What is DC Comics doing wrong?

[Fosse]

DC characters do not translate well to the big screen, at least not for me.

Doing Batman the way have been works great, but any other way just comes off too campy.

I agree, but I also this this holds true for Marvel characters. They were just translated well to the big screen. Imagine if they had given hawkeye his original bright purple garb? I do think DC characters are a little more difficult to translate though. . . I'm curious as to how you would alter Aquaman.

 

[DuneMuadDib]

Aquaman I think you'd have to do the same way the comics are doing it right now, which is acknowledging the reputation and moving on. The first couple issues in the New 52 has almost everyone he encounters on the surface crack wise at him, and he just does something awesome and puts them in their places. He saves some cops' lives, they're embarrassed that they got saved by him. Just play him as aware people think he's a joke and have him matter-of-factly show them otherwise.

 

[Altered Ego]

This has probably been said before, but I need to rant.
The key to better movies is better directors and unobtrusive studios, plain and simple. After Marvel got a raise from Mickey Mouse, they realized the way to get a movie how they wanted was to make it themselves. How can we make a third tier comic character into a character that will string an entire movie franchise? Jon Favreau. How can we possibly put SIX superheroes into one movie? Joss Whedon. DC got lucky with Christopher Nolan, but its like they have a three second memory! They didn't go looking for some great writers and directors with a vision, they shoved out Green Lantern. There's no shortage of great directors who would love to make their favorite comic superhero into a movie, DC just needs to find them, give them money, and watch the magic happen. Instead, they gave Zach Snider Superman.

 

[Mektar]

Man of steel isnt even out yet so Zack being the director isnt a bad thing yet. And DC isnt really doing anything wrong since compared to marvel their animated movies have been alot better then what Marvel has made. Ofc i do hope that maybe we can see some nice movies aswell like the upcoming superman.

 

[Bandit-Jedi]

If DC wanted to do "The Man of Steel" right, they would have to do what was done in the animated films, "All-Star Superman" and "Superman vs. The Elite"

I could watch those Sups films over and over.

 

[Mektar]

Or doomsday with heavy metal superman

 

[Monteburns]

With the exception of the recent Batman films I have found that many of the DC animated movies are far superior to most of the current DC theatrical real action movie releases.

The animated feature Green Lantern First Flight is a good example of this.

 

[The Mad Professor]

With the exception of the recent Batman films I have found that many of the DC animated movies are far superior to most of the current DC theatrical real action movie releases.

The animated feature Green Lantern First Flight is a good example of this.

Justice League: Doom was fantastic, as was Superman/Batman: Apocalypse

Justice League: Doom was great because in addition to all the great existing voice actors (Tim Daly as Supes, Kevin Conroy as Bats, and Michael Rosenbaum as Flash), they made GL fan wishes come true by casting Nathan Fillion as Hal Jordan. Even animated, Fillion put out a performance a thousand times better than Ryan Reynolds.

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse was awesome because of this scene.

The only way it could have possibly been better is if they had gotten Michael Ironside back as Darkseid.

 

[Jet Beetle]

For example, Superman is literally the most powerful man on Earth and is a top contender universe wide, but the problem is that I have very rarely seen him make mistakes or come off his moral high horse. The only times he does seem to be the times that are most remembered, such as his killing of Doomsday (which cost him his life), the Justice Lords timeline, or the time he went ballistic on Mongul for the Black Mercy Plant incident. Other than that, he's always been extremely virtuous and boy-scout like.

DC comic character were always stalwart and true (reflecting the era they came from), paragons of the American ideal. Even Marvel's Captain America was the same way.

Of course, a lot of the steam was taken out of DC due to the Comics Code Authority of the 1950s, which took a lot of what made their comics popular and dumbed it down.

Marvel characters, which came around in the 1960's, are very much human. They have real world problems, such as prejudices, unemployment, unrequited affections, disabilities, etc. They make mistakes. COSTLY mistakes. Even Captain America, despite having come from a different era (or perhaps because of it), made mistakes.

This vulnerability with Marvel characters (which appealed to the American public), coupled with the CCA's intervention on DC Comics, caused some disillusionment with DC and Marvel took off. They still loved their DC heroes, but for different reasons. This is why, overall, Marvel characters have had more movie contracts than DC. The characters are more human, and because of that, the stories can be translated better to the big screen. The only issue with the movies have arisen because of bad casting (Jessica Alba, Eric Bana, Halle Berry), poor writing (Daredevil, Elektra, Ang Lee's Hulk), or pandering to the lowest common denominator (Jessica Alba again). All of that can be pretty much attributed to Executive Meddling. The studios had them by the cajones and made them do what they wanted. Once Marvel Studios came about, the movies have been pretty spot on excellent.

DC Movies over the years have had a good track record, though. Superman the Movie was awesome and still is today, as is Superman II. Superman III and IV were almost iconic depictions of stupidity in production. Then came Superman Returns, a spirited sequel that ignored III and IV. There was a lot of potential in that movie (I thought Brandon Routh channeled Christopher Reeve as both Clark Kent and Superman quite well), but the overall inherent stupidity (Really, Lex? Another freaking land scam?) and some poor casting (Kate Bosworth looked more like a college student than a famous reporter... that and I wanted to feed her a truckload of sandwiches) made the movie fall kinda flat.

(y.

Since when was killing Doomsday a mistake? Besides Supes didn't really kill him anyway. As for the fight with Mongul - great, fantastic story - not sure where you find a mistake in Superman's approach to how he handeled it. The ONLY time Superman ever dealt with a mistake was when he killed the Phantom Zone criminals in the pocket universe.

When Superman was first created he dealt with issues as relatable as the Marvel characters - he beat the puss out of wife beaters and even clobbered a ring of people smugglers - his "boy scout" image sort of came out of WW2 - when Supes joined our boys to beat Hitler. They used to send these comics in care packages to our boys overseas. Then popularity got to the defender of the people as Superman, like Mickey Mouse, was handled with more of a family friendly direction - and anything aimed at pleasing kids very rarely does. It becomes stale and kids look elsewhere for something cool. But make no mistake Spider-man was a direct attempt at Superman/Superboy.


And Brandon Routh sucked - Reeve was a good actor.

 

[Jeyl]

Can I just say, DC Comics is doing everything right.

Like when they fired Gail Simone? Or turned Wonder Woman into a bast***. Or when they eliminated Renee Montoya, Cassie Cain and Stephanie Brown from continuity?

 

[The Mad Professor]

Since when was killing Doomsday a mistake? Besides Supes didn't really kill him anyway. As for the fight with Mongul - great, fantastic story - not sure where you find a mistake in Superman's approach to how he handeled it. The ONLY time Superman ever dealt with a mistake was when he killed the Phantom Zone criminals in the pocket universe.

I believe I said "made mistakes OR come of his moral high horse."

Superman has consistently portrayed as a boy scout. He is a very moral character, a product of his Midwestern upbringing. With Doomsday, he had to put his morals aside and go all out just to defeat him. With Mongul, when the Black Mercy was removed, Supes' ideal fantasy world was shattered, his planet gone again, no wife, parents, kids. Needless to say, he was furious, not because of the world he lost, but at Mongul for inflicting it upon him to begin with. In that moment, he lost his moral center and nearly killed Mongul.

 

[Jet Beetle]

If you think he's always been a boy scout - check out the first issues of Action comics - you may feel different

 

[Kondor1]

Justice League: Doom was fantastic, as was Superman/Batman: Apocalypse

Justice League: Doom was great because in addition to all the great existing voice actors (Tim Daly as Supes, Kevin Conroy as Bats, and Michael Rosenbaum as Flash), they made GL fan wishes come true by casting Nathan Fillion as Hal Jordan. Even animated, Fillion put out a performance a thousand times better than Ryan Reynolds.

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse was awesome because of this scene.

The only way it could have possibly been better is if they had gotten Michael Ironside back as Darkseid.

yeah, i think they should take the animated DC comics movies, and then when its done...do the exact same as a live action, and poof, Awesome movie with it being Correct to the comics. The issue is that the live action is still owned by Warner Brothers and they want to stray away from the comics some. Least thats my opinion that dont count.

 

[firesprite]

yeah, i think they should take the animated DC comics movies, and then when its done...do the exact same as a live action, and poof, Awesome movie with it being Correct to the comics. The issue is that the live action is still owned by Warner Brothers and they want to stray away from the comics some. Least thats my opinion that dont count.

Warner Brothers owns DC. That shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Riceball]

While the DC animated movies have been by and large pretty good my problem with them is that there's no sense of continuity between them, not since they stopped making JL based movies at least. With each Superman & Batman animated movie they make they keep on making each one completely separate from each other with different character/production designs, voice actors, and basic universe setting. They're even worse with their animated shows with all of their shows since Batman the Animated Series typically only lasting 2 -3 seasons, just look at how many different Batman series (not counting Batman & Superman and JL) we've gotten since the original animated.

I think that the overall problem with DC is that they don't have a collective vision for what they want to do with their movies and Warner doesn't seem to care to what they put out so long as it makes at least a small profit.

 

[dascoyne]

DC characters do not translate well to the big screen, at least not for me.

Doing Batman the way have been works great, but any other way just comes off too campy.

There is much truth in this.

 

[RougeAvenger81]

Honestly to do Batman the "right way" in my opinion, the film and character would have to be very dark and evil feeling. To film it with the Joker cutting his face off, gas that makes you see your worst nightmares, etc, that would not be a PG-13 movie. But the days of an R rated film is nearing an end unless it's a horror film. Superman, I think MOS did a fine job. Same thing with Martian Manhunter messing with peoples minds or wonder woman being filmed in a 300 style movie since it's similar in tone in my head anyways. DC is working on doing it better and MOS has done well, but it's tough when you have characters that are twisted and broken and others that are supposed to be hopeful and inspiring. Difficult.

 

[dascoyne]

As someone else said a little more eloquently; DC is just a lame universe. Superman has always been boring and they just don't have anything else that interesting.

Marvel has a more interesting lineup. :thumbsup

I think that there are too many embarrasing heroes in the DC stable. I find Wonder Woman and Aquaman cringe worthy.......I love Superman, but he's kind of 1 dimensional...and when Singer tried to give him multiple dimensions, he just came off as a dead beat, stalking loser......Batman's been done to death now, and TBH i don't see him working in a team.

Green Lantern? Well, i guess the character has potential, but there's a long way to go before i forgive the lamentable GL movie.....is there anyone else?

oh yes, The Martian Manhunter......that's the kind of character name that would get you beaten up at school for mentioning.

I honestly think DC needs to work on connecting these characters to the real world.....which might be difficult as they all live in made up, analogous cities.......

I truly hope Man of Steel is ....interesting, clever and witty enough to be the springboard for more palatable DC movies.....

Rich

The point is that Superman, Wonder Woman etc aren't really characters, they are personifications of ideals, they represent values that we should all aspire to. They wield vast powers, to represent how much we can achieve with the right motivation and cause. They represent Truth, Justice, Compassion, Integrity and our ability to fight adversity no matter how bad things get. When Superman saves the day, it's really about the people who put out fires, rescue others, raise money, travel to far out places to help others in trouble.

If you tone them down to grim and dark, you lose everything they stand for.

Dark is merely a fad, it's not the hallmark of a greater sophistication, of better storytelling or any other superlative, it's just a marketing gimmick.

I fall into this camp. Marvel > DC for me.