It was looking set to be a routine Tuesday night until the news came in about DC and Warner Bros. starting work on a Joker origin story film. This film will be produced by the famous director Martin Scorsese, and it will have no connection with the Joker whom we saw in Suicide Squad last year. Rather, this character will be based in his own spin-off world, and the story set in the 1980s will see a new actor play the role of the clown prince of crime instead of Jared Leto.
This report by Deadline had a deeper hidden meaning: this Joker solo film will be the start of a brand new pattern where Warner Bros. will “expand the canon of DC properties” which will feature several actors and have different storylines which will not be interlinked with the DCEU world. This is a very interesting development as it comes riding on a recent rumor about the studio having commissioned work on movie adaptations of Mark Millar, Dave Johnson and the Elsworld series Superman: Red Son by Killian Plunkett.
The one argument which can be put into this new scheme of things is that it might end up confusing the average moviegoer. But, then the multiverse concept is not alien to people, and The Flash has already familiarized millions of fans with this concept. Fans are rapidly accepting the fact that The CW’s DCTV shows exist in a different world, Gotham and Lucifer on Fox are in another world, and the animation films are an altogether different existence.
There was only one instance of confusion being created and that happened when the CBS series Supergirl had a crossover with the Flash. The crisis was quickly resolved next year when the Supergirlmoved to CW for the second season.
However, films are a different ball game. The concept of a common movie universe is hardly a decade old, and it first came to fore with the arrival of Marvel Cinematic Universe which stressed upon “continuity” being the standard protocol. It was once an unimaginable idea, but, now we all have accepted the existence of common universes for all major franchises whether it is Star Wars or Fast and Furious or the exhaustive collection of Stephen King novels.
It will be determined by the form of the potential new slate of films; DC might need to make some extra efforts to make the viewers aware about each one of them existing in a different canon. If DC announces a film based on the DC Bombshell comics, then it would have an entirely different dimension compared to a modern-day Superboy film.
DC Has Enough Ammunition To Fire Various Non-Franchise Solo Movies.
However, this new approach aimed at making the best of DC’s large number of characters has its own appeal. The DCEU current production schedule is all based on the big guys – Flashpoint, Green Lantern Corps, Wonder Woman II, etc. While that’s a good thing to do, there is an equal potential in bringing the second level players forward.
This is where they can emulate the work of MCU by ensuring that each of the new films has a different flavor and genre. While that may sound easy to do, so far Wonder Woman is the only DC film that has been able to accomplish this end. The much-fancied Batman V Superman turned out to be a ridiculous mixture of political equations and a WWE style combat that created divisions among fans. On the other Suicide Squad was torn somewhere between being a dark and nasty film or a much-stylised Superhero junket.
This resulted in both the films receiving a lot of criticism for their poor portrayal of the iconic DC superheroes. The creation of separately running superhero films, the cast and behind the scenes teams will be able to enjoy a lot more freedom and creative liberties to do whatever they fancy. It doesn’t mean that they won’t be subject to fan criticism, but, there will be the option given to the viewers that they will be able to reject the solo film if they feel so and just enjoy the DCEU main movies to enjoy their Superhero fantasies.
It is also wise that they have chosen a character from Batman to take the first step towards creating films of that stature since the Batman and his villains/supporting cast is the most legendary ensemble available to the studio. Now a crucial factor is to see which actor is chosen to play the lead role in the next movie and that’s what the movie’s success will depend upon. This also presents DC with a chance to benefit from the creative freedom given to their characters and give a solo film to a character like Lois Lane for example.
This also gives a great chance to characters like Lobo and Kamandi to be exploited on screen or for that matter creation of a Beetle/Booster Gold duo movie which has been on the wishlist of fans for a long time. Another mind-blowing idea that has been rumored about is the Red Son story which would send the audiences into a frenzy when they see Superman in the garb of a Cold War-era Soviet superhero.
“Unique storylines” afford a great deal of freedom as witnessed in the 2015 comics that came out under a DC You banner. The brand ran for only a year. However, it brought forward many interesting storylines including the super-spy canon of Grayson and how Jim Gordon became an armored Batman. By letting these films exist outside DCEU, they can simply give an unrestricted space to the creative brains behind the movies.
They can also create A Midnighter and Appollo movie which will not only be a great exercise of character study and also display the loud violence that moviegoers love. They can even tamper with things further and charm the YA audiences by recreating the adventures of Gotham Academy.
Fact is, if DC and Warner Bros. get it right, then it could be a huge thing. The success of a solo non-DCEU movie might give the Hollywood a chance to break away from the constraints of cinematic universes and franchises cast in stone which has restricted the development of franchises such as Universal’s Dark Universe or the attempts by Sony to create a Spider-Man Cinematic universe with Amazing Spider-Man 2 which released three years ago. As Logan and Deadpool have shown, fans are fine with focusing only on the movie that is currently being offered to them. This is where DC has a great stable and a chance to create some fantastic films which can outclass their competition.
In case you are wondering about what title would suit to the banner under which these films will be created then what do you say about DC Elseworlds? It certainly has an aura around it.
