Warner Brothers Changed Its Mind
But is it a good thing?
They didn’t want to do anything to dilute attention from a Superman movie, so Tom Welling never put on the suit in Smallville.
They didn’t want to do anything do dilute the Christopher Nolan Batman movies, so they never did anything like a “Smallville” for Batman, although they easily could have (and I believe it easily would have done as well as Smallville. Just call it Wayne, and make the logo a stylized bat).
That was years ago. Now? They’ve forked their universe, and there are distinct tines.
The first tine are the movies. They’re building their own shared universe, trying to capitalize on Marvel’s proven success.
The second tine are the shows on the CW: Arrow and The Flash. These shows have nothing to do with the films, and I believe that is a mistake. I have a hard enough time explaining the difference between the comics and the films to my wife–now I have to do it with television, too? Not fun.
The third tine is the show on Fox, which is Gotham. This show is about Gotham City, before Batman. We get to see young versions of everyone. I have some problems with the show, in that it’s set in the present day. Since it is before Batman, we see Bruce Wayne as a child, just after the murder of his parents, and the mystery is focused on who killed them and why. Somewhat entertaining. It may last into a second season.
The fourth tine is the show on ABC, which is Constantine. John Constantine, the Hellblazer, comes to television. It at least looks like a better version than the Keanu Reeves version. (That was an enjoyable movie, but Constantine needs to be grittier.)
None of these tines have anything to do with one another, aside from being DC properties.
Now, those who are astute will notice that there is a Flash tv show, and there is also going to be a couple of movies with the speedster. He’s going to have his own standalone movie, and he should be in the Justice League movie(s). Again, with the movies and the show having nothing to do with one another, there’s the possibility of both of them being on at the same time: a Flash tv series being on television at the same time as a Flash movie showing up in theaters.
I guess Warners changed their mind about what will and will not harm a property. I just wish they changed their mind a few years ago. We would have gotten a better show than we have with Gotham.
Just remember that we’re going to have to sit through another origin story for The Flash. We’ve seen it on television, and we’ll be seeing it on the big screen, too.
I have no idea who wins.
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Category: Columns, The Daily Dose
