8 Big Questions About The Future Of DC Film Universe

2. Will DC Fully Transition To A Marvel-Like Tone?

Marvel Ranked
Marvel Studios

One area of the DCEU that feels largely undefined is its tone. Man of Steel was very much in the gritty camp, yet Suicide Squad felt like Marvel-lite, complete with quips, sky portals and a pop-rock soundtrack.

It's not just Suicide Squad that carried this feel, either. If you removed the Justice League members from the Justice League trailer and slotted in the Avengers while changing nothing else, the two would be indistinguishable. But is this the norm going forward or are these just exceptions, and what does this mean for the future of the DC slate?

Wonder Woman looks rather bright, and Justice League looks rather quippy - but how can Ben Affleck's solo Batman movie possibly follow suit? It's freaking Batman. And Ben Affleck isn't known for his humour-filled directing. How can Batman be spouting one-liners in the Justice League trailer, but be all sombre and glum in his standalone? It could feel like two different people.

So while it certainly looks like the DCEU will shift tones going forward, it could throw up all sorts of conflicting character issues. Each MCU movie can be quippy because that's how Marvel built their universe from the beginning, but DC are just hitting the panic button here, without putting their heroes' personalities first.

Contributor
Contributor

Danny has been with WhatCulture for over ten years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. In 2022, he took charge of WhoCulture and has grown it into the biggest Doctor Who channel on YouTube, and one of the biggest Doctor Who communities on the web full-stop. He has been writing and video editing since his early teens, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers, off the back of a burning obsession with the Matt Smith era of the show. Like many his age, he first got into Doctor Who with the 2005 revival, but has since gone back and fallen in love with the classic years too. If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order, or to give you a random factoid about the making of Gridlock, Danny is the person to ask!