15 Changes the DCEU Needs To Make For Its Upcoming Movies
By Jenn Reid
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Logan Still. Image Provided By 20th Century Fox.
Look To The X-Men, Not The Avengers
Pretty much any criticism of the DCEU will include a comparison to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and most people will say the Justice League should be structured like the Avengers with introductory films for each character, then a crossover film. Personally, I disagree. I think the MCU’s approach works for them, but it isn’t the only way to do a superhero movie.
Marvel leans pretty heavily (aka almost entirely) on origin stories, which makes sense for them. Most of the MCU is made up of lesser known characters (who was checking for Doctor Strange before this?) that average person might not know too well. That approach is useless for most of the Justice League who are heavily entrenched in pop culture. Everyone knows Batman’s parents died, we don’t need him explained to us!
Instead, the DCEU should look at how the X-Men movies have handled things. The team dynamic was there from the get-go, with only certain characters (Wolverine and Rogue) joining for the first time. The world was already established and we could dive right into the good stuff.
Another way DC should be copying the X-Men, specifically the Wolverine movies, is in tone.
The Wolverine and Logan are two examples of the kind of films DC seems to be going for. They’re mature and gritty and don’t follow the same action-piece-joke-action-punchline-quip-formula of the Avengers movies (that is said with love!).
However, The Wolverine and Logan aren’t boring, a slog to get through, so bleak it hurts or making you hate the main character. There is a middle ground between light-hearted comedy and having your heroes just be bitter and angry and try to kill each other all the time!
Fans should stop pointing to the Avengers and the MCU as the blueprint for a better DCEU — it’s Wolverine and the X-Men who should be leading the way.