I grew up reading comic books. If it had a superhero on the pages, I wanted to read it. And I could read most of them, being 40 cents a copy. I guess I was a fanboy when fanboys didn't exist. So this past month, October 2014, was a virtual orgasm of delight for me.
The first note I must make is, Am I Marvel or DC? By an edge, I'll say Marvel, only because I was a huge FF fan and I loved John Byrne. Yet there are a number of individual DC heroes I liked: Firestorm, Blue Devil, Booster Gold and especially the New Teen Titans with Raven and Cyborg. I loved the team books since it felt like I was getting more heroes for my 40 cents. Justice League and Doom Patrol were right up there with Avengers and X-men.
So you would think I should be utterly excited by Warner Brothers announcement two weeks ago. Except I'm not. I viewed the upcoming slate with skepticism and dread. The even funnier thing is they made their announcement during a shareholder's meeting. Not a fan or reader in sight.
Unlike the MCU, DC has yet to prove that they know what they are doing with their characters. Ezra Miller as Flash. Huh? Gal Gadot who? They reboot Superman and he kills in the first movie and we get another origin story. Green Lantern could have been epic, but a giant cloud monster was the villain. WTF? Other than Heath Ledger, the Dark Knight failed to impress me the way Avengers did. It always feels like the company handles their heroes like they don't know who they are. Or, they approach them as a business, while Marvel genuinely love their toons and are fans themselves.
Two weeks later, Marvel announces their entire Phase Three. They rented a building, invited press and fanboys and made a spectacle of it. Like they're proud parents showing off their children. RDJ and Chris Evans showed up. Their upcoming list is just as impressive and ambitious, yet for some reason I believe they'll pull it off. OK, I'm leery about Ant-Man, but I trust Marvel, so I'll be there on opening weekend.
What is the difference? Marvel hasn't let me down yet. DC has yet to impress. (Green Lantern?) Their casting has been spot on, even when I've raised an eyebrow. Mark Ruffalo? A Third Hulk? Their storylines have skewed from the source material only because it needs to fit into a two and a half hour slot, but they don't piss all over the source material and change it for artistic purposes.
Although I am interested to see what DC does, it does not create the fervor the Marvel does now. I already have the weekend of Age of Ultron off from work. I plan on seeing it at least three times that weekend. It will probably do 275 million opening weekend and give Avatar a run for the top domestic spot. Its budget is 250 million and I bet it does 2 billion worldwide. Dawn of Justice will probably have a higher budget and do MoS numbers. Not impressive.
The point is, Marvel can fail and not much will happen to their brand. Their entire Phase 3 will progress as expected. If DC can't ignite audiences with DoJ and Suicide Squad in 2016, their ambitions may be short lived.
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