9 Reasons DC TV Shows Are Better Than The Movies

When watching some of the DC films, it can be a little hard to care too much about the characters. There aren't often too many emotional beats in superhero movies anyway, but what attempts there have been in these movies has been rather mishandled: the forced relationship between the charisma-less Rick Flag and the whimpering June Moore, Joker as a love interest, that entire f**king "Martha" scene. They succeeded on this front with Wonder Woman, largely thanks to Diana and Steve's relationship, but that's the only movie to achieve it so far.

The TV shows have made a couple of missteps themselves in this area (in particular that one death in Season 4 of Arrow, because they had to forcibly write themselves to that point), but at times they've absolutely nailed it: Tommy Merlyn's death in Season 1, pretty much any scene involving Barry and his dad, and best of all the Season 1 finale, when Barry goes back to save his mother, and then decides not to.

It's a total tearjerker of a moment, really tugging at the heartstrings, and beautifully played by Grant Gustin. It works so well because we care for these characters, and the TV show is able to use that to hit these emotional beats, rather than the emptiness of the movies.