Infinity War writers offer some helpful critiques for the DCEU
By Mia Johnson
When asked about how they would fix the DCEU, Infinity War writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely had some good advice for the unthriving film franchise.
It might be hard to take constructive criticism. But if you do, it can make things a lot better for you in the future. We say that directly to the people involved in the DCEU because the great writers behind Avengers: Infinity War are offering you all some good advice free of charge.
Both writers, Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus, were guest stars on Kevin Smith’s podcast, Fat Man on Batman. Most of the interview was reserved for talking about Infinity War and the writers’ legacy in the MCU. Then Smith popped the question at the end to ask about how the writers would fix the DCEU.
It’s no surprise that the DCEU has been struggling to keep up with the Marvel movie-making powerhouse, but that doesn’t mean they have to. Markus thought the best route for DC would be to take the Marvel approach and put the spotlight on some of the lesser-known characters in their catalog.
“I would look at what Marvel [Studios] did out of necessity, in that they didn’t have their A-list characters,” Markus said. “They didn’t have Spider-Man. They didn’t have the X-Men. And they went down a line and found a– I mean, he’s pretty [explitive] famous, he’s Iron Man, but he wasn’t there. And they made a really good movie out of it.”
So what he’s saying is, the DCEU should hold off on a Justice Leauge 2? Sounds legit coming from half of the team that wrote not only Infinity War, but also Captain: America Civil War and Winter Soldier — pretty much the greatest films in not only the MCU, but of all time.
And for McFeely? While he wasn’t so familiar with the DC Universe, he offered a small token of advice: ” I can just say, strategically, ‘Make one.’ To quote Justice League, ‘Save one person.'”
That approach just might be what the DCEU needs to reinvigorate their franchise. Suicide Squad almost took on that approach, taking on a mix of known and unknown villains to become something like the X-Force in Deadpool 2. But there always seems to be something missing from each of the movies, no matter how cool the characters are.
Perhaps it really is time for the DC to stop trying to create a universe, and just focus on great storytelling and building their characters. The world has gotten enough Bruce Wayne already, and there’s only so many times Superman can put on a pair of glasses and fool everyone into thinking he’s somebody else.
To hear everything that Smith, Markus and McFeely had to say about the DCEU, you can listen to the podcast below:
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Do you agree with the writers’ advice on “fixing” DC’s cinematic universe? Markus and McFeely might know a thing or two about storytelling. Unfortunately for DC, there’s no right or wrong answers for this kind of thing.