7 Plots And Plot Devices That The DCU Needs To Avoid

By Mark Grainger /

2. No Lazarus Pits Either

Following on from the last point, Lazarus Pits need to not be a thing in the DC universe. For those who don€™t know, a Lazarus Pit is a pool of chemicals, similar to those found at any top-class spa resort, which have miraculous curative powers for all who bathe in them. They€™ve kept Ra€™s al Ghul, the leader of the League of Shadows last seen in Nolan€™s Batman trilogy, alive for centuries, and can even bring people back from the dead. It€™s not called a Lazarus pit for nothing. There are a few reasons we shouldn€™t see a Lazarus Pit in the DCU. Firstly, they€™re closely associated with the League of Shadows, who formed the backbone of Nolan€™s Dark Knight Trilogy, and to have them turn up again in a new guise to face a new Batman would be total folly. The second is that although we don€™t know what sort of tone the DCU will be going for, it should hopefully be darker than Marvel€™s more breezy efforts. To that end DC really need to make sucker-punches like character deaths stick when it decides to start culling the cast or the actors€™ contracts expire and a Lazarus Pit would rob any film it appears in of suspense. It€™s Chekhov€™s Gun but instead of telling you something awful is coming it€™s telling you not to worry, that everything will be fine. That shouldn€™t be an automatic assumption, especially when it comes to DC.