Over the next five years, both DC and Marvel have numerous films from varying franchises scheduled for release in each of the tent pole seasons. Yet according to producer Charles Roven, the DC Cinematic Universe is more prepared to stave off any potential bouts of superhero fatigue, as they're all about the characters.
During a recent interview with Collider, Roven spoke at length about Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice, in particular the pride he has in the project's current condition. But the ultimate key to the engine that is the DC Comics / Warner Bros. partnership is, according to the producer, the following:
One of the things that we’re doing when we’re bringing together the DC Justice League Universe is we’re creating not only stories that work for the individual film, but they have some resonance to the other films that we’re doing. And I’m hoping that what’s also gonna keep the interest very keen is we’re telling hopefully compelling stories. … I think, even with Batman v Superman, we wanna have characters that touch us, and if we can continue to make films like that, the I think they’re sort of ‘genre proof.’
On the surface, Charles Roven's strategy doesn't sound all that different from Kevin Feige's rival strategy over at Marvel Studios. With each phase, the heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe change and enrich in character throughout each film. At least, that's what they should be doing, and whether that gets done or not depends on the quality of the story in any given installment of their universe. While Ant-Man may have been a fun vehicle for Paul Rudd to laugh it up, while effectively creating the character of Scott Lang, the film's story was basically a re-write of Iron Man with some Edgar Wright style comedy. Looking back on Marvel's flaws, we can see exactly what Roven is trying to do with his DC Cinematic Universe.
If we're reading his words the right way, we're assuming that our concerns above are what the folks behind the DC films trying to help alleviate with their upcoming slate of superhero adaptations. With the material we've seen coming out of the Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice trailers, we'd be inclined to agree that it's working. In fact, if you re-watch the trailer to the upcoming Zack Snyder directed franchise film, you'll see that while there's a good amount of action shots scattered throughout the trailer, there's just as many reaction shots of the characters enduring said action included. You can experience the second trailer again, in the video below.
While next year's comic book showdown still looks like Captain America: Civil War is the odds on favor of winning, we're starting to think the race between Marvel and DC is getting to be too close to call. 2015 was rough for Marvel Studios, with Avengers: Age Of Ultron and Ant-Man turning out to be OK movies at best. If there was ever a time for DC Comics and Charles Roven to deploy a winning strategy and pull ahead of the pack, now would be the time.
Batman v. Superman: Dawn Of Justice comes to save the day on March 25, 2016.
