Category: Musings

By now I’m sure that most anyone with even the most basic of interests in the Superhero genre of films has heard of the DC related drama.

More specifically the firing of Henry Cavill from the role of Superman and the heavily implied rebooting of the rest of the cinematic universe.

Now I’m not going to discuss whether the man, who by all accounts is a wonderful person, was a good fit for the role, whether he had the acting chops etc etc. (in my opinion he did but that’s neither here nor there.)

But more so bring attention to the fact that this, from a business standpoint, is a move most baffling and bizarre.

Admittedly the DC cinematic universe has been… a mess. But, after the whole fiasco with the twin versions of the rushed Justice League movie, things started looking up courtesy of some careful moves and taking time to start laying the groundwork like Marvel did with their own movie-verse.

Namely, after Wonder Woman, Shazam, Aquaman, and now Black Adam things had started to slowly look up. Fan good will was at its highest and with the announcement of Cavil’s return and bringing in James Gunn said good will only grew.

Imagine my surprise when the executives at the top decided to blow it all up by essentially nuking the current ‘universe’.

Granted, you might argue that a clean slate will help build a more coherent narrative and characters and what have you.

And you would be right.

Usually.

The problem is that fans like… or in this case liked Momoa’s Aquaman, Gadot’s Wonder Woman, Cavill’s Superman, Affleck’s Batman etc etc. And nuking it all while you’re about to release a couple more films tying to the ‘old universe’, so to speak? Not a smart move.

After all what reason do most of us have to go see Aquaman 2, Flash, Blue Beetle etc etc, now that we know that they’re not building up to something and are part of a ‘dead’ universe?

In other words, movies that promised to make a profit threaten now to be a financial sinkhole instead.

The smart thing would have been to make one or two more movies as a send off to the old universe, that way fans would have been mollified and the upcoming movies would have led to something, enticing people to go see them.

(and to any Marvel/DC executive who’d like to argue about the cost consider this, what’s cheaper. 3-4 upcoming flops who drive you deeper in the red or spending a couple more mill but in return ensuring that those 3-4 upcoming films are a success as well as the 1-2 send off films who’d more than likely recoup their costs?)

After all, who in the seven Hells wants to see yet another young Superman story or a Batman just finding his steps. And sorry Mr. Gunn, but a Supes who just arrived in Metropolis and is meeting Lois, and presumably Luthor, for the first time? Whichever way you slice it, that’s an origin story.

Tl;dr: What I’m trying to say in this, is that whatever your creative profession, abrupt changes, ‘subversions of expectations’, and harebrained schemes… well, as a certain genius, inventor, philanthropist, playboy once put it… “not a great plan.”

Tl;dr2: Cater to your market as best you can.