8 Ways Upcoming Movies Can Fix Franchise Mistakes

The Mistake: Not enough humour to make all the darkness bearable.

How The Movie Will Fix It: The DC Extended Universe (if we can even call it that) has had a rocky start; it's not perfect, but it shows potential, with lots to like and lots of promise moving forward.

However, wheeling backward for a second, the cinematic universe has drawn quite a lot of negativity because of its tone - more specifically, its overly bleak, grim tone, and even more specifically than that, Batman V Superman's overly bleak, grim tone.

There's nothing wrong with being dark - The Dark Knight and Logan proved that it can work - but that wasn't BvS's problem. The issue lies with the fact that it was mostly humourless, and eventually, this made all its brooding drama impossible to enjoy.

The Dark Knight was very grim, but it also contained plenty of well-timed jokes - Alfred's jab about Bruce's Lamborghini, or Gordon's "He does that", for example. Conversely, it's hard to recall a single memorable, witty line in BvS. Jokes like Batman's "I thought she was with you" felt forced and out of place, which didn't help.

On the plus side, Justice League appears to be taking steps to rectify all this. It's fully introducing Ezra Miller's The Flash (who should provide plenty of relatable comic-relief) and the movie seems like it's more about hope - something superheroes should embody - than anger and worry.