10 Reasons DC's Cinematic Universe Is Already Doomed

5. Why So Serious?

Much was made a few months back of an edict that came down from Warner Brothers higher-ups announcing that there were to be no jokes in DC's upcoming movies. Granted, a serious approach worked wonders for Christopher Nolan's Batman films -- which took the camp out of the character and reinterpreted him in a modern, relevant way -- but anyone who's followed the comics themselves for a while can explain why levity has a place. Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and Frank Miller redefined DC Comics -- and the entire industry -- in the 1980s with Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, both of which showed deconstructed, "darker" looks at the superheroic lifestyle. Unfortunately, their work spurred on scores and scores of imitators who missed the point, but kept the "grim and gritty" nature -- in essence, there was a lot of meaningless violence and unnecessary adult material. DC still makes these mistakes with their books, and it looks like the films are headed the same way. Plus, just at Marvel's movie output. It's not like a good sense of humor has hurt their product.