When Man of Steel was released, it wasn’t clear whether it was a standalone movie or the start of something greater. The upcoming release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice has obviously established that it exists in a shared universe, while Warner Bros. have also announced a new slate of upcoming movies.
The studio is taking a very different approach to Marvel Studios though, introducing pretty much all of their characters in Batman v Superman and Justice League before spinning them out into their own franchises.
It sounds like they’re very much making things up as they go along though, with a new report stating that five writers were hired to compete for the job of penning Wonder Woman and insiders claiming that their “unorthodox” approach meant that it “felt like they were throwing shit against the wall to see what stuck.”
There are also competing scripts for Aquaman, and the general vibe seems to be that there’s no one in charge. Rather than having a Kevin Feige of their own to oversee these movies, Warner Bros. are allowing the filmmakers to take charge, something which doesn’t appear to be working out that well for them based on Michelle MacLaren’s recent decision to forgo directing Wonder Woman due to creative differences.
Zack Snyder currently appears to be the one steering the ship, but one Marvel insider isn’t impressed by this approach. “You can’t just give it to a filmmaker,” they say. “You have to give it to someone who has an institutional knowledge of these characters.” None of this means the DC Cinematic Universe will fail, but Warner Bros. approach sounds an awful lot like Sony’s disastrous plan for those scrapped Spidey spinoffs.
Fans love the cohesiveness of the MCU, and if the DCCU is lacking that, they risk alienating moviegoers…
