After the less than stellar performance by the Justice League on the big screen, it is wise of Warner Bros. to rethink its strategy for handling the DC franchise and its characters. While the plot thickens over the Justice League Snyder Cut debate, it is apparent that Warner Bros. is looking to move away from what should have been a very lucrative property. The Justice Society of America, though not nearly as well known as the Justice League, is another superhero team from the comics, and is said to be making its way to theaters very soon, possibly as soon as the Black Adam solo film. This is a risky move, putting so much faith in obscure characters such as Star Girl and Atom Smasher to bring fans back into the fold — and it is by no means a novel one.
If anything, it is clear that DC is desperate, and is counting on the success of Marvel's second-string strategy to reinvigorate their big screen offerings. When the Marvel Cinematic Universe began in 2008, the vast majority of what were considered Marvel's most profitable characters were under the ownership of other studios. Fox held the film rights to X-Men, Sony held (and currently still holds) the rights to Spider-Man, etc. There was a shortage of grade-A talent to build a movie franchise on, so Kevin Feige and company had to improvise. Putting the spotlight on characters like Iron Man and Thor, though by no means obscure, was still risky given that they were more or less B-level characters. They were not quite household names yet, not like characters such as Wolverine or Ghost Rider were at the time.
The strategy paid off, making some of these heroes bigger than they ever could have been otherwise. The studio's successes with films starring Captain America and Black Panther allowed for even more expansion into the depths of the Marvel universe. The Guardians of the Galaxy were relative unknowns, yet both of their films were met with rave reviews and huge amounts of fan support. Even a character like Black Widow, who was thought to be no more than a supporting inclusion, eventually got her chance to shine and will receive a solo film next year. The gamble paid off, and the reason for that success was because it had to — Marvel was working with what it had, and it made the most of it. With DC seeking to do the same, the question really is, why?
DC has had all of their characters in one place. From Batman to Green Lantern, there isn't anyone by way of heavy-hitters that isn't under the Warner Bros. umbrella right now. There is no need or sense of urgency to delve deeper in the DC comics character library, other than the fact that the films that have included their top-tier characters have not done well enough to prove their capabilities to keep the franchise moving along. This is no fault of the characters, as it is quite evident that most people will watch a Superman or Wonder Woman movie based on name value and if they look appealing enough. Creative choices and writing that diverts from the source material have made it difficult to redeem these characters, so much so that DC feels the only proper course of action is to keep digging deeper into the archives for characters that haven't been introduced or tarnished yet.
DC is throwing everything they have at the wall right now to see what sticks. It may not be the best course of action, but a Justice Society of America film does have the potential to be different and tread new ground. With that being said, there really should be more of a focus on characters and teams who haven't been done any proper justice on the big screen since the launch of the DCEU in 2013. It is great for the sake of world building and to add to the roster of characters in the continuity, even this would even be set in any continuity, but at the end of the day there is clearly an attempt made to copy Marvel and the success they have had with their backup characters. The only difference was that Marvel made their choice because they had no other, while DC appears to be making theirs because they themselves have left themselves with none else.
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