Hold on a second while I put on my suit of armor that’s going to protect me from the vicious fandom debate that’s about to kick off.
It’s time to talk about Marvel vs. DC. Not only are we going to pit the two universes against each other, but we’re going to see just how two of the creative minds behind some of the best things at Marvel Studios would “fix” the DC film universe.
On the podcast “Fat Man on Batman,” Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin interviewed Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus, the screenwriting duo behind all three “Captain America” films, “Avengers: Infinity War,” and the upcoming “Avengers 4.” Over the course of the interview, they discuss various things about the MCU, but things get interesting when the duo is asked how they might approach the DC film universe.
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As you probably know, Warner Bros. and DC have not had the same financial and critical success that Marvel Studios has had over the last decade. While most of their films make decent enough money at the box office, critics have ravaged the films, and the behind-the-scenes drama is the stuff of legends. So that led to Kevin Smith asking both writers how they would “fix” the DCEU.
Markus answered first, explaining:
“I would look at what Marvel did, out of necessity, in that they didn’t have their A-list characters, they didn’t have Spider-Man, they didn’t have the X-Men, and they went down the line and found, I mean he’s pretty fucking famous as Iron Man, but he’s, you know, he wasn’t there, and they made a really good movie out of it. I might put Batman and Superman and everybody else, I mean, Wonder Woman is doing fine, aside for a second and go through the vast world and go ‘that guy, or that girl’ and go, ‘let’s just make a really good movie and not a universe and see what happens.’ You know, there’s a lot of spaghetti being thrown at the wall.
Writing partner McFeely didn’t have as much to say, but did use a line in “Justice League” to serve as a mission statement, saying, “My familiarity with the DC universe is not that great, so I mean I can just go sort of strategically, it’s make one right. To quote ‘Justice League,’ ‘Save one person.’”
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Now, whether you believe the DCEU needs saving or not, the advice given by Markus and McFeely is pretty sound. Marvel Studios didn’t start with Spider-Man or X-Men. No, they had to pull out “Iron Man” and make that work. The results speak for themselves.
The future of the DCEU is a bit of a mystery. “Wonder Woman 2” is in production, with a 2019 release. There’s “Aquaman” later this year and “Shazam” the early part of next year. Outside of those three films, the rest is unknown. Maybe “Shazam” or one of the other more minor DC characters will become the breakout hit that WB/DC needs. Otherwise, perhaps WB would want to get on the phone with these two and really pick their brains.