Solutions to the DCCU Superman problem

So this actually is a great time to be talking about Superman because there were a couple pieces of news that came out in the last two weeks that are worth talking about. The first one is that DC is putting all efforts towards making a sequel to Man of Steel. Right now, the lineup for DC movies for the next 4 years goes as follows.

2017: Wonder Woman and Justice League

2018: The Flash, Aquaman, and an untitled DC/Warner Brothers film

2019: Shazaam, Justice League Part 2, and an untitled DC/Warner Brothers film

2020: Cyborg, Untitled DC film (presumed to be Green Lantern Corp)

So it’s assumed that one of the untitled DC films will be a solo Batman film with Ben Affleck and the other film will be the sequel to Man of Steel. That could be wrong but that’s the most probable course of action moving forward.

The next piece of news is a picture Henry Cavill posted on his Instagram showing that in Justice League he will be wearing a black and silver version of his costume. This is relevant because the black and silver costume has been seen before in the comics and it appears after Superman is killed by Doomsday when he returns.

Now I’ve done a little bit of research into it and I’m pretty sure him wearing a black suit doesn’t necessarily mean that he is evil. But that leans into my theories even more at this point and supports my claim that DC does not know what they’re doing with Superman in these movies.

BvS has a (shoehorned) dream sequence in which Batman dreams that Superman is evil. You might think that this is just a dream but it also has a scene of Ezra Miller’s Flash reaching out to Bruce Wayne through what I can assume is the Speed Force and telling him that he was right about Superman, that he needs to use Lois Lane, but then says that he’s too early (I will talk more about the Flash later). This dream sequence feels less like a dream sequence and instead like a vision of the future, which points towards Superman coming back from the grave but being evil for some reason.

This dream sequence had a lot of resemblance to the Superman in Injustice Gods Among Us, where in an alternate dimension, Superman has turned evil, becomes dictator of the world, and kills off members of the Justice League. The video game is very popular so it might be in DC’s interest to direct their franchise towards that storyline right?

But Superman didn’t come back from the grave and turned evil right? On top of that, can you really bring Superman into his third outing and have him become the bad guy already? Coming back different doesn’t necessarily mean bad and Cavill could just be referring to a mullet and black suit.

On top of that, if Darkseid isn’t going to be the main villain in Justice League (rumor has it at Steppenwolf), won’t the Justice League need Superman to defeat that evil when it comes in Justice League part 2?

I don’t know. But the main point here is, whether he turns evil or he comes back different but still a good guy, that still puts Superman in an awkward place to have his own standalone film. Either he’s moping around the fact that he was evil in Justice League or he’s awkwardly coming back and the standalone film is probably just him cutting the mullet off and getting back into the red and blue. Everything that happened seems like a hiccup because either way, we’re in an awkward place as Superman isn’t that developed of a character anyway.

Harkening back to my first part, the number one problem DC faces with a sequel to Man of Steel is Superman himself. We haven’t been given an opportunity to really get to know Superman. The best argument in favor of Man of Steel was that this was Superman’s first outing and he doesn’t know how who he is. Batman v Superman was supposed to develop Superman as an actual character and we can see him grow past his first outing. But we didn’t get that opportunity. He died.

So in a standalone film, on top of dealing with killing the last kryptonian with his bare hands, on top of being an alien demi-god living among humanity, on top of his relationship with Lois Lane, he also has to deal with explaining to the world why he’s literally Jesus Christ rising from the grave, why Clark Kent suddenly is alive again, as well as responding to whatever happens in Justice League as well as anything that affects him in the movies in between. Which could be anywhere from 2 to 6 movies, possibly including yet another Justice League outing. When is this character ever going to be developed?

Now, I have a solution. It’s a pipe dream and it probably won’t happen. However, it allows DC to go on this route their headed, allow for an evil Superman, as well as Apocolips to happen including the dream sequence from Batman v Superman, but then it reroutes them to allow Superman to actually be a developed character and even make up for some of the mistakes made in past films.

You may be saying, that’s impossible, there’s all these movies set up, they’re in production, what are you talking about Connor?

But everything changes when you look at the lineup again.

The first movie after The Justice League in 2018 is the Flash. And this is where I start talking major solutions to the DC cinematic universe to get it back on track.

Let’s start with Justice League. Details are still pretty vague when it comes to Justice League. We’ve seen the trailer/ series of video clips of Bruce Wayne gathering members of the Justice League to fight an unknown evil. We’ve also seen images of the mother boxes in both that trailer and BvS deleted scenes with Steppenwolf. If you read the news and the credits for justice League, we know that Henry Cavill is coming back as Superman in Justice League, probably for a smaller part… or is it?

Theory time: Justice League opens up with the mysterious death of Lois Lane. This provides Batman an opportunity to do some detective work and figure out that she was killed by something greater than him and he realizes that now is the time to form The Justice League to stop a looming threat (probably Steppenwolf). Around the same time, Superman rises from the grave, sporting a mullet, and wearing a black suit. All he wants to do is see Lois Lane… But he can’t.

He is influenced by Steppenwolf who sees Superman as his best chance to find the motherboxes (since that’s his thing) and he convinces Superman that Batman and the Justice League are to blame for the death of Lois Lane. On top of that, Superman is now convinced that the only way to really save the world is to become their leader.

Of course, Batman has finished forming the Justice League at this point and they have something to say about that. So comes an epic battle between Superman and the Justice League… except the Justice League loses. Disbanded, the last scenes of Justice League is the dream sequence from BvS and it shows the rebellion Batman starts against Superman, ending in his demise. However, before this scene, Barry Allen discovers the Speed Force and travels back in time (perhaps seeing Grant Gustin in the speed force) in an attempt to change the past, and that brings us to the Flash Standalone film, or… Flashpoint.

Now... this isn't going to be Flashpoint officially. Flashpoint was a storyline that focused on Barry Allen going back in time to save his mother and in turn, creates a doomsday scenario where Aquaman and Wonder Woman are at war, Bruce Wayne was killed instead of his parents and Thomas Wayne is now a gun toting Batman. The movie will not be Flashpoint from right off the page, but hey, neither was Batman v Superman a retelling of The Dark Knight Returns. Doing a story where Barry goes back and changes things in his past and it has ripple effects could be a great way to correct the mistakes of previous movies. 

First off, it allows for the Flashpoint storyline to happen. That is a fun storyline. I know its kind of happening on CW’s The Flash but like I said, things are going to be different with the direction the cinematic universe is taking so it’ll work out.

Second off, it allows DC to hit the reset button without actually hitting it. Similar to how Days of Future Past erased X-men: Origins and Last Stand off the map, Flashpoint can correct the mistakes of BvS. Most importantly, bringing in Doomsday and killing Superman. Yes, they probably can't do the Death of Superman still for a couple of years, but at least we get rid of that point in the DC cinematic universe history. 

But it also has the interesting possibility of fixing an interesting mistake made. It allows DC to recast Lex Luthor. Remember, Jesse Eisenberg is Lex Luthor Jr, in the context of where we are right now, that doesn’t mean anything, but if we go back in time, change history. Perhaps Lex’s father lives. Perhaps he’s a more suave mastermind than Eisenberg is. Perhaps you create some interesting villain father son dynamics for good measure. Maybe he’s played by Bryan Cranston. And Cranston doesn’t need to play him, the important part is getting someone to actually play Lex Luthor. Hell, get Gene Hackman out of retirement to play him again, I don’t care. That way, Eisenberg can stay in the role and evolve in other ways as well as the fact he’s not locked up in Arkham ranting like a crazy dude, and at the same time we get the Lex Luthor we deserve.

But most importantly, we can fix a lot of the issues of Batman v Superman that makes a standalone movie difficult. I won't lie, I started this idea before I really knew what exactly the story of Flashpoint was, but after reading up on the story and watching the animated movie, I still think this is something that could be a lot of fun and could work for the DC cinematic universe.

Maybe The Flash plays with alternate dimensions or changes only small portions of the timeline, but there could be enough change that allows Superman to be in a better position for his standalone film so he's not in the awkward position that BvS is putting him in. 

Furthermore, if you're playing with the idea where the dimensions are crossed and this Superman in the standalone knows about the horrors he has committed in the other dimension, if he in fact is going evil in Justice League, this creates for a conflicted character, compounding on the events of Man of Steel and it actually allows him to act on that guilt and become a better character.

AND THEN! You still have that dimension where Superman is all evil and Injustice: Gods Among Us-y. They could team up with Darkseid and make an awesome Justice League movie. Superman could cross dimensions to steal Lois Lane for himself. There are a lot of possibilities that could make for a great future movie where the good dimension needs to fight the dimension we left behind.

I referenced Matthew Patrick from Film Theory in my rant on Jared Leto’s Joker talking about his video about the Joker and how each joker fits into a different age, pointing at the alternate dimensions the DC has created. He made a second parter where he pointed towards cross movie team ups that could occupy the future of the DCCU. While I think the theory was a little off, he had a point about bringing up the alternate dimensions and how they should take a part in the future of the DC cinematic universe. And I think this is the opportunity to do that.

Again, is this going to happen? Probably not. Maybe its more of a dream I hope will happen to help this movie universe from going down paths that I just don't agree that the universe should have taken in my mind. 

Alternate dimensions are difficult to put on film and it takes a lot of work. However, I think if DC can get its shit together and figure out a plan for this and just run with it, we could have a really great series of movies coming out in the next four years and beyond.

But DC, I can’t stress this enough!

Now this is all theory and its theories that give a lot of credit to DC. Something they really don’t have right now. But I have to sometimes pull back and remember the context of where we are and where we came from.

People always say that Marvel is doing a lot better at this than DC is and why can’t DC get their shit together? (myself included). But I go back to the run through of all the Marvel movies I watched before Age of Ultron. After watching Phase 1 of the MCU, I realize that those movies are not as good as we remember them to be.

Iron Man 1 – A decent film but not nearly as great as people remember it to be.

The Incredible Hulk – Really not that great of a film

Iron Man 2 – Arguably the worst superhero film to come out in the late 2000s.

Thor – A decent film but at the end of the day is just Thor hanging out in a small town until he gets his hammer back and beats a big metal dude. Not much happens.

And Captain America: The First Avenger – While better than I remember it, only a decent film.

None of those movies go on peoples top ten list, and if they do, they shouldn’t be there.  

DC is in their phase 1 and it takes a couple of movies to really find a stride. The difference is, we are in 2016 where superhero expanded universes are expected and studios have to put a line up in front of them to show the public that they will get their Justice League movie sooner or later.

The blame isn’t totally off of DC though. While those initial Marvel movies were decent at best, they at least had a self-contained story  that structurally made sense, and even if they weren’t that great, the consequences were low so they could be less than decent and it wouldn’t have a huge implication of the rest of the universe or hurt future films. BvS did that to Superman. It hurt the chances of there being a Death of Superman movie, and it stunted a character who the studios have no idea what to do with.

So yes, the blame can also be put on DC. But we do need to keep in mind that these movies will only get progressively better as time goes on. We just have to be patient. Not lose our minds when something doesn’t seem totally right (Suicide Squad), and realize at the end of the day, this doesn’t have to be a competition between Marvel and DC. Realize that Marvel was at this point in their universe before and have faith that DC can overcome too.   

At least I hope they can. What do you think? I don't have the best knowledge of a lot of DC comic books and I could be totally off basis on this theory. Could this work? Is it too early to do Flashpoint? Comment and Discuss below what you think possible solutions for the DC cinematic universe is. Do you think it’s in trouble?  Let me know your thoughts. You can also continue the conversation on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for movies I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter you can get updates on future movie news and reviews, as well as rants on DC, Marvel and other aspects of film coming out of this blog.

I’ll leave you with this. Here's a brief storyline of The Flashpoint series of comics. I'm going to be doing a review of The Flashpoint Paradox animated film on Netflix but here's an overview of the story line to give you all some context in how I think the DC Cinematic universe should head.