If you’ve been wondering what to call what DC Comics is doing with its slew of TV and movie characters, we have an answer for you. DC President Geoff Johns spoke out on Thursday to explain how The Flash and Arrow can exist on the small screen and still exist in a totally separate world on the big screen. He calls DC’s broad vision for its world “a multiverse.” Musing over it, I kind of like it. DC’s Multiverse.
Johns was recently speaking out to go into fuller detail about how DC’s television universe, which is already rich with characters thanks to The Flash and Arrow (also Gotham and NBC’s soon-to-premiere Constantine), will stay separate from DC’s movie universe, which was booted up with Man of Steel and will become denser with Batman V Superman and future projects.
“Well, Arrow and Flash are the same universe, and we get a lot of great story out of that — especially when we have episodes that cross them over, but that’s also where our superhero universe lives. We look at it as the multiverse. We have our TV universe and our film universe, but they all co-exist. For us, creatively, it’s about allowing everyone to make the best possible product, to tell the best story, to do the best world. Everyone has a vision and you really want to let the visions shine through. I think the characters are iconic enough. “
Of course, we’ve known for a while that DC’s movies and films will be separate. Geoff Johns was the guy that officially broke that news over the summer. To cement this idea further, just a few short months later, the company signed on Ezra Miller to play Barry Allen, a.k.a The Flash, in his own feature. If you’ve been paying attention to The CW, at all, you may have noticed Ezra Miller isn’t the guy suiting up each week. Grant Gustin stars in the TV show.
Geoff Johns goes on to tell Buzzfeed that DC has no desire to just recreate what Marvel has already been doing for several years. Instead, the company wants to forge its own path and do something a little different.
“I like [Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.] a lot. I love what Marvel does. I’m a huge fan. It’s just a different approach.”
Setting up multiple universes that exist separately in one multiverse is a little complicated, but if the company pulls it off, it’s definitely a different, interesting route. So there you have it, kids. DC’s rolling with a multiverse, contrary to what you may have heard.
