MMR X-RAY EP02: 5 Reasons Why DCEU faltered both critically and commercially!

By Shalaj Gupta | 1.8k |

With just $3.7 Billion in 5 films, with exception of Wonder Woman , why is the DC Universe failing so miserably both critically and commercially?

Poor choice of Visionary

Of all the potential directors, given that Warner Bros went with Zack Snyder to develop a cinematic assembly of their own remains a great mystery. Zack Snyder has given many hits but has never been critically appreciated. Story Development, Character Development and narrative has never been his strongest suit. He lacks irony or humor. Snyder would have been a good director for a single or two films but the task of developing the base of the entire universe is something that is far stretched given his first screenplay was of Sucker Punch which was a big critical failure (23% on Rotten Tomatoes). Zack Snyder has managed the highest Rotten Tomatoes rating of 55% in Man of Steel and the worst of 23% in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. On the other hand, Marvel has managed a lowest Rotten Tomatoes rating of 66%.

Too Much Too Soon?

The DC Cinematic Assembly has been surprisingly rushed with no attention paid to character development. Man of Steel released in 2013 and within 4 years and about 3 films down Warner Bros decided for an All Superhero assembly Film with a run time of 2 hours with only Superman and Wonder Woman getting a solo film and 3 absolutely new characters making proper debuts in the Justice League. This sudden rush after starting late in the segment made matters worse for Justice League with it grossing just $637.4 million against a production cost of $300 million. Their counterpart Marvel has placed immense attention in Character Development with each Character having a proper storyline and most superheroes having their solo films for build up to the Avengers.

Improper Production

Warner Bros for its part is to be blamed as well. Eager to earn money Warner Bros totally ignored the direction its movies were taking or as a matter of fact the direction of the DC Universe was compromised. Despite Zack Snyder backing out of the Justice League during post productions due to personal loss, the Studios reluctance to push the release date resulted in some post production issues like a very inadequate duration and terrible cgi (specially Henry Cavill ’s moustache). It took Warner Bros 3 years and an unexpected failure of Batman Vs Superman, to include Geoff Johns the chief creative officer of DC to set a proper base for its Universe like Kevin Feige did for Marvel. Kevin Feige played a really important role for Marvel and later Disney for setting up the Marvel Cinematic Universe since he had the complete knowledge of Comics. DC and Warner Bros lacked someone like Feige to steer their Assembly and make content driven films which would be appreciated by critics and fans alike.

Competition with the Marvel Cinematic Universe

At the end, I guess the failure of the DC Cinematic Assembly has been due to the strong presence of Marvel with its Marvel Cinematic Universe. With some good content driven light films Marvel had set the tone of Superhero Movies for the audience to enjoy. DC characters being a bit serious and dark could not have been presented in the way Marvel presented in its movie which hurt the DC Films. Also, Justice League was unfairly criticised in some circles due to comparisons with the Avengers Infinity Wars which features at least 65 characters thought built around a storyline developed in 10 long years despite the 4 years of DC. Starting late is definitely hurting DC since Marvel, now having had a good base, is making films where multiple Superheroes are assembling in a single movie like Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers etc whereas DC trying to compete with Marvel is trying to assemble heroes but lack of base results in them being a failure like Justice League and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Loss of identity

In order to copy the success secret of Marvel Films, DC is losing its character individualism. The Christopher Nolan trilogy proved that if content and story telling is good even dark films are appreciated. Despite that in Justice League, Batman is showed to be a bit like Tony Stark with his witty comebacks. Superman is shown to be too dark for its own self in comics. The members of Justice League constantly ridiculing Batman for his lack of superpowers meant to bring humor did not fulfill the purpose instead undermined Batman and his intelligence for which he is a true asset to the league.

With Wonder Woman, many thought DC and Warner Bros have finally found the right path to progress on but Justice League showed they still have miles to go on that path. We can just hope that DC Cinematic Assembly finds its ground fast and treat the fans with some really cool content synonymous with DC.

Disclaimer: The opinion of the author are his own and does not represent the opinion of the organization.


Shalaj is an avid reader, comic books and superhero movies buff and is currently pursuing Mechanical Engineering from NSIT Delhi.


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