DC Extended Universe

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Triggermv

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Since I've started a Marvel Cinematic Universe thread to post any updates on that front, I figured it was only fair to also get rolling a new DC Extended Universe thread too. For those unaware of what I'm talking about, what Marvel has done over the past 7 Years with their their shared universe movies/TV (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Incredible Hulk...etc.), DC is also trying to produce themselves with their own characters in a shared movie universe.

The very first film of this shared universe was Man of Steel (already released) and is soon to be followed will a whole new slate of movies:

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NO previous DC movies are connected to this new universe (Examples: Batman Begins, Superman Returns, The Dark Knight, Green Lantern... etc) in any way prior to Man of Steel. Next up is Batman vs Superman being released March 25th, followed by Suicide Squad being released August 5th. Here are the two trailers for those:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WWzgGyAH6Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI3hecGO_04

This thread will be the place to post any new news or thoughts on the DCEU in the future. With that said, who else is looking as forward to Batman vs Superman as I am???
 
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Triggermv

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While this model is fairly similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe model, it is worth noting the differences, the biggest of which is on the TV front. For instance, the Marvel Cinematic Universe not only includes all their movies, but also a bunch of TV shows which take place in that same universe and share some of the same characters. Some of these shows are on ABC (Agents of Shield, Agent Carter), whereas some are released exclusively to Netflix (Daredevil, Jessica Jones). Many more are already announced and soon to be released as well.

On the flip side, while DC is just getting started with their movie universe, their TV universe has been already rolling for years now with shows like Arrow, the Flash, Constantine, Supergirl... etc. However, unlike Marvel, DC has opted to keep their TV and movie universes completely separate, hence the two completely different Flash characters, with no crossover. Of those DC TV shows, most have, but not all, have connected together to form their own shared universe. The ones that are connected include Arrow, the Flash and Constantine and have come to be called the Arrowverse over the years (it all started with the Arrow TV series). Therefore, for terminology sake, the big shared universe names in comic books out there right now are the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe for films and TV), DCEU (DC Extended Universe for just films), and the Arrowverse (for just TV).

While I'm a big fan myself, I'll restrain from starting a third thread related to the Arrowverse for the sake of keeping things simple, but feel free to past any DC TV/Arrowverse news or comments on this thread as well.
 
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Triggermv

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One other big difference between Marvel and DC worth noting on the movie fronts is the owning of their characters movie rights. While Marvel is far ahead of DC on the shared universe movie front so far, one big hindrance to Marvel through this whole shared universe process has been the fact that they no longer own movie rights to all their characters. While Marvel/Disney do own many of their character's rights (some have returned to them from others studios), many are still owned by other studios (Fox owns X-Men, Deadpool, Fantastic Four, Sony owns Spider-Man... etc.). This therefore limits them from using any of those other characters on the big screen in any way unless a special deal is struck (recent deal with Sony for sharing Spider-Man). Some of those characters are Marvels heaviest hitters too. These characters were sold off back in the 90s when Marvel was going through bankruptcy.

On the flip side, Warner Bros has owned DC for many years (they are one company) and they have NOT sold off any of the movie rights to their characters through the years. Therefore, unlike Marvel, DC has the ability to use ANY of their characters in their upcoming movies.

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Triggermv

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What is everyone's thoughts of Ben Affleck as Batman? Personally, I hated the decision at first, but then as time has gone on, I've kind of done a 180.
 

3GenClone

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What is everyone's thoughts of Ben Affleck as Batman? Personally, I hated the decision at first, but then as time has gone on, I've kind of done a 180.
I think it's an interesting take- especially since one of his best friends is Kevin Smith, who will be sure that Affleck doesn't do a disservice to the Batman character. I think it could pay off for this universe.
 

Triggermv

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Yeah, outside of Daredevil, I've got to remind myself that Affleck is truly a great actor and director. He has been great in many things. Like you said, the other thing he has going for him is that he truly does care about doing a great job as batman since he is as big of a comic book nerd himself as any actor is out there. All this played into me changing my mind. Another thing that helped was watching the trailers, which I thought he looked pretty good in. I guess my biggest concern still with him is his age. While it is fine for now, in general, I like to look to a bit younger guys for any expanded universe series, which allows them to stick around for longer if they are successful.
 
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mapnerd

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I think it's silly to hate someone cast in a role before they see the movie. Just my two cents.

I really like the show Arrow and am just starting to get caught up on The Flash. I hope things work out for DC, but Marvel just seems so far ahead. Agents of Shield and all of the movies are in the same universe, which is nice. Gotham, Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, and the DC movies are kind of fragmented. But maybe it doesn't matter that much. It's all entertaining.
 

Wesley

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I think it's silly to hate someone cast in a role before they see the movie. Just my two cents.

I really like the show Arrow and am just starting to get caught up on The Flash. I hope things work out for DC, but Marvel just seems so far ahead. Agents of Shield and all of the movies are in the same universe, which is nice. Gotham, Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, and the DC movies are kind of fragmented. But maybe it doesn't matter that much. It's all entertaining.

Batman looks fat.
 

3GenClone

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I just can't get in to DC as well as Marvel. My daughter and I watched the Cartoon Network version of the Justice League cartoon and it took me almost halfway through the second (and final) season before I really got in to it. I really think it has to do with all the characters that have the ability to fly - there's just something about that that makes it hard to suspend disbelief. I think Batman's grapple gun in Batman: The Animated Series really helped show the limitations of the hero in that series, while the use in Justice League felt more like "someone better go and pick-up Batman." I really liked how they portrayed Superman's flight ability in Man of Steel - how it was more "leap tall buildings" until it propelled him into the atmosphere, so it was almost "falling, with style." It's similar to Thor's flight ability in the MCU - where it is the pull of Mjolnir propelling him. It's going to be critical for me how DC doles out the superpowers for their heroes if they want to continue with their grandiose plans.
 

Triggermv

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I think it's silly to hate someone cast in a role before they see the movie. Just my two cents.

I really like the show Arrow and am just starting to get caught up on The Flash. I hope things work out for DC, but Marvel just seems so far ahead. Agents of Shield and all of the movies are in the same universe, which is nice. Gotham, Arrow, Flash, Supergirl, and the DC movies are kind of fragmented. But maybe it doesn't matter that much. It's all entertaining.

Yeah, I personally prefer the TV and Movie Universes to be connected like Marvel has done, but over time, I've come to realize there is positives and negatives of both. There is no doubt that having them separate gives the creative teams a TON more freedom on the television side by way of characters, content and plot lines. Marvel TV is always going to be much more limited in those regards.
 
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Triggermv

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I just can't get in to DC as well as Marvel. My daughter and I watched the Cartoon Network version of the Justice League cartoon and it took me almost halfway through the second (and final) season before I really got in to it. I really think it has to do with all the characters that have the ability to fly - there's just something about that that makes it hard to suspend disbelief. I think Batman's grapple gun in Batman: The Animated Series really helped show the limitations of the hero in that series, while the use in Justice League felt more like "someone better go and pick-up Batman." I really liked how they portrayed Superman's flight ability in Man of Steel - how it was more "leap tall buildings" until it propelled him into the atmosphere, so it was almost "falling, with style." It's similar to Thor's flight ability in the MCU - where it is the pull of Mjolnir propelling him. It's going to be critical for me how DC doles out the superpowers for their heroes if they want to continue with their grandiose plans.

I see where you are coming from for sure. This is why I've never been much of a Superman fan. The dude is just too invincible, then when you throw him on a team with Batman, the disparity in abilities is just about as wide as you can get. However, like you said, the closest comparison Marvel has would be like a Thor compared to Hawkeye, which is somewhat similar for sure. This was also why I was always skeptical of including Thor into all of this as well as to how that would work, and while it was a bit awkward for a while, I've gradually grown to love and accept it. I'm just hoping the teams over at DC find a way to handle this well and I can come to the same acceptance as I've come to with Marvel. Granted, Marvel has the luxury of those lower-powered individuals being peripheral team members, whereas Batman is my all-time favorite comic book character who I would hate to see belittled due to his lack of powers. At the same time, I'd hate to see them raise him up to doing ridiculous things that aren't humanly possible just to be able to keep up with the others. Being grounded is my favorite aspect of Batman. Again, I'm giving this whole thing the benefit of the doubt and hoping they find a great way to pull it off well.
 
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Triggermv

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Yes, I know this was already posted in another thread, but I find it nice to keep one continuous thread for all DC Stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yViIi3gie2c

Personal opinion: I loved most all the trailer. I'm still skeptical of Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, but I'm trying to keep an open mind, and I didn't think he was bad in this trailer. Otherwise, I thought Wonder Woman, Superman and Batman all looked great, but thought Doomsday looked terrible. He looked 1/3 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, 1/3 LOTR Cave Troll, and 1/3 Abomination from The Incredible Hulk. Many times they refine the CGI from the trailers to the actual film. Lets hope they do that a lot.... you know into something completely different. Still overall, the good news is that this trailer has got me more excited than less excited for the film. Lets just hope that these trailers aren't spoiling too much of the film, which I fear they are.

Doomsday

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Triggermv

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle
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Abomination from The Incredible Hulk
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Cave Troll from Lord of the Rings:

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3GenClone

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I too immediately saw the comparison between Doomsday and Abomination. Which, is this actually Doomsday? Is it Zombie-Zod? How would you like to be Michael Shannon and collect a paycheck for playing dead and maybe some mo-cap work?

io9 has a great breakdown of the trailer:
http://io9.com/the-major-reveals-fr....1&utm_referrer=http://io9.com/?newstream=off

I actually really dig Wonder Woman's weapons - like she's a relic out of time, but can still kick your face in. The word is that the WW movie will take place across different time periods and I think it would be awesome to see her weapons age over time, yet she still looks the same.
 

Triggermv

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I too immediately saw the comparison between Doomsday and Abomination. Which, is this actually Doomsday? Is it Zombie-Zod? How would you like to be Michael Shannon and collect a paycheck for playing dead and maybe some mo-cap work?

io9 has a great breakdown of the trailer:
http://io9.com/the-major-reveals-fr....1&utm_referrer=http://io9.com/?newstream=off

I actually really dig Wonder Woman's weapons - like she's a relic out of time, but can still kick your face in. The word is that the WW movie will take place across different time periods and I think it would be awesome to see her weapons age over time, yet she still looks the same.

Gotta admit that I was at first skeptical of casting Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. Just couldn't get past how they would make this skinny woman into a strong superhero:

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However, I thought she looked the part and looked great in the recent trailer
 

Triggermv

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FYI.... apparently a new Suicide Squad trailer is about to be dropped soon as well:

http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/MarvelFreshman/news/?a=127582

Apparently after Marvel dropped their Civil War trailer, DC felt they had to keep up with the Joneses. Also, it seems that everyone is looking to load the new Star Wars movie up with their trailers in order to pump up and entertain all the comic book fanboys in the preshow.
 

3GenClone

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I have no idea what BvS is going to look like. My worry is that the "Batman v. Superman event" is going to be way under-developed and the movie is going to focus more on world building the Justice League, especially with the rumors that various JLA members have cameos in the film. That's not necessarily a bad thing for DC, because if it's done right they could propel their cinematic universe to the same level as Marvel and only do it in 2 movies whereas it took 4 marvel movies to build up to Avengers. My worry is that a movie called "Batman v. Superman" is really only Batman v. Superman for 5 minutes, similar to Captain America 2 (for a movie called the Winter Soldier, that character isn't featured a whole lot). I think if that's the case, it could turn off critics to the movie/DC universe and DC really needs all the good press they can get if they want to catch up to Marvel.