IBJoel

I think a lot of DC comics writers and fans don't know what makes DC great. Or at least, how to differentiate the product compared to Marvel (besides going "darkness, no parents").

Eric F

It doesn’t need to be much different to be great. As I said, Peacemaker is a great show, the best property so far that’s at least linked tangentially to the DCEU. This is probably because they decided to give James Gunn free reign.

Runaway

If Dan Lin is the right guy for the job, only the future can tell. I don't think the head of DC movies and TV has to be a great creative mind, Kevin Feige isn't either. You have to keep the overview, have a good I for talent, for what works and what doesn't and you have to make hard decisions. Edgar Wright is a much more talented filmmaker than Peyton Reed, but Wright wasn't right for the MCU, once Ant-Man left the pre production phase. It's totally possible, that an Edger Wright directed Ant-Man would have been the better movie as a stand alone, but wouldn't have fit to the MCU. Cutting lose Wright can't have been an easy decision, but the MCU never had a Josh Trank, Zack Snyder, David Ayer or Lorde and Miller situation, where the movie was mostly shot and the director had to be replaced or didn't stand by the finished movie.
Joker is a fantastic movie, I liked The Batman and I'm happy those movies exist, but they shouldn't and they wouldn't have under Feige because they didn't fit to the Snyderverse.
I'm not saying they should have stuck with Snyder, he definitively got to much power too, but they should have gone with some consistancy, if they want a shared universe or with no consistancy at all. Not with this mixture of remains of the Snyderverse, separated from Joker, which is separated from The Batman, a soft reboot with The Suicide Squad which kind of is part of the remains of the Snyderverse, has a TV spin off, which has nothing to do with any of the other TV shows. Titans and Doom Patrol aren't part of the Arrowverse while still produced by Greg Berlanti.
For a consistant shared universe, they should start from scratch, which obviously is not happening, since the new regime inherited three finished high profile movies, which can't be shelved like Batgirl or canceled like shows, produced by Berlanti.
So the new head honcho has to start with a compromise before sitting down at his desk for the first time. Now they pushed back those movies, I guess to give the new boss the chance to take inventory, before going forward.
At least they come off the success of The Batman and not something like Birds of Prey.

rocket1312

Thor: The Dark World says hello.

Hokeyboy

Jenkins bolted long before production started.

Runaway

I'm sure Feige gives his director's very little room for creative freedom. James Gunn is allowed to sprinkle only so much of his style onto the movie and so was Sam Raimi. You can see who the director is in those movies, but they are still confined in the MCU template. That's probably why the MCU didn't have a The Dark Knight on the one hand or a Fantastic Four on the other hand. I'm sure it's not a coincidence that the MCU had very few established Director's with a recognizible style.
Most of the directors are either TV directors with no (own) style at all or directors with little experience. Of course there are exceptions, Branagh, Gunn, Waititi, Coogler and Raimi could incorporate a little bit of their handwriting, but that's about it.

Zack Snyder did Zack Snyder movies for DC, I guess David Ayer made a David Ayer movie and they recut it, Nolan made Nolan movies, Philipps mimicked Scorsese movies, Gunn made a Gunn movie, but there is nothing like a DCEU template. I guess Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Shazam could be considered as the movies which have the most parallels in tone and style, but I wouldn't say those movies are what DC movies stand for.

rocket1312

I'm not referring to Jenkins. The movie was more or less taken away from Alan Taylor in post production. He's always been careful to not bash Marvel directly, but he's spoken many times about how much he disliked the process of making that movie. He even came out publicly in support of Zack Snyder and the Snyder cut hoping that he might be afforded the same opportunity someday.
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IBJoel

I think Peacemaker and TSS work great... for what they are (for me personally, I think the latter edges out the former). Given his Guardians work, I think Gunn would also be awesome handling Justice League International/Super Buddies or even a Superman stand-alone. But DC's best works have typically been less about character and more about ideas and iconography. I actually think WW is great story-wise (design-wise is a different beast)... until the film avoids the deeper philosophical issue of humans starting the war completely of their own will, with no Ares to push them along.

But DC should embrace going a little headier. The characters are idealized icons of our best natures with which to examine ethics and heroism and existence. Sit every writer down before they start their work and make them read/watch Paul Dini and Alex Ross' works. Don't get me wrong, Marvel's action figure storytelling is fun, but Nolan and Garland proved modern audiences will engage with genre material that delves a little more into the philosophical.

DJariya

Dan Lin is out. Couldn’t reach a deal.

TomOpus

Okay, shit, I'll do it.

just kidding!

Eric F

He was an unknown quantity so it's hard to really know what to make of it.

Things are looking pretty bleak for the DCEU, at least for the couple of years- Black Adam is next followed by SHAZAM 2, then what? We're not even sure. The Flash (maybe), and Aquaman 2 was postponed by a year so who knows what's going on with that.

Right now the only DC project I'm looking forward to is the 2nd season of Peacemaker. The rest I have very low expectations for.

TomOpus

I know I'm looking forward to Peacemaker S2 and sorta more Harley Quinn animated. Anything else I can take it or leave it.

Mike86

The second season of Peacemaker is my most anticipated DC project at the moment too. First season caught me by huge surprise after not thinking much of the character in The Suicide Squad (or really the film itself for that matter).

Other than that I still want to like The Flash in spite of Ezra Miller but I’ve lost quite a bit of interest.

Black Adam looks pretty bland to me. Shazam! Fury of the Gods didn’t sell me from the trailer but I liked the first one well enough. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom doesn’t do much for me either way. I’ll probably see it but not that excited for it.

DJariya

The second season of Peacemaker probably won’t arrive no earlier than 2024.

Dan Lin wasn’t an exciting name to the people who constantly complain on the web about DC, so I guess nothing lost there. He owns a production company and from what I read, he would have had to give up his share to take this job. I think he made the right decision and will make more money continuing to make new movies and shows through his company as opposed to sitting in an office, looking at the books as budgets and take calls from Zaslav.

Mike86

Oh I forgot the sequel to The Batman and all the spin-off shows related to it. Those should be good too. Also Joker: Folie à Deux might be interesting.

At this point I think it’s justifiable to be critical of DC. The good decisions and films/shows are outweighed by bad or underwhelming ones, whether through DC’s own fault or tampering by WB Discovery. Also the fact that at this point they’ve been making bad decisions for like seven years now.

Eric F

I still have t brought myself to watch either Joker or Batman. The idea of another dark and moody Joker and/or Batman does absolutely nothing for me.

Maxflier

You are really missing out on 2 outstanding movies, but you do you.

RocShemp

It's funny that I own and love both, yet I feel neither should have ever been made.

Mike86

I kind of get it with Joker. It’s a film that’s not for everyone and is pretty dark and not one that you want to watch over and over.

The Batman on the other hand is great and easily one of the best takes on the character and one of the best DC films recently.

Eric F

Because I’m a completist I’ll watch them I guess. I think recently rewatching Taxi Driver is what turned me off to the idea of watching Joker at least.

dex14

devilshalo

I'd like a LoSH movie from Gunn, please. Especially because it could be outside of any DCEU, but could easily be brought into it because "time-travel".

stingermck

I thank him, but it's insane that The Rock sees the value in Superman when WB for so long has not.

Mike86

I was really unsure of The Rock but it actually seems like he wants DC to succeed and may be the one to finally get WB to whip things into shape instead of fucking around.

I’m curious what else James Gunn has up his sleeve and am also looking forward to more things set in the universe of The Batman.

RocShemp

I'm in the same boat. I thought this was all a huge ego trip for him. However, he seems to be a genuine DC fan and everything he's mentioned makes me think of Justice League Unlimited during its heyday.

The proposed Matt Reeves projects sound promising. And I too look forward to see what Gunn cooks up next.