For a moment there it looked like a one horse race. Marvel had rocketed out of the gates with their Cinematic Universe, managing to build excitement (and profits) over a series of big budget superhero flicks until it birthed one of the most successful franchises in the history of cinema. Expectations are high for the second Avengers film, as they are for the upcoming Thor and Captain America sequels, as they are - after the surprise hit of Guardians Of The Galaxy - for all the new films they're gonna launch. It looked like DC, by comparison, had stumbled at the first hurdle. Couldn't have been more wrong. As soon as Christopher Nolan wrapped up his Dark Knight trilogy Warner Bros instantly leapt into action, setting up their own Cinematic Universe with Zack Snyder's controversial Man Of Steel - since then, there's been speculation that they're going to struggle to play catch up with their Distinguished Competition. Then last night they dropped their entire slate of ten films to be released between now and 2020, and boy howdy is it exciting. There's plenty of juicy stuff in there for fanboys and superhero novices alike, and much of what's been announced lines up with rumours and speculation that's been trickling through ever since Henry Cavill pulled on the tights. Here are the ten things that, so far, you need to know about the DC Cinematic Universe.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
