Opinion: Sooner Rather Than Later, DC Film And TV Will Be James Gunn’s Exclusive Playground – But That Won’t Solve Anything
With James Gunn’s vision for DC about to take shape on screens big and small, David Zaslav and Warner Bros. Discovery surely think they are about to turn a corner, and can safely leave the disasters of the latter-day DC Extended Universe and the ‘Folly a Deux’ of Joker 2 behind. They’re looking toward a bright future of hope and change now.
But…they shouldn’t get ahead of themselves, having failed to shake off all the vestiges of the prior regimes. Gunn is far from alone in his endeavors since, besides his Co-President at DC Studios, Peter Safran, he still has Matt Reeves on his team managing a standalone universe of Batman and neo-noir versions of Gotham’s Rogues.
Reeves has promised a trilogy of movies starring Robert Pattinson as the Caped Crusader interpolated by world-building – some might say ‘plodding’ – TV series centered on the villains. The Penguin proves this formula can be successful and has probably earned The Batman filmmaker the right to make more shows, although who’s next is up in the air if The Joker isn’t the star.
That said, Reeves may have bigger concerns waiting for him not too far down the road. Gunn and Andy Muschietti have a Batman project of their own in development, The Brave and The Bold. The search is on for the Dark Knight in that equation, which might cause two Batmen to be active in DC cinema at the same time – again. That is unless they could coexist or enough time passes where they won’t have to.
Reeves and the Batman crime saga could give way to TBATB in a smooth transition, but recent history has shown us that’s not how Warner operates. They’d much rather shake things up, cause chaos, and ask questions later. Moreover, the current regime wants to avoid the Multiverse principle – supposedly. Having two Dark Knights shouldn’t fly if that’s the case.
As it would look hypocritical – assuming they care – Gotham City might not be big enough for both of them, and Gunn being the man in charge, his desires would probably win out. After all, there’s only going to be one Man of Steel in 2025 with no exceptions – not even for Tyler Hoechlin. Gunn is partnered with Safran and answers to Zaslav, but the creative direction is his to decide. He approves and greenlights everything, which makes him the boss – i.e., the one in effect revamping everything single-handedly.
Things worked out this way, but they weren’t always destined to end up like that. At one time, right before the world shut down for a few years, it looked like Gunn was slotted with a smaller part to play in rebooting DC. He’d work his ‘magic’ on The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, Reeves would get the Batverse, and the latter’s buddy JJ Abrams would handle what’s left – including Superman.
Abrams signed a multi-million dollar first-look deal and immediately started hoarding properties in his toy box. The lion’s share came from the Justice League Dark aisle, and a new series or film was rumored almost every week. Names like Constantine, Deadman, and Madame Xanadu were bandied about to build interest, but over time it became clear there was next to no progress.
Any plans he had were quietly dropped after Zaslav took over and started making cuts with all the subtlety of a chainsaw. The writing on the wall, Abrams – who was hired, mind you, because his wife was friends with a bygone executive – and his bill of goods were exposed like Disney’s lack of creativity, and he was out!
He is still developing an Elseworlds BIPOC Superman movie – on paper, somewhere in the background – written by Ta-Nehisi Coates. But realistically, what are the odds of that project ever getting off the ground when it suffers the same traction issues as the JLD Universe? There’s been no substantial update on its status in a year or more, and there was never a concrete plan for it.
It’s safe to say Superman belongs to James Gunn’s lock, stock, and barrel whether anyone admits it or not, and multiverses need not apply. This brings me back to Matt Reeves and The Batman, the last obstacles in the way. Reeves is keeping his end of the bargain by making money and drawing in the ratings with his projects, but in the end, the picture business is fickle and cutthroat.
In the infamously immortal words of Heath Ledger as The Joker, “They need you right now, but when they don’t, they’ll cast you out, like a leper!” If Reeves slips up, performs below expectations, or is overcome by agendas and studio politics, he joins Abrams out on the corner with his belongings.
And honestly, hasn’t that process shown evidence of beginning? Don’t the scrapping of two TV shows and constant pushing back of release dates make Reeves and his saga look like an afterthought? The Batman – Part 2 will probably get made, but there are no guarantees afterward, not even a second season for Penguin.
All Gunn has to do is run the clock on Reeves, make whatever excuse he has to, and push it as the official narrative to cut ties with him and hand Bat’s responsibilities over to Muschietti. Gunn and his people will have a tight grip on everything DC and the game will be won. Game, set, match, the end, right? No, not really, as there’s one other thing to consider: Gunn might be overestimating his chances for success.
He might be too overconfident to see how he and his approach can lose. However, anyone who has paid attention to the last two years of DC at the movies could venture an educated guess. From Black Adam to Joker: Folie a Deux this year, every DC release has flopped critically and commercially. Each was worse than the last, but The Flash and Folie a Deux flabbergastingly broke records for how dismally a movie can perform, and there’s no tenable sign the DCU will do any different.
Why should anyone believe the downward trend won’t carry on with Superman? Why are they acting like throngs of people are going to show up to see it? What’s so special about it? It’s just another reboot, the second in twelve years and the character’s seventh or eighth cinematic appearance in the same amount of time. That’s counting the cameos in Shazam!, Flash, and Black Adam, but you get the idea.
The turnaround here is too quick as it comes within three years of Henry Cavill’s last instance in the cape, and we all remember how ‘elegantly’ his exit was handled. Seeing Cavill excited to be back in the cape only to recant and bow out after a month went over like a lead balloon hiding a chunk of Kryptonite. The fiasco Warner put him through is undoubtedly one of their biggest PR blunders ever, and they can’t pretend it never happened.
Worse, the suits and ‘creatives’ out there are giving no hint of an olive branch to the fandom. A written apology isn’t needed, per se, but there should be some effort to win back the favor of your customers. Instead, hardly a peep of such initiative or contrition is evident.
On the other hand, that might be too much to ask of them, and it’s not like the public is willing to forgive those in show business and spend hard-earned money on them sans reservations with all the scandals Hollywood is weathering, all the seediness and depravity coming to light, and with the out-of-touch meltdowns they are having over a certain someone’s reelection.
Whatever ace Gunn has up his sleeve to reverse course better be something other than making sure scripts are polished and finalized. (No! Invoking Christopher Reeve and hoping for the best isn’t going to cut it either.) Or else, he is kidding himself if he thinks he has an unbeatable hand. Remember, ‘flush’ has a double meaning.
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