The Chief Creative Officer at DC Geoff Johns spoke about the DC Television Universe and the DC Cinematic Universe and explained that each is “their own universes.”
So unfortunately this means that the Green Arrow and Flash that were established on the CW’s Arrow will not co-exist with Batman and Superman on the big screen. Apparently the idea is to be able to explore different ways to tell the story of the DC universe.
In my opinion this idea is honestly not a great one. The main issue is the fact that Arrow has already done a great job at establishing a well-liked Green Arrow and Barry Allen. The televised universe did a great job at really developing a great story and flawlessly established the Flash as part of the universe. This also means that there will be two versions of some of these characters which runs the risk of comparison. If the movies are better the shows lose if the shows are better the movies lose and at the end of the day once one exceeds the other then the losing franchise will struggle which will hinder DC.
The second problem is the Flash in general. In a lot of interpretations of the Justice League the Flash served as the glue that held the team together. The Flash is essential to the Justice League and having two renditions of the character is a potential problem. It looks like the Television universe is not going for a Justice League story so that’s not a problem but having a weak Flash in the cinematic universe could completely halt any momentum DC can gain for a Justice League movie and if that Flash is week and the CW Flash is great that comparison will be a huge problem for the cinematic universe because fans will be disappointed.
The third problem is the fact that DC has to start over. The Cinematic universe could easily use the leg work done by the televised universe to get a well done Justice League movie out quicker but by choosing not to combine the two DC has to establish every character. I say this a lot but Marvel’s success was entirely due to how well each individual character was well received before the huge cross over. DC cannot rush this and have the same results and could avoid rushing it if they could take from the Television series.
I’m going to be honest and say that I’m more of a fan of Marvel than DC, but being the honest person that I am I will admit I love Arrow more than Marvel Agents of Shield. I like both shows but Arrow was executed better in my opinion and from what I’ve seen I’m one of many who think that. This is an advantage DC could capitalize on for the cinematic universe that they have failed to use. This is the biggest reason why separating the two universes is a bad idea. DC had an advantage over Marvel with the television shows and chose not to go with it and instead they are competing with the most popular hero movie franchise of all time head to head. That’s like fighting the Hulk or Superman with a wooden stick.
With that being said I am sure Batman Verses Superman will do well because many fans, including myself, hope that the movie does well. The problem is DC is trying to do what Marvel did and with the rushing that DC is doing it risks failing miserably to compare with Marvel. Plus they lose out on potential profit because if DC made several great hero movies before a Justice League movie then each movie can earn a huge profit and the hype built up from those movies will make Justice League earn more money than just rushing to a movie where the heroes are all put together.
Overall I think this decision will be bad for DC because it does not take advantage of a huge resource that DC has, but ultimately it’s their decision to make and as a fan of DC I hope it goes well. I’m just not hopeful about it.
Jacob Carpenter is the writer for TSCN.TV and also a blogger under the name JSnakeC on IGN
