With Marvel Studios running rampant in the box office with every film released being a sure-fire hit, it seems that comic book movies are hot property at the moment, a far cry from how Hollywood thought of them a couple of decades ago. DC Comics are responsible for some of the most classic comic book characters in history. With superheroes such as Batman, Superman, The Flash, Aquaman and Green Lantern in DC’s vast back catalogue, the film crossover possibilities are endless. With the Suicide Squad film now in production, the future looks bright for DC as they attempt to overthrow Marvel as film’s biggest comic book studio.
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Marvel Studios has been churning out box office smashing films for a while now, starting with Blade back in 1998. Starring Wesley Snipes as the vampire hunter, the film was a huge success and showed that comic book films can be a success without the need for a well known character. X-Men was the next film to be released from Marvel, starring Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen and directed by Bryan Singer. The film made almost $300,000,000 worldwide and subsequently paved the way for sequels and the eventual prequel origin stories.
With the release and success of Iron Man in 2008, Marvel Studios decided on linking all further films within the same universe, resulting in the phenomenally successful Avengers in 2012, which combined a number of main characters all teaming up in one film. Captain America (2011) and Thor (2011) were both films released to set up the story for The Avengers, joining Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) as a team of superheroes bought together by Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson).
With Marvel Studios running away with such success, DC Comics have now entered the game with their own connecting film universe, with an equally impressive roll call of superheroes. Man of Steel (2013) is the first film in the shared universe, directed by Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen, Dawn of the Dead) and starring Henry Cavill as Superman, a reboot of the Superman films. Cavill will reprise his role as the man of steel in the second shared universe film, Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, with the introduction of Ben Affleck taking up the role of Batman after Christian Bale’s hugely successful Dark Knight trilogy from Christopher Nolan. There are plans for 11 more films to fit in with the shared universe, including a stand alone film starring Affleck’s Batman.
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The films to be released for the DC shared universe by Warner Bros. scheduled for release over the next five years include Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League and part two in 2019, The Flash, Aquaman, Shazam, Cyborg and a reboot of the critically panned Green Lantern will all follow. In addition, a sequel to Man of Steel is also in the pipeline. The shared universe idea started back in 1998 when Kevin Smith and Tim Burton were to team up and reboot Superman with Nicolas Cage as the Man of Steel. Michael Keaton was also set to reprise his role of Batman from Burton’s earlier Batman films but the project was cancelled before production began.
With Suicide Squad being the first major film to incorporate multiple characters from the DC shared universe, it was announced that David Ayer (Fury and The Fast and the Furious) will both direct and write. An all-star cast was revealed with Will Smith leading as Deadshot, Jared Leto as the Joker, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Jesse Eisenberg rumoured to be playing Lex Luthor. The film follows the anti-hero organisation that first appeared in DC Comics back in 1959, where a secret government organisation recruits dangerous criminals and super villains in order to carry out black ops missions in exchange for reduced sentences. Jared Leto released a picture of himself in the Joker makeup, following on from Jack Nicholson’s 1989 iteration and Heath Ledger’s Oscar winning portrayal in 2008’s The Dark Knight.
The Suicide Squad seems to be DC’s answer to the hugely successful Avengers series, but only time will tell if DC can stand toe to toe against the might of Marvel in the world of cinema. But with two of the most iconic superheroes of all time in Superman and Batman in their corner, the next five years looks promising for DC Comics.