With the premiere of Superman last week, it took many by surprise to see a superhero movie almost making back its entire production budget in the first weekend. To me, a huge DC Comics fan, I love Superman, but even I was surprised by its reception. And yet, my feed and my brain have been filled with thoughts of Superman.
It’s a new age for superhero films after being in a rut. There’s actual buzz around what’s coming, and paired with the Fantastic Four film coming out next week, the DC vs Marvel war will be back on.
However, DC’s James Gunn and Peter Safran are taking a different approach that I find very interesting. They are allowing their movies to be different genres within this shared universe.
The MCU has an interesting formula right now: All of their movies have a general vibe to them that connects them, movies within the same phases share a common theme or a common end point, and at this point of their universe, they’re focusing a lot on legacy characters.
James Gunn announced this week that the new Clayface movie (written by Mike Flanagan!!!) will be a fully realized horror movie. The comic that Supergirl is based on has a much different tone than the Superman movie that just came out. And the announcement of a new Batman (though speculated to be Robert Pattinson’s Batman) seems to lead to another unique tone from all of those. Not to mention Peacemaker, which is closer to a action-comedy is also unique from these.
Personally, I think it’s a smart move. Comics and people come in different forms, so why wouldn’t their counterparts? I also think this will help the superhero-genre-only audiences branch out and feel out what genre they might like to get into. Maybe a diehard Batman fan watches Clayface and suddenly wants to watch the new Carrie show coming out next year that’s also written by Mike Flanagan. And hopefully, it’ll mean that the industry can diversify even more.
What do you think? Are you excited to see how DC’s films unfold, or do you think it’s a mistake to go about it this way? Let us know!
-Kait
How We Write 
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