DC has really gotten the ball rolling on their cinematic Extended Universe this year. However, it doesn't appear that they are quite as committed to it as we thought. Just because a movie features a DC character, doesn't apparently mean it will be part of the DCEU. It now appears that the planned Booster Gold movie is not connected to the DC universe at all.
Around about the time that fans were reacting, in various different ways, to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the news broke that Greg Berlanti, the man who has been building his own little DCEU on television, was working on a film about the time-traveling hero. Now, the producer has told Vulture, that his planned film has "no connective tissue" to the DC universe. Apparently, Greg Berlanti had been working on a Booster Gold TV series and, while that idea eventually collapsed, it led to a discussion with DC chief Geoff Johns about making a movie.
It's an interesting decision to make on the part of DC. Certainly, a Booster Gold film is a few years away, and by that time we'll be fairly well entrenched into the DCEU. We'll have had a Justice League movie, standalone films for Flash and Aquaman, we might even have met Green Lantern by then. To then drop another DC film, that has nothing to do with all that, into the mix, seems like an odd choice.
On the one hand, creating standalone movies that aren't connected to the DCEU would give Warner Bros. the ability to try interesting and unique ideas without damaging the existing franchise. Certainly, Booster Gold is a much lighter, more humorous, character than anything that DC has, or is apparently planning, to show off. The tone would be a tectonic shift, and possibly not one that DC wants to make in the grand scheme of things.
On the other hand, however, it has the potential to confuse viewers. If some DC movies are part of the Extended Universe, and some are not, how do you know which is which? Marvel certainly has movies that are made that are not part of their universe, but those are produced by a different studio. If Warner Bros. is producing everything, then how do you differentiate your larger universe stories with your one-offs?
Of course, the Booster Gold movie is still in the early stages, and just because there is no "connective tissue" now doesn't mean they won't add some, even if it's only a couple of name drops, to be sure people know how it all could fit together, if they choose to do so. Or, will this movie instead be the big screen debut of Greg Berlanti's existing franchise including TV's Arrow and Supergirl?
Are you disappointed that Booster Gold won't be part of the DCEU, or is that freedom the thing that will set his movie apart and allow it to be the movie that it should be? Let us know what you think in the comments.
