Possibly the biggest letdown when gazing into the Official DC Cinematic Universe Crystal Ball (it comes standard with the Justice League Blu-ray!) is that the lighthearted DC Comics heroes of old will likely never get their due on the silver screen. Again, comics have changed since the Golden- and Silver Ages: Batman and Superman don't have fun fighting crime anymore, because fighting crime is serious and tragedy is compelling (or something). Sure, Marvel has an Ant-Man film slated for November 2015. It doesn't get too much more lighthearted than Ant-Man, even though there will doubtless be some modernization of the character in order to have him fit within the larger MCU. DC is not Marvel, though, and the DC Cinematic Universe is already a very different beast than the counterpart at Marvel. Man of Steel was a decidedly less humor-filled affair than anything Marvel has put out (I'm looking at you, Iron Man 3) and the DC Universe on the whole seems to work with a more serious tone, and more serious characters. But what about those heroes who are just inherently lighthearted? Elongated Man is a good example, as it's hard to imagine Ralph Dibney showing up alongside Cavill's pouty Kal-El. The only way to incorporate the character, then, is to essentially force him into seriousness; DC did this a few years ago with a book called Identity Crisis, in which Elongated Man's wife Sue is brutally murdered and a previously-minor character known as Doctor Light was revealed to be a rapist. It's unfortunate that this is the route DC and Warner Brothers will likely have to take if they want to incorporate characters like Elongated Man into the shared film universe. Like some characters who have slipped into relative obscurity, fun-loving guys like Blue Beetle and Booster Gold deserve solo films just as much as Green Lantern or Flash. At this rate, though, don't hold your breath. Like this article? Let us know in the comments section below.
