4. Shared Universes Take Time
Marvel Studios announced their shared universe plan in the post-credits button from
Iron Man, but the thing didn't take shape overnight. A shared comic book movie universe takes a lot of time to set up and establish. As Cavill has said, you can't just all of a sudden go from one god in the world to a whole team in the next movie. It would be a little jarring and not earned from an emotional standpoint. One of the smartest decisions Marvel made during their Phase I was to introduce the core characters in solo films first. That way, casual audiences were able to get introduced to secondary characters like Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America and form connections to them. The studio was able to establish the characters and build them up so
The Avengers could be just about the team coming together. We already knew who these guys were and where they were coming from, so it made it easier to be emotionally invested in the film. If Warner Bros. were to go ahead with
Justice League next, they'd really be digging themselves into a hole. As it stands, Superman is the only hero who exists in his world. A Justice League film would have to introduce a new Batman, a new Green Lantern, Flash, and Wonder Woman at least. That's too much to do in the course of a two and a half hour film. So much time would have to be spent setting up the characters and showing their motives and reasons for becoming a hero that there wouldn't be much time left for anything else. Even though there were rumors of a
Wonder Woman cameo among other things, there was a lack of shared universe building going on in
Man of Steel, as the filmmakers looked to tell the story of Kal-El and Kal-El alone. The only noteworthy Easter egg was the Wayne Enterprises logo on the space satellite and that could mean a multitude of things (including a nod to Christopher Nolan, according to Snyder). That one logo doesn't guarantee crossovers. You need to do more. If the studio is serious about moving forward with a shared universe, then they need to set up solo films for their other characters. While they develop those, a
Man of Steel sequel should please fans and help "get Superman further down the road" like the filmmakers want.