Marvel vs. DC - Cinematic Strategy (Part 2)
Second of a two-part series examining the MCU and DCU cinematic universes
For Part 1 please refer to this link: Marvel vs. DC - Cinematic Strategy (Part 1)
If Marvel and DC Studios’ respective future strategies go according to plan, we may actually get a true cinematic rivalry after all. Which, to date, has unfortunately not been the case.
To recap where Part 1 left off, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is in the midst of its next epic - the Multiverse Saga. Marvel is building on their momentum by introducing new heroes, and notably increasing the pace on which their films and TV shows blend diverse genres together. This is a shrewd strategy that allows Marvel to change the foundation of the MCU going forward in an expansive way that engages new and existing fans. The DC Extended Universe (DCEU) has appointed new leadership to enact a new vision by appointing James Gunn, director of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and DC’s The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker, and Peter Safran, an executive producer on many Warner Bros. and DC films as the co-CEOs and franchise leaders of the reorganized DC Studio. In fact, one of the first moves they enacted was the rebranding of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) into the DC Universe or simply DCU1. Their proposal has the potential to resuscitate DC’s cinematic offering after a revolving door of leadership and ideas that plagued the DCEU.
The future plans (2023 onward) of the MCU and DCU are ambitious, experimental, and tonally very differentiated from one another, which is exactly what fans should want. I believe optimism is warranted for each of their approaches.
MCU
After the conclusion of the Infinity Saga, the Multiverse Saga has been rolling since 2021, and it comprises their next three phases - 4, 5, and 6 - which each have their own slate of films and TV series. Phase 4 has officially concluded at the end of 2022. Back in the summer of 2022, in true comic book blockbuster fashion, Kevin Feige unveiled the slate for Phases 5 and 6 at Comic-Con2. Each phase will be illustrated shortly.
One of the main criticisms of the MCU to date has been the onset of “superhero fatigue”, in which the superhero genre is so over-saturated with film and TV series that the general audience loses interest. In that case, Marvel would be the victim of its own success. Another criticism is that the MCU’s film properties are too homogenized in plot and style from one another. One way Marvel addresses these concerns, and a key hallmark of the Marvel strategy, is the incorporation of a variety of different genres into the fabric of the MCU. In fact, in a recent podcast interview on January 11, 2023, Kevin Feige reaffirms genre blending as an integral part of how the MCU plans its stories.
This should come as no surprise as Marvel has been conscientious of utilizing different genres in earlier phases. For example, in addition to being superhero action movies, Captain America: The Winter Soldier is part espionage and political thriller, and the first Ant-Man is part heist movie. The Multiverse Saga doubles down on this strategy and is more deliberate in its execution.
Let me illustrate this through the genre and theme framework below. I start by defining a series of film and TV genres and thematic topics. *Disclaimer, these definitions are not officially from Marvel, I have created them to substantiate my point. You may not agree with the definitions I have laid out, but bear with me.
Action Adventure - Spy stories, military themes, multiple geographical locales, hand-to-hand combat
Celestial - Gods, deities, legends
Cosmic - Aliens, other planets, space travel
Global Culture - Non-western cultures are a central theme represented
Magic & Supernatural - Magical powers or supernatural creatures
Multiverse - Parallel universes or realities
Sitcom - Serialized comedic plot or situations
Street Level - Neighborhoods, specific city level focus, helping downtrodden and less fortunate
In each property, there are core genres or themes, and for those that haven’t been released yet, potential genres and themes.
This yields a genre / theme matrix that has multiple benefits. The obvious one is this level of genre expansiveness engages existing and new fans in a fresh way. For example, if you love superheroes and sitcoms, well the MCU has a place for you! If you are interested in stories that incorporate diverse cultural elements from around the world, they’re branching out into that as well. A concern here is the MCU can start down a path of a different genre, but might inevitably return to a cookie cutter Marvel form. They need to be able to strike a balance, but I hope Marvel keeps taking risks, because Werewolf by Night’s (the MCU’s monster hunter television special) black-and-white vintage horror cinematography felt like a breath of fresh air. As Feige alluded to in the podcast interview referenced earlier, superhero narratives themselves are no longer just a genre, but they stretch across a range of genres, becoming their own storytelling mode.
On the next level, recurring genres and themes allows the MCU to create mini-franchises within the broader universe. Conceivably, having genre permutations allows the MCU to create more specialized team-ups and crossovers, like those that share genre column attributes in the table above. The cosmic superheroes could join forces, or the magic oriented ones, or the street level ones, which before they were retconned, The Defenders (the streaming mini-series with Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist) on Netflix were a precursor to this idea. This is a narrative construction that the comics (both Marvel and DC) regularly employ, and the upcoming action adventure team-up movie starring several MCU anti-heroes, Thunderbolts, utilizes. As a result, fans don’t necessarily need to keep up with all MCU plot threads, they can elect to seek out only ones they care about.
In the Multiverse Saga, the MCU lacks clear franchise cornerstones now that their original Big 3 - Iron Man, Thor, Captain America (Chris Evans) - either retired from the MCU or taken a step back as focal points. The MCU’s current strategy gives them a multi-pronged approach to establishing new pillars, because with new properties and genres, there are more possibilities. Those cornerstone successors can either percolate to the top due to sheer success, or the MCU may not need traditional focal points and can cycle through more mini-franchises.
Circling back to superhero fatigue, quality and quantity is a tricky balance. With this increased genre blending strategy the MCU is trying to come at the issue with more originality and decentralization. By breaking up stylistic homogenization with increased variety, and creating more and easier entry points for fans into their canon.
DCU
James Gunn and Peter Safran have been tasked to revitalize a tumultuous DC cinematic franchise. As outlined in Part 1, the importance of leadership and vision is critical to success, and one of the primary reasons the DCEU faltered.
They’ve made a strong choice with this duo, and particularly with Gunn. A proven operator in the superhero genre with an established pedigree and level of credibility. Gunn is a devout comic book geek, has helmed successful comic book adaptations in film and TV, and can bring expertise from the MCU on the balance between screenwriters and world building. Prior leadership lacked the combination of these capabilities.
On January 31st, 2023, Gunn and Safran unveiled the dawn of the DCU. In a closed press conference and later public announcement video, Gunn outlined the bridge from the DCEU to the DCU, a new Chapter format for the DCU roadmap (the first installment dubbed - Chapter 1: Gods and Monsters), and the allowance of DC Elseworld tales outside of the DCU continuity.
While this is purportedly only a portion of Chapter 1, I want to highlight three notable strategic components of the DCU.
Emphasis on DC cornerstones → 1a. Superman family, 1b. Bat family
Exploring far reaching corners of the DC mythology
Optionality to incorporate DCEU elements or Elseworld tales
1. Superman and Batman are DC. They are not only the most recognizable and popular heroes in DC’s pantheon, but two of the most beloved superheroes in the world. The World’s Finest should be front and center leading the charge for the DCU as they have for generations in the comics. It is also a shrewd move to forgo a complete origin story for both heroes. Those tales have obviously been told before in various cinematic iterations, and the DCU can accelerate the depiction of the extended families (i.e. the sidekicks and / or superhero relatives) of both Superman and Batman in the universe. As you have noticed, Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow is on the roadmap, and The Brave and The Bold (the DCU’s Batman introduction) will feature Damian Wayne as their Robin, which could mean that prior Robins and Batgirl could be introduced and already established in the DCU. This gives the DCU the ability to build out sub-franchises centered around the two families. If these cornerstones are successful then the foundation of the DCU will be solid.
2. Welcome to the obscure corners of DC. On the flipside of recognizability, I admittedly did not even know who The Authority (a superhero team that was part of Wildstorm, a comic imprint / subsidiary of DC) and Creature Commando (a military superhuman team) were before the DCU announcement, and I’m sure I wasn’t the only one. The initial slate of Chapter 1 does index more on establishing major through lines of DC mythology - Superman family, Batman family, Green Lantern Corps through Lanterns, and Wonder Woman mythos through Paradise Lost. However, the remaining properties are a mixture of recognizable.
Booster Gold (showboat superhero from the future) is a fan favorite among long standing DC fans, but lesser known outside of that. Waller starring Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller character will carry on The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker storylines, but if you watched those, they touched on more obscure heroes and stories too. Swamp Thing (a supernatural elemental creature) has been adapted every now and then, but certainly not the first thing you conjure up when you think of DC. And to reiterate, The Authority and Creature Commando were definitely a surprise.
I applaud Gunn for ambitiously world / universe building while simultaneously trying to establish the core tent poles of DC. This obviously carries a degree of risk to it, but if there is anyone who is adept at making you care about characters you’ve never heard of, it’s James Gunn. This is the man who made The Guardians of the Galaxy into household names, and made you root for a guy who shoots polka dots and John Cena in a metal helmet.
3. For now, the DCU has chosen to maintain optionality, the ability to have multiple solutions to their problems or choices in their business, by keeping the possibility of utilizing DCEU elements, and allowing outside tales to be told under the DC Elseworlds banner. One of the more awkward challenges Gunn and Safran face in this juncture of the DCEU to DCU is the remaining DCEU film slate, and whether to include or disavow the popular elements of the DCEU and properties that exist outside both, like Matt Reeve’s The Batman. Given the 2023 film slate and rumored cameos, Gunn and Safran are in a bind in terms of announcing an immediate recasting of core DC heroes such as Flash, Aquaman, and Wonder Woman. First and foremost, they need to unequivocally support these films or otherwise jeopardize their commercial success. They’re also walking a tightrope of building out their vision while not completely alienating fans of the DCEU, or at the very least creating immediate canon confusion.
For now they have the ability to keep whatever they want. For example, you could rationalize keeping Jason Momoa’s Aquaman, it is the DCEU’s highest grossing film, and one of the superhero genre’s highest grossing films ever. They’ve already gone so far as to recognize that The Flash will be a multiversal reset / soft reboot harkening to the Flashpoint storyline. Whatever happens, and whoever may or may not get recast, DC gains more at this point by maintaining the optionality.
While I believe that the above three strategic points are the more important aspects of the DCU right now, I want to highlight a few ancillary points, particularly the reference to other HBO TV series, and the DCU also incorporating a variety of genres. It is not a coincidence that Gunn compared two DCU TV series - Paradise Lost (Wonder Woman mythos) to Game of Thrones, and Lanterns (Green Lantern Corps story) to True Detective, because one of the biggest advantages of their parent company is that HBO knows how to make wildly popular, successful, and award winning TV shows. They’d be wise to utilize these capabilities to their fullest extent, and if these evocations are even partially true, they would be so lucky. Additionally, the DCU is also employing genre blending elements into their vision, for example Swamp Thing is reportedly also a horror movie. It’s too early to tell what direction this might go, but worth keeping an eye on.
The DCU may not have been what fans expected or wanted, but it is undeniably an original take. Gunn and Safran are balancing the DCEU’s cinematic past, new ideas, and bringing stability.
The Road Going Forward
The MCU and DCU are bringing comic book stories to a cinematic scale fans have never seen before. As a result, the superhero genre in cinema has caught up to the essence of the superhero genre in comic books - a fantastical testing ground where new ideas are woven through a broader evolving mythology. Feige was right, the superhero genre is now a storytelling mode in cinema, and that is in large part due to Marvel and DC’s cinematic legacy and upcoming plans.
Going forward, there are some notable hallmarks driving their respective strategies.
As fans, we should want both Marvel and DC to keep taking risks! Having multiple bets is common practice in corporate strategy. They won’t all work out, some from Marvel and DC already haven’t, but the ones that do have the potential to win the loyalty of your fanbase and carry your business.
However, despite everything that has been outlined, what good are these machinations if the quality of storytelling isn’t good. That is still the most important element. Even more imperative now that the stakes have never been higher. You’ve heard the critics on both sides. An MCU house that might sag under its own weight with an entry fee that grows each year, and a DCU house in complete disarray and testing the patience of its fans. Strategy is important as a framework to address these concerns, but it’ll be all for naught if the quality of their products falter. James Gunn and Kevin Feige are on the same page on this.
In that same interview mentioned earlier, Feige declares a core MCU film making principle is that:
“If you’re not entertaining first, it’ll fall on deaf ears”
In his DCU announcement video, Gunn closes with:
“Storytelling is always king, that’s all that matters to us”
We know their plans, we’ll watch these universes unfold, and we’ll hold Marvel and DC accountable to their promises.
For Part 1 please refer to this link: Marvel vs. DC - Cinematic Strategy (Part 1)