10 Reasons Why DC Should Give Up On Its Cinematic Universe
8. It Was Overly Ambitious Right From The Start
Warner Bros.
Going back to the idea that WB made a cinematic universe 'just because' for a minute (much like everyone is doing these days), it does feel like their films lack a degree of purpose.
Comparisons were always going to be drawn between the MCU and any DC rival, but that alone isn't an excuse for why WB decided to reach for the top shelf so soon after Man of Steel. There's a reason why the Avengers was the phenomenon it was, and it's because Marvel were aware that the journey was just as important as the destination. The film would've likely crumbled under its own weight had it not been for Iron Man 1 and 2 and the rest of those Phase 1 features.
Sure, the journey to Justice League would've been a long one, but, like the Avengers, it would've been one audiences felt was worth engaging. Now, even with Wonder Woman having galvanised the franchise, Justice League has somuch riding on it. It's only taken three films to get there, and while the film will, undoubtedly, be a veritable box-office smash, it won't have nearly the same hold as the Avengers did five years ago.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
