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While it’s difficult to see through the fog, a shift is happening in the comic book movie world. A thought process that once seemed ironclad is being challenged in a way that will have significant ramifications not only for the movie and television industries but for entertainment as a whole. Gone are the days of studios taking chances; all the heavy lifting will now be left to those who have done it before.
Superhero Movies Used to Be Able to Make Mountains Out of Molehills
In the early 2000s, the powers that be at Marvel Studios had the bright idea to create an interconnected franchise using their catalog of characters. One major hiccup was that they didn’t own the movie rights to Spider-Man, the X-Men, or the Fantastic Four. In fact, all those characters had already appeared in live-action films before the MCU even released its first project. What Marvel Studios had was the Avengers, a team of heroes who had proven their mettle in the comics time and time again. So, Kevin Feige and Co. took a leap of faith by building a franchise around Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America.
Everything went off without a hitch for the first couple of phases. The Avengers proved that the formula could work, so Marvel Studios kept the ball rolling all the way through Avengers: Endgame, which served as a swan song for the franchise up to that point. Despite missing so many heavy Marvel hitters, it didn’t feel like the MCU could miss. The same couldn’t be said of its competition across the aisle, the DC Extended Universe, which couldn’t find its footing, even as it embraced its most prominent faces. However, times are changing, and as much as Marvel and DC may want to give underutilized characters their moment in the sun, that option may no longer be on the table.
Marvel & DC Aren’t Betting on the B-Team Characters Anymore
When James Gunn came over to DC from Marvel Studios after getting the opportunity to turn the Guardians of the Galaxy into household names, he sold the world a bill of goods, claiming that the new DC Universe would be full of unique stories, no matter who was at the front of the poster.
Well, after only a year, that plan doesn’t seem to be working out. At least one project about a team full of colorful characters, The Authority, doesn’t seem like it’s moving forward, and everything that is getting the greenlight these days has a big name attached. The Wonder Woman and Batman movies are moving quickly, with Gunn frequently providing updates on their progress. Shows like Waller and Booster Gold find themselves in the opposite situation, fighting to stay alive as part of an ever-changing slate, while supposedly “in development” projects like James Mangold’s Swamp Thing are hanging in limbo.
