I can, though, speak as a happily disgruntled fan. I am happy because, hey, this is the golden age of comic-book movies. Just to name a few...several...we've got Nolan's Batman trilogy, Iron Man, Man of Steel (HEY I thought that movie was cool, it's my opinion), Thor: The Dark World, The Avengers and most recently, arguably better than The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier. And in 2016, we're getting the first ever mash-up of DC's two largest characters and maybe the most famous super-heroes in general, Superman and Batman. Oh, and Wonder-Woman, but, we don't know the extent of her role so I'm not sure how big of a deal I can make of it.
However, I am still disgruntled. Not over Spider-Man 3, Iron Man 3's false Madarin portrayal or anything like that, but because of a few things.
Every comic I've read in which the Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes, are squaring off with a threat (be it Ultron, themselves, or Thanos), there are always key members that I am reading, like Iron Man, Hulk, but also the Wolverine and Spider-Man. When I think of the Avengers, I don't necessarily think of the one that Marvel Studios has produced, I think of: Captain America, Iron Man, Wolverine, Spider-Man, Hulk, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, and Daredevil. Why Daredevil? I'm not sure either.
But look at that line-up compared to what Marvel has produced. Sure, we've now been introduced to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, we know we're getting The Vision, and we've essentially been told that Dr. Strange is on the way. But, what about Wolverine and Spider-Man? Those are iconic Avengers. Not original, but, their names are synonymous with Avengers in comic lore.
Let's take a look away from Marvel for now. We'll look at its competitor, DC. The most recent DC flick we got was the widely controversial Man of Steel. Before that, we had the Batman Nolan-verse, a stand-alone Batman trilogy that, in my opinion, had DC as the top-dog for a while before they sputtered out and Marvel landed so many more dates. The Marvel VS DC debate is one for another day, though. The next DC movie we'll be getting, thus, on the big screen is the yet-to-be-titled Man of Steel sequel (please let the title be Man of Steel: World's Strongest).
However, there is one area where DC is dominating, and that is in its TV universe. The widely successful Arrow has not only put the Green Arrow on the map, but has landed new characters we've never seen (good) live-action portrayals of, such as Black Canary, Roy Harper, Malcolm Merlyn, and the League of Assassins. Yes, we did have the synonymous League of Shadows in the Nolan-verse, but, they don't feel the same. The League of Assassins in the Arrow-verse has that mystical element to it, like maybe Lazarus Pits do exist. We've also been introduced to the possibilty of super-strength and super-powers. Off of Arrow's success, we've been granted a Flash television series, set to star guess who. However, this will only help to expand on the Arrow-verse. We've also got the Gotham and Constantine television series' headed our way, with Gotham serving as a Lt. Gordon/ Batman origin story, probably similar to Smallville.
I'll start this discussion with DC, since it actually makes the most sense here.
Man of Steel was meant to be a more realistic Superman flick, and to be honest, I'd say that it was. It showed Superman's adaptations to a new environment, something all organisms must go through. It also put into perspective just how powerful Superman can be. It felt more realistic than other Superman movies, but, that's also probably because there was no Kryptonite in it. Yet.
Arrow seems to be straying away from the normal into more of the supernatural realm, thanks to the inclusion of Mirakuru and now Barry Allen's little incident. And now that we know there are other super-heroes in this universe, what's stopping the DC cinematic universe from colliding with the DC television universe? All the pieces are in play!
It makes the most sense but it may also be the most complicated. If we are to assume that the Earth of Arrow and Man of Steel are the same, then, why haven't we heard anything of Metropolis nearly being destroyed on Arrow? That captured national attention, obviously. Unless it happened while Oliver was on the island? Still, it'd be something worth mentioning.
The other problem is that the Arrow-verse may already have its own Batman. With the inclusion of Harley Quinn, we've been all-but guaranteed that Batman is in the Arrow-verse. Perhaps the only reason they haven't included him yet is becasue Ben Affleck isn't available to be on the show? It's been long rumored that Nightwing is to appear on Arrow, and if that's the case, then pieces could be falling together.
Nightwing implies an aged Robin. The Robin everyone always thinks of is a young-chap and is a younger Batman's side-kick. Even Joseph Gordon Levitt was a kinda young guy when he assumed the role as Batman at the end of TDKR. Thus, is Robin is older, then that means that Batman is older. What we've been told of the Man of Steel sequel is that Ben Affleck is to play "an aged Bruce Wayne." Thus, that means that Nightwing could be a thing. If we do eventually get Nightwing on Arrow, whose to say that Batman is as young as someone like Oliver?
If DC wanted to something to redeem the controversy surrounding Man of Steel, their second move would be to sign Stephen Amell and Grant Gustin into the inevitable Justice League film as Green Arrow and Flash, respectively (the first move is to make a fantastic sequel to Man of Steel). The characters are already in place and established (well, not so much Flash, but by the time he's run through a season, the MoS sequel will be out, probably) in their own universes, and fans have taken a liking to them. In the MoS sequel, we've got the three primary Leaguers, Superman, Batman, Wonder-Woman, so, adding two more to the line-up almost puts you at equal number to the Avengers. Add in the possibility that Dwayne Johnson is either Jon Stewart's Green Lantern or Martian Man-Hunter and you've got yourself a pretty solid line-up. Maybe even throw in Caity Lotz's Black Canary or Manu Bennett's Deathstroke for cameos and you're pretty ready for any DC universe movie.
This is a crossover that screams potential. But what about on the other side of the spectrum?
I always find explaining the situation with Marvel to be a little difficult. "Why isn't Wolverine in the The Avengers?" "Where is Spider-Man?" "How come Ant-Man isn't going to be in Avengers: Age of Ultron?" No, wait, that last one is my own question...why, Marvel, why?
Anyway, I find the first two questions difficult to explain in part because of the movie politics and in part because now there are two Quicksilvers running around. One is owned by Marvel Studios, and the other is owned by 20th Century Fox. So what's the problem?
They are both named Pietro Maximoff. They are both super-speedsters. And they both have silver-hair. That is enough to make anyone cross-eyed. And throw in that he is Magneto's kid, forget about it.
Everyone knows the rules. Spider-Man is Sony's. X-Men and Fantastic Four are Fox's. The Avengers, Defenders, and Guardians of the Galaxy are Marvel Studios. See the big grey area?
Most of these teams not only have crossovers that let them exist in comic lore, but they also share many big, no, HUGE moments where, say, an Avenger joins the Fantastic Four. Or vice-versa. None of that is allowed to happen, though, because certain companies own certain characters.
But if we take a step back, let's examine how ridiculous this situation is. The attack on New York in The Avengers, I mean, that's NEW YORK CITY. Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Avengers HQ hub. Literally almost every Marvel super-hero, born on Earth, lives in New York for some period of time. If the Fantastic Four or Spider-Man had joined the fight against the Chtaori, it would have been incredible. The sequel potential would have been amazing.
Let's now examine the upcoming Avenger's: Age of Ultron film with the comic series of Marvel, "Avengers: Age of Ultron." They share the same title, and that is literally about it. Of course, in the latter, UItron has been established as a global threat and in the former we are merely seeing the birth and early destructive abilities Ultron will be capable of. But, what if the elements of the comic were to translate onto the screen? In the comic, Captain America, Wolverine, Hank Pym and Invisible Woman are all huge players in the game. In fact, it is Wolverine and Invisible Woman who are to blame for most of the series.
This would be impossible to see on the big screen because Marvel and Fox own those characters, like, separately. As long as there are companies that own specific characters, we will never get the epic comic events that shine on the big screen.
Even, even the big first battle with Thanos (predicating the Infinity Crisis) where Thanos dies for the first time, that huge epic event that really put all those characters to the test, we will never see well enough. Why? Well, you could cover the first three acts pretty well. Iron Man meeting Drax, then Thanos, then Captain Mar-Vell's encounters with Thanos and Drax and even leading through Adam Warlock's encounters with Gamora and Thanos as well as his near death. All of those characters (I'm fuzzy on Adam Warlock and Captain Mar-Vell, but, come on, Marvel owns Guardians of the Galaxy, they have to have these guys) are owned by Marvel Studios. Great! What's stopping them?
What's stopping them is the Act 3 of the run. In Act 3, two cosmic forces call on Spider-Man and the Thing to save the Avengers from Thanos. That's why we could never see the run on the big-screen. On television? Of course. Animated, that is. But not in a film interpretation, since Sony owns Spider-Man and Fox has rights over the Thing. Granted, they could take creative liberties and have maybe heroes like Black Widow and Luke Cage or something like that help the heroes, but, it wouldn't the same, as Spider-Man and the Thing were the most obscure heroes to call on in the universe's most desperate hour (literally, like Thanos was able to transform into matter and be everyone, it was crazy).
Does this mean that super-hero movies will never break beyond their own barrier? No, of course not. Look at Captain America: the Winter Soldier. Had the words "Captain America" not been in it and the main character not wielded a shield, a story about a humongous national organization suddenly imploding all while an unstoppable assassin is killing its chief officials and is a friend from our hero's past would be a great premise. Even the title "The Winter Soldier" would entice people, probably. Super-hero movies can keep getting better, but, there is a way for them to go beyond.
"Go beyond Super Saiyan?"
Yup.
Again, I don't know movie-politics, but, I do understand the new trend in movies. It's comic book movies. People are going to see these things. Thus people will pay money, and these guys are all about the money. Look at how much the Phase 2 movies are making right now? The Avengers? Making freaking bank.
I don't know if in the business world that sharing is caring, particularly, but, I do know that sharing could really lend a hand in making some money. I don't know the logistics of it, but, what if, we'll say Sony and Marvel, these two companies were to share rights to Spider-Man and allow Spider-Man to be in Avengers Three (hopefully titled Avengers 3: Infinity Crisis...what....) or something. Sony would make money and they would make absurd amounts of money if they helped develop it. If they share the profit of a movie that could well be a billion-dollar flick, that's 500,000 million dollars, probably more than their other Amazing Spider-Man movies made. People would definitely go see Spider-Man and the Avengers teaming up in a movie that's been hyped for, even now, years.
If there were to be an X-Men vs. Avengers movie...I can't even imagine the amounts of money made. It would be stupid. Again, the pieces are in play for that to happen: named Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. Even if Fox and Marvel split the earnings, dude, that's bank. Like I said, stupid money. All because they just put aside their differences and made a movie.
Plus, think about it. If Marvel and Fox, or Marvel and Sony, were to split the development, that also means they are splitting the funding. Marvel and whoever would only be paying half of what they usually would, theoretically. The money they would make back would make that fee look like buying a soda, all because they crossed-over a character. And this doesn't even have to be a long-term thing, either it could just be for a flick or so. A built-up flick, no doubt, but a flick.
Sadly, DC does not really have that kind of oppurtunity, but, all of the die-hard Arrow fans (like myself) would probably go see a Justice League movie with the Green Arrow and Flash and Black Canary in it...in fact, they might see it multiple times if its good enough.
Thus, we come to the big crossover movie that would never happen but would probably be the highest grossing film of all time: a DC and Marvel crossover.
Similar to the inter-Marvel situation, a DC-Marvel crossover would be ridiculous. There are many possibilities but the easiest one would be Justice League VS Avengers VS Galactus. Or some super-villain of that level of power.
I understand that this is far more complicated and will more than likely never happen, like ever unless Disney buys DC as well, which would not be good, but still, these two companies would make so much money. It would probably take a little more to produce, and come up with an idea for because you can't just throw Batman into Stark Tower without it being like "wait what?" but still. That is everyone's dream. It's only been done a few times in the comics, as well, and even less in animated form, which would make it so hard to create, arguably. Plus, if you are to do Justice League vs. Avengers then you have to figure in who would be in it and all that.
Again, not likely to happen, but an inter-Marvel crossover could work out in the favor of the two companies at hand. DC could make a lot of fans happy if they just came out and said that the Arrow-verse and Man of Steel take place in the same universe, as well.
I'm just saying that this is what I want to see, not what I will think is to happen. There are far greater powers at work here and I am merely a fan watching it unfold. Am I displeased? Not in the slightest. I mean, look, we've got a Sinister Six movie coming out. Who would have ever thought that possible even two years ago when Amazing Spider-Man came out? Comic-book movies are expanding and continue to get better, and if they crossover, then I think the possibilities are limitless.
No comments:
Post a Comment