10 Reasons Why DC Should Give Up On Its Cinematic Universe

5. Stand-Alone Features Will Work Better

The Joker
DC

Although there seemed to be a collective groan in response to the news that a Scorcese-led Joker prequel would be moving ahead yesterday, it's possible that, given its lack of interconnectivity, it's the most promising DC project out there right now.

Certainly, the last time DC had a quantifiably brilliant Bat-flick it came in 2008, as a stand-alone sequel to 2005's Batman Begins, and after that came The Dark Knight Rises. The company have stayed firmly on the cinematic universe hype since, and things haven't really gone according to plan, it must be said. Now that another standalone feature is planned, however, it could be just the trick to galvanise DC's superhero slate, especially with the kind of talent it's (supposedly) boasting.

It's time that DC went back to focusing on what makes their heroes and villains tick, instead of being so heavily invested in building an interconnected world for them to inhabit. Self-contained films, while a backtrack in some sense, provide that option.

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Content Producer/Presenter

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.