Another year of San Diego Comic-Con has come and gone, but some superhero fans are feeling a little let down…
Comic book adaptations are the big-hitters of the movie industry today, and at no place or time is this more evident than the annual San Diego Comic-Con. In the past few years, caped crusaders have dominated the pop culture convention in ways that no other franchise can compete with. Marvel upped the ante in 2010, when Joss Whedon assembled the full cast of Avengers on stage in Hall H, not just two years before the film’s premiere, but also before most of the cast had even been seen in character. With their aggressive release schedule, Marvel have been the decided winner of many recent conventions – but that all changed last year, when Zack Snyder announced Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (at the time, without the Justice League extension).
Since then, we’ve had controversial casting announcements, moody promo shots and plenty of media hyperbole which seems to suggest the 2016 film will be used as a springboard for a Justice League series and DC Comics’s “cinematic universe.” So, expectations for this year’s Warner Bros. panel reached fever pitch. Would we be treated to an official announcement and release date for the Justice League movie, as well as some solo films for the ever-expanding cast?
Well, no. Despite rampant online rumors, it turned out that all DC were willing to reveal was some short footage from Batman v Superman, a look at Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, and a brief, silent appearance from the film’s stars. No Justice League announcements, no solo film reveals, and not even a new member of the cast (Flash? Green Lantern?).
As a DC fan, one can’t help but feel disappointed and (in some cases) concerned.
How Marvel do things
The relative secrecy surrounding the future of the DC Cinematic Universe couldn’t be further from the approach of their rivals. Marvel have always been clear about the future of their properties, announcing whole “phases” of movies at a time, and being clear about their business plan of one Avengers film at the end of every one of these densely populated release windows.
Marvel themselves were fairly quiet this year, but we still know that an Ant-Man film, more from the Avengers and The Guardians of the Galaxy, and (though not formally announced) trilogy-cappers for Captain America and Thor are all on the cards in the next few years.
DC’s cinematic future
Of course, just because we don’t know about a lot of DC’s future movie endeavors doesn’t mean they’re not happening. And they haven’t enjoyed the relative ease and success that Marvel did in launching their universe. With Christopher Nolan calling time on his interpretation of Batman, Henry Cavill’s Superman is the only Justice League hero to have been seen on cinema screens. Their attempt at launching a Green Lantern franchise also flopped with critics and fans alike. With Man of Steel‘s sequel being used as a springboard for DC’s answer to the Avengers it’s possible that solo movies for Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg, Flash, a new Green Lantern and any other hero who might appear are just too early in the development phase to announce.
But they’re going to need to get their skates on, or they risk losing the momentum and public consciousness that Marvel’s cinematic universe has enjoyed. And if they do that, DC won’t be “winning” any Comic-Con competitions in future…
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.