC movies and series is pressure to become too Gunn-y. The same way that Marvel was so taken with Taika Waititi’s Ragnarok that they had him go even more Waititi on Love and Thunder, which clearly made it worse, and then tried to incorporate similar humor in other projects that fell flat. Sometimes playing to hard into a unique success just proves that it was either largely novelty-driven or that you just can’t recapture it.
Amen. Though, tbh, I did shed a few tears during love and thunder, so it wasn’t a total failboat.
I like Gunn’s style, but any time you just hand the reins to a single director, the risk of them cackling like a mad scientist and creating an abomination is high.
Love and thunder is, in part, a story of the pain, loss, and grief of watching a cherished loved one wither away with cancer before they or you are ready. It was always going to pull tears no matter what else happened in the movie
Gunn confirmed that DC Studios is completely seperate from Warner Bros., they will just be distributing the films.