Joss Whedon: I Would Not Want DC to Do What Marvel Does

[Alex Co]

Joss Whedon: I Would Not Want DC to Do What Marvel Does

Avengers director Joss Whedon says both DC and Marvel has movies he adores, and also thinks the Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy will get "mixed together" at some point since "it's Marvel."

With DC and Marvel both turning their comic book franchises into feature films, it's understandable that fans will compare the two universes. Even Avengers director Joss Whedon weighed in on the subject. In a video interview with Nerd HQ, Whedon admits both companies have movies he adores and ones he's not very fond of. Also, he doesn't think DC should follow Marvel's route in translating comics to movies.


I think that both studios [Marvel and Warner/DC] have kind of different agendas, different ways of approaching the superhero genre, and the ethos of the thing, and the esthetic. They go very dark and serious and sometimes it works amazingly, and Marvel tends to be a little lighter. Both have movies that I adore, and both have movies that I'm like... [pulls a face which suggests he's less keen], including bits of my own. I would not want them to do what Marvel does. I like what they do when they get it right.

Whedon mentions that Christoper Nolan' Batman Begins, and Heath Ledger's work in The Dark Knight were standouts in the DC Cinematic Universe. Just yesterday, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige talked about the Avengers' eventual team up with The Guardians of the Galaxy crew [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/136687-Marvel-Studios-Boss-Talks-Guardians-Avengers-Team-Up]. Now, in the same interview, Joss Whedon also spoke out on when the Avengers might team up with The Guardians of the Galaxy.


Kevin [Feige] has a big plan and every now and then, he'll tell me part of it if he thinks it's going to affect what I'm doing or if he thinks what I'm doing is going to affect his...But as much as possible, I try to live in my own bubble. Guardians is very much its own thing. They're not the Guardians of this galaxy; it's a different one. So, I can sort of keep them at arm's length, long enough to do my thing and then I'm sure everything is going to get mixed together because it's Marvel.

In related news, Whedon announced yesterday that filming on Avengers: Age of Ultron has wrapped up [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/136689-Avengers-Age-of-Ultron-Filming-Wraps-According-to-Joss-Whedon], though he has a ton of work ahead of him in post-production work to ensure the movie meets its May 2015 release schedule.

Do you agree with Whedon that DC shouldn't copy what Marvel is doing when it comes to movies? If so, what direction should DC take to ensure it can have the same success as its rival?

Source: IGN [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlLgIVt2XIc]


Permalink

 

[endtherapture]

DC isn't copying what Marvel is doing. They started off with Man of Steel obviously, and are introduce the JL in the next film. I think it's going to be a quicker route to a JL film rather than building up the universe with a bunch of small teasers at the end of the film, it's going to be a faster route than Marvel, with a different tone, and that's fine.

 

[AntiChri5]

What, you mean make good movies? Well yeah, then you would have competition.

 

[Soulrender95]

no DC shouldn't do what Marvel is doing but it's kinda obvious DC feels pressured to do what Marvel is doing because we went from "no plans for Justice league" to "Ok we're doing Justice League" in less than a week, weather it'll pan out is a different matter but Dawn of justice has a lot of work to prove that the idea can work after the rather divided audience opinion on Man of Steel and the lacklustre Green Lantern outing.

I'd like to hope that Dawn of justice turns out to be a good movie though in the end I doubt it'll matter, Dawn of Justice and Justice League will make a pile of money regardless of quality.

 

[CrazyBlaze]

I think I would like it if DC didn't try to tie all their heroes together and just let each franchise be its own thing. I don't like how they are trying to make a whole universe in just one (or two if MoS counts) movie(s). If your going to make a whole comic movie universe, follow Marvel's lead. Give each character their own movie to establish who they are in this universe. Though they don't have to one giant crossover like The Averngers. For example they could do a Batman movie and a Superman movie this year and then next year do Superman Vs. Batman movie plus a Wonder Woman movie and than do a Superman & Wonder Woman movie the next year or something.

 

[MrBaskerville]

I just wish one of the companies would focus on making standalone movies instead of trying to create a huge clusterfuck of pointless continuity. Maybe the new superman movie wouldn't be so dreaded if it wasn't trying to set up on million movies and maybe Iron Man 2 wouldn't have sucked so much if it hadn't wasted so much time on irrelevant Avengers plot points Heck, even Amazing Spideman seems to be suffering from trying to kickstart the sinister six movie. It's fine that one company is trying to do it, but i wish it wouldn't bleed into everything else.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

I think they should have left this as a BvS movie so it would build on both characters and have Wonder Woman at the end break up the fight and tell them about the JL. Then they could show the other JL members as an end credit sequence. I just dont know how they can build on the relationships between the characters, tell the origins and ontop of that you have the main plot of the movie. Maybe it will turn out they have an amazing script that fits it all in.

I really hope DC pulls this off and BvS is amazing. Im sure even if they are rushing to get to a JL movie, im sure they wouldnt invest in a movie with a crap script.

 

[Bindal]

DC isn't copying what Marvel is doing. They started off with Man of Steel obviously, and are introduce the JL in the next film. I think it's going to be a quicker route to a JL film rather than building up the universe with a bunch of small teasers at the end of the film, it's going to be a faster route than Marvel, with a different tone, and that's fine.

That's exactly what he was talking about - creating also one "massive crossover movie in a shared universe of films". Just because DC does it faster doesn't mean DC is doing something different. They do the same (and most likely simply because Marvel did it and it worked).

 

[Denamic]

I think DC should pick a cannon and stick with it. There's retconning in Marvel movies, but DC is all over the place.

 

[Akiraking]

I think people are misunderstanding what Whedon is saying. He is talking about the film style not how they build the universe. He likes the fact that DC focuses more on the darker side of heroes because if both studios did similar light hearted movies then they would feel too similar.

I actually liked Man of Steel and Dawn of Justice is looking interesting just from what is being revealed so I hope it does well and we get too uniquely different film universes competing against each other. The only problem is I really don't want four super hero films every year. I love super heroes but I may start skipping them if I have to potentially see Thor, Batman, Shazam and Doctor Strange all in one year. Sure sounds fun now but if it keeps happening year after year it will get tiring.

 

[Covarr]

I want the DCAU writers to do a series of DC live action movies and build 'em together into the Justice League. They are far more capable either than the Man of Steel writers or any of the Marvel cinematic universe writers.

P.S. Thanks

 

[Vegetunks9000]

To me DC is doing great. The Dark Knight Trilogy, V for Vendetta, Watchmen, (the divided) Man of Steel, RED. Not to mention their TV shows are looking great so far too and their games recently have been amazing. Also their animated movies are still great! DC have nothing to worry about really. After SDCC they got great press coverage and continue to do so. I'm with Whedon on this, DC need to do their own thing and they are.

 

[Nuxxy]

I want the DCAU writers to do a series of DC live action movies and build 'em together into the Justice League...

I think that's exactly the problem. It's like, after Avengers made a billion, executives at Warner Bros (I'm guessing they are more of a problem than DC execs) went "What the heck? Got on this *now* and make Justice League!"

Except Avengers was the culmination, the payoff, of the 5 movies that came before it building the world and establishing the characters. That was the reason for the strength of Avengers financially - it appealed to more than just comic fans. But now characters are being stuffed into Dawn of Justice and 'normal' people are going to feel lost and left out. DC needs their Kevin Feige - a comic person pulling the strings, not bean counter execs.

The one thing they are probably getting right is avoiding another Batman origin. Ideally the DC 'phase 1' would be something like:
Superman (aka Man of Steel)
Wonder Woman
Flash
Superman 2 feat. Batman
Green Lantern feat. Superman
Justice League

 

[Shiftygiant]

Whedon shouldn't worry. DC are as committed to the DCMU as Italy was to the Second World War. Yeah, you did well with a couple previous outings, but you're doing too much too fast, bitten off more than you can chew. Bat's V Sups has to introduce what, 4 new heroes and (Maybe) 2 Villains.

Granted, Batman is Batman, but still, you have to introduce him in this new world you have to build. Then Wonder Woman, who's origin is baffling and weird, given how often they change, Lex Luthor is fairly straight forward, money and power corrupts, but then Aquaman and Cyborg, who have been oddly absent from promotional, which hints to some shame that they're involved. That's another issue, shame. If no one making these seems proud to have Aquaman, god of the ocean, or Cyborg, badass super smart cyborg (Robocop but with emotions), in their production, that speaks volumes for the rest of the universe.

How do you introduce the fantastical elements of the JLA like Zatanna or the Martian Manhunter? Will they be ignored in fear of being laughed out the cinema or will they make them Grimdark and 'Realistic'?

And, on my own personal note, why the hell should I care for a movie franchise that so far has shown me that all it want's is Grimdark serious? And has shown me that it shall keep that? It's not like Flash or Arrow are being part of it, a misstep if any.

At least Marvel took there time before the Money shot that was Avengers. DC seem to just want to shoot their load of the JLA as soon as possible so it doesn't get embarrassed by it.

 

[FPLOON]

*sighs* It's times like this where I feel like the DC live-action movies should have done what the animated movies did, only using the same actors just to establish character consistencies with the story-telling in general... I mean, they can still tell "original" stories that are "barely" based on any one storyline from the comics, but the fact that they would have this kind of "James Bond"-esque way of presentation (since every James Bond movie is always played by the same actor until "further notice", basically) would have been pretty interesting feet to do that feels like something DC would do when you think about it...

Regardless, both sides are taking different approaches to how they're doing their movies despite some "glaring" similarities that will keep popping up as the years go by... and, honestly, I do kinda want to see the future DC live-action movies succeed in their own right and not through "beating" Marvel at the box office when the time comes...

 

[SilverUchiha]

Yes and no. They shouldn't copy Marvel. Few, if any, are ever successful simply by copying what the most popular asshole is doing. And giving us all the same thing with different characters and settings will get old unless different spins are being done on them. Yes, Marvel and DC should be different in how they approach things in order to make sure people understand the different brands if they want to keep any semblance of "brand loyalty.

THAT BEING SAID... it wouldn't hurt either Marvel or DC to take notes from what the other is doing and apply them to their movies when it counts. Winter Soldier is arguably one of the best in the MCU simply because it had lots of darker/heavier tones like you'd see in Dark Knight, but it still retained the overall tone and feel of being a Captain America film. And DC could certainly stand to add more color or optimism in their films instead of just being Frank Miller's masturbation material. Again, keep doing what you guys think is best, but do be open to modifying and changing small details to help improve your productions.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

The only DC stuff I actually liked was Nolan's trilogy and the TV shows surrounding the DC characters/universe be it animated cartoons or otherwise (Arrow being a very good TV show).

Everything else was meh at best.