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Hello everyone!
Over the past few weeks, there has been some major news about DC, and it's all blown up all over the place, so I'd thought I'd write an article on it real quick to talk about my thoughts on everything.
We'll start with an overview of what's going on: So before Black Adam came out, DC announced that Henry Cavill would be returning as Superman and that they were moving forward with a bunch of new movies: a Man of Steel sequel was announced, Wonder Woman 3 was confirmed, and Flash 2 was also confirmed (kind of).
I don't know why they confirmed all of this before Black Adam, because the announcement that Henry Cavill is returning as Superman completely ruins the after-credits of that film. But whatever.
About a week and a half after Black Adam came out, DC decided to do a full re-branding of their studio. David Zaslav, head of Warner Bros., hired James Gunn and Peter Safran to be co-CEO's of DC.
James Gunn, for those of you that don't know, is the director of everything Guardians of the Galaxy as well as The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. He is a big DC fan and has promised to give the fans what they want.
Peter Safran isn't as recognizable of a name, but he's also important. He's a producer, so he knows more about how to actually get movies made, while Gunn is more the creative advisor.
By hiring these two, DC has people at its head. If you don't know, Marvel has a lead producer that helms the whole story of the MCU. His name is Kevin Feige. He comes up with all of the movies and interwoven plot threads and all of that good stuff. He is the main reason that the MCU has been so successful. DC hired James Gunn and Peter Safran to be the Kevin Feige of their studio.
The hiring of Gunn and Safran garnered positive reception from fans, so DC was in a good place. They seemed to actually be moving things forward and figuring out how to do their own universe without trying to copy Marvel.
BUT...this week, we just got some news that Black Adam is going to bomb at the box office. It did not make enough money to be profitable for DC, so they are going to lose an estimated $50-100 million. This is actually terrible, because Warner Bros. has already lost a ton of money over the past few years with some of the business choices they've made.
Black Adam was supposed to be a sort of test run for DC, and it failed. It did not succeed. I liked the film, but the critical and audience reaction overall has been mixed, and the film did not do well financially. So that throws a wrench in the plans of James Gunn and Peter Safran.
And then today. Today, we got some awful, awful news.
Dwayne Johnson was originally intended to be a part of this new DC structure, but since Black Adam bombed, that may not happen. The bigger problem connected to that is that Henry Cavill signed on because of The Rock. He was signed on for Black Adam before Gunn and Safran were named CEO. So, since Black Adam wasn't profitable, The Rock and his character may not be involved in the future, and, in turn, Henry Cavill may not be involved either.
Alongside that is the news that Wonder Woman 3 was officially canceled. I don't know why. I don't know what this means for the future of Gal Gadot and her character. But that news sucks.
And, apparently, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is going to be Jason Momoa's last outing as Arthur Curry. Once again, I don't know why. Sources have said he may be done with Aquaman but he will be cast as Lobo in the future. It's so strange.
All of this news seems to signal at the fact that James Gunn and Peter Safran are pressing the reset button on DC. Zack Snyder was originally intended to be the face of DC back in 2013 when Man of Steel was released, but that didn't work out, so DC has been a mess ever since. It seems like Gunn and Safran might just be restarting the whole thing. 2023 could end up being the final year of the DCEU as we currently know it.
The only ounce of good news that we have is that Matt Reeves and Robert Pattinson are safe. The Batman is unlikely to be affected by this strange plan. It will remain in a separate universe. Hopefully that's the case for Joker and other non-connected DC projects as well.
My hope is that they do press the reset button. I don't know if destroying the DCEU entirely is the way to do it, but I think DC does need a redo. I think they should continue Henry Cavill's Superman as a standalone story. I think other projects and heroes, like Peacemaker or Shazam or Harley Quinn, can also have their own standalone stories. I don't know what they're going to do, but I do really want to see those characters again.
I'm not a fan of this news. I'm not a fan of the direction DC and Warner Bros. are going. Hopefully we get to a happy destination eventually, but this has been constant frustration and annoyance since Justice League. This makes me appreciate Marvel more, because, as frustrating as Phase Four was, at least it was coherent. At least Marvel isn't a mess.
I'm praying that DC can figure this out eventually, because a DC cinematic universe would be awesome. If we could get a DC universe that is on par with the MCU, that could be something special.
What are your thoughts on this whole DC process? Leave me a comment and let me know. I'm frustrated, but I want to know what you guys think.
Thanks for reading!