10 Radical Ideas To Save The DC Extended Universe

Marvel do a lot wrong, but this they do perfectly. When it comes to a comic book character, you can mess with a whole hell of a lot provided you keep the elements that made them iconic and/or popular to begin with. There’s a reason some stuff works and some stuff doesn’t, after all.

But let’s be serious, here: in most cases, there’s no such thing as ‘true to the comics’. Snyder’s right when he says that Superman’s killed before. So has Batman: in fact, he started out carrying a gun before editorial mandate came down that he wouldn’t use them, and several stories since then have seen him use a gun as a special occasion.

The fact is that there are many, many different iterations of these iconic heroes and villains in the comics, almost as many as the writers and artists that have worked on them, and many fans have their own preferred version. DC and Marvel don’t treat their characters like sacred texts, or indeed with a whole lot of respect most of the time. That’s something that literally only exists in the minds of the fans. But, for as many versions as there have been, there are hard and fast things that most fans agree on.

That’s the consensus that people have come to concerning the most important aspects of these characters, their essence. Some things are more important than others: for example, Green Arrow dresses in green and carries a bow and anything else just isn’t him... but of slightly lesser importance is the character’s iron principles, his relationship with Black Canary, his philanthropy and activism.

Now, Superman may not be human, but he still represents the best of humanity. He does what he does because it’s the right thing to do, because he was raised that way. He’d try to always do what’s right and treat people with respect and kindness even if he had no powers at all. And everyone knows this, even casual fans. It’s a part of popular culture. The DCEU needs to reflect that Superman pretty quickly, or it’s not going to have the success it deserves.

There are other problems ongoing: for example, Will Smith is grossly miscast as Deadshot, and it’s nothing to do with race (Jamie Foxx would have made an amazing Floyd Lawton, and Smith himself could have made a good Rick Flag or Bronze Tiger). Whatever Jason Momoa is playing, it’s not Aquaman, and casting the Joker and Harley Quinn as True Romance style lovers is offensive in every conceivable sense. Harley’s an empowered (if loopy) survivor of a horribly abusive relationship, not the Bonnie in Bonnie & Clyde.