Rumor: Warner Bros. Imposes "No Jokes" Rule On DC Comics Movies

[Baron von Blitztank]

Was honestly surprised to see that this wasn't a News feed done by Taco News...

OT: Well, looks like they're taking the 'comic' out of comic book movies. Guess we've got a good 10 years of grim, grey, joyless action from DC. Makes me wonder what will happen if they throw in Plastic Man...

 

[CaitSeith]

Admittedly, Warner/DC has done little to warrant defense as of late but allow me to play Devil's Advocate for a moment and suggest that this mandate can simply be interpreted as "take the material seriously."

DC, more than most Marvel comics, has characters that are much easier to treat as jokes based on their very concept. Aquaman alone tends to be a walking punchline to a joke nobody told. Look at the new 52 Aquaman comics for example wherein the first few issues he's the target of a running joke that he's nobody's favorite hero.

It's entirely too easy to take that idea and run with it and I can entertain the notion that the "No Jokes" policy is simply meant to deter that kind of treatment.

For a moment I thought that when you said "take the material seriously", it meant "no joking about the script, no matter how bad it seems".

 

[Edguy]

I'm all for a super serious DC universe if they could pull it off. Sadly, making superhero movies who take themselves 100% seriously, and much less a whole cinematic universe of them, is really hard. In other words, I doubt it's a smart move. Thanks Nolan, for ruining DC movies for the next decade.

 

[chocolate pickles]

Serious is one thing, and i can respect if they want to go that route. But 100% straight face seems a bad idea with a premise as ridiculous as superheroes running around in bat costumes beating the shit out of people.

 

[TheDoctor455]

I don't mind this, to an extent. It will help set them apart from Marvel's movies but if true, WB is kidding themselves if they are not going to allow any kinds of moments of levity in their films. They would just get too exhausting to watch.

Yeah... I don't really have a problem with Batman pulling a joke...

I mean... take a look at this clip and just try to tell me that it isn't quintessential Batman (no matter how dark he gets)... and hilarious at the same time:

 

[angel85]

Warner Brothers: "So, the other guys made the highest grossing movie of the year...let's make it a point to do the exact opposite of what they did."

 

[coheedswicked]

I like the fact that they want their movies to be distinctive and different from others out there... we'll see how this goes

 

[BoogieManFL]

Saying "No jokes." seems a bit short sighted to me. How about work on the script and the dialogue and see if any would fit the situations and characters before completely axing any chance for it. A little humor works well with people, so long as it doesn't feel forced or artificial. This just strikes me as a way of saying "We're different." for the sake of being different, like that is even required or expected.

I'm not a writer but I think that if I were, I would be frustrated at the loss of creative potential. I imagine it will make characters have less depth and personality if they are restricted from exhibiting a fundamental human emotion.

 

[anti movie bob]

Good, so there is no danger of DC characters turning into annoying snark machine shitty ass joss weadon characters that have no difference between them and all talk the fucking same
and there is humour in dc movies,, it just doesnt slap you in the face with its dick like marvel movies

 

[FalloutJack]

So, the WB solution to setting itself apart from Marvel is to be kind of stupidly one-dimensional? Come on... Even BATMAN has told a joke! And he's the DC straight-man if you ever saw one!

 

[Sniper Team 4]

But...I like the wit that the characters play off of each other with. Justice League and Justice League: Unlimited had plenty of humor. Teen Titans had humor. Young Justice had humor. All of those shows were mega hits.

You don't need to full on copy Marvel, D.C., but if you're seriously planning on sucking all the humor out of the movies, then I'm going to pass. I found Dark Knight Trilogy straining my nerves enough because it was so dark and 'real' with very little humor, but at least it was there. This would not be fun for me if they go this way.

 

[MrCaptainA]

With everything that's come out about this movie.... surely the film itself will be one big punchline.

 

[Darth_Payn]

Hear that? It's the sound of cocking the gun WB is going to shoot themselves in both feet with if they' re going to follow through on this really bad idea. I get superheroes are an inherently silly concept, but by Odin's beard, do they have to be so damn dour and take away the fun?! It's not just movies, it's a problem in DC's comics too. If civilians of all ages can be slaughtered en masse by the thousands, I'm just not having any enjoyment. It makes the heroes look like they suck at their jobs.

 

[Callate]

Assuming this is true, one has to ask... Is it really a good idea for all the jokes to be on the outside? (Or to spin a variant on the old saw, would you rather they be laughing at you than with you?)

 

[F-I-D-O]

Because, you know, having some form of pacing to your scenarios/dialogue has never helped any movie be enjoyable.
Hell, District 9 used "popping like popcorn" to not only dull a reaction to the slaughter of children, but also developed the main character, making his overall arc all the more interesting.
But no.
We need dark, serious Batman and Superman. Let's homogenize our characters into a bleak, depressing goop.
FOREVER.

 

[McMarbles]

It's like they WANT to fail.

captcha: leave me alone

is what I say to the idea of trying to do a grim Shazam.

 

[Varadar]

No jokes? Does that mean that they don't want to include Joker in their future movies?

 

[inidu]

Even Nolan's Batman movies have jokes, or at least moments that have an element of humor or levity. Movies completely devoid of humor have to be really REALLY solid thematically, or else they come off as pretentious.

I'm trying to think of a movie without any humor at all, and the only thing I can come up with is 2001 A Space Odyssey, but that movie barely has any human emotion at all so it's almost not applicable.

2001: A Space Oddyssey has humor, and quite possibly Stanley Kubrick's last ever throwaway joke:

They hold this shot, with the actor looking pensively at the instructions, for just the perfect amount of length for it to be hilarious.