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

[Olas]

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:

Toilet Snip

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

That scene did occur to me after posting, I found it funny, but I wasn't sure whether it was intentional humor or just me being childish. In any case, it demonstrates how hard it is for directors to avoid slipping in humor somewhere.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

What, like at all?
C'mon fellas, I'm pretty in for these heroes to be dark and hardcore but c'mon, have so lightheartedness, will ya?

 

[Lunar Templar]

snip

Even with out this rumor, the movie is looking to be another failure anyway, just cause the guy that said it is a troll, doesn't devalue the rumor when there's plenty of reason to doubt the project in question.

 

[elvor0]

What was the best and, arguably, the most mature of the recent (highly successful) Batman films? What was it? The Dark Knight? With the villain of, wait for it, the Joker?

Oh, yes, DC, this is going to go so well.

Considering that version of The Joker didn't so much as make an amusing quip, I don't think he really works as a counter argument. He wasn't the Joker anymore than Ra's Al Ghul, Bane, or anyone else for the most part was to their comic book counter parts.

 

[Evonisia]

What was the best and, arguably, the most mature of the recent (highly successful) Batman films? What was it? The Dark Knight? With the villain of, wait for it, the Joker?

Oh, yes, DC, this is going to go so well.

Considering that version of The Joker didn't so much as make an amusing quip, I don't think he really works as a counter argument. He wasn't the Joker anymore than Ra's Al Ghul, Bane, or anyone else for the most part was to their comic book counter parts.

I think the closest we got to humorous from him was the "I'm going to make this pencil disappear" scene. I laughed at that.

 

[Strain42]

Hey WB...Why so serious? (yes...perfect...there's no way anyone else in the past 5 pages thought of that joke...)

I mean I can respect not wanting to take the action comedy route that Marvel has taken. I think that's healthy and will make them feel different...but trust me, costumed heroes running out punching bad guys gets kinda boring if you don't have SOME levity attached...

I cringe how they plan to do the Joker or even someone like the Riddler if they're going to follow some strict No Jokes policy.

Honestly, just the concept of some guy in a suit and tie going "No Jokes!" sounds like some comic book plot put in place by Gotham to keep Joker related shenanigans down. Then Joker has to show up and do the things he do...

 

[KikReask]

I remember in Batman Begins while that movie was dark and serious there were quite a few humorous moments thanks to the acting between Christian Bale and Michale Caine acting just like normal people toward one another, like in the plane scene that was funny and subtle. I honestly cannot take someone like Superman seriously, that's why I wasn't impressed with the new movie last year, how am I supposed to take him seriously? A guy in a blue costume with a red cape and red boots? These characters were made for children back in the 30s for like 10c why do they have to be so dark.

I can go on about how well the Marvel Cinematic Universe has done with comedy but everyone has already done that. And while that franchise isn't completely perfect (The only ones I didn't like were The Incredible Hulk and Thor 2) it is still more self aware. Even the X-Men cinematic universe doesn't take itself seriously all the time, it has a lot of dark and emotional moments sure but it had many funny moments too like Wolverine losing his memory and freaking out over Beast's appearance, Magneto pushing Banshee off the satellite, or the Quicksilver scene.

I'm not asking for DC to go back to the stupid comedy of the Adam West Batman certainly not but at least lighten up a bit here and there. Does this mean we won't see the Joker in any recent films?

 

[PunkRex]

Sounds great

We are very different people, my friend

I don't have a problem with it in theory. Hell, it's actually a good decision to contrast with Marvel's films. It's just that, considering their track record so far, I really don't trust they have the talent to pull it off.

I'm always telling my sister (who loves the MCU despite not actually reading comics) that that's just how WB rolls and that it's a good idea as it sets them apart... but then I remember their movies and why this is probably a bad idea.

Making a character overly serious is one easy way to disconnect them from the audience, doubt i'll be seeing many folks drawing happy group shots of WB's Justice League just chilling out eating ice cream and playing Wii Sports. Again, setting your product apart is great but if they want a overly active fan base this is probably not the best way to go.

 

[elvor0]

I remember in Batman Begins while that movie was dark and serious there were quite a few humorous moments thanks to the acting between Christian Bale and Michale Caine acting just like normal people toward one another, like in the plane scene that was funny and subtle. I honestly cannot take someone like Superman seriously, that's why I wasn't impressed with the new movie last year, how am I supposed to take him seriously? A guy in a blue costume with a red cape and red boots? These characters were made for children back in the 30s for like 10c why do they have to be so dark.

So...you can take a man that runs around on rooftops in a bat costume seriously but not Superman?

Complaining that they have to be so dark is kinda offset by your opening sentence praising the Nolan trilogy, and your worry that there might not be any Joker, when again, the Joker in the nolan movies didn't even make so much as an amusing quip. The real Joker certainly wasn't in /those/ movies. There were moments of light heartedness, but acting as if the Nolan trilogy didn't take itself seriously to the extreme in its fetish for realism is kind of off; they were still very dark films. Nolans films took themselves so seriously they threw everything aside from Batmans origin story out the window in the name of seriousness. No Ra's al Ghul, No Joker, No Bane, No Catwoman, No penguin, no clay face, no killer croc, no lazurus pits, no venom, no supervillians, no batmobile, no joker venom, no acid flowers, no jokes, no crazy comic book schemes, otherwise they might detract from the seriousness of the very grown up and realistic story we're trying to tell. About a man in a bat costume that runs around on rooftops.

You can't complain DC is trying to take itself too seriously /and/ praise the Nolan movies.

Mentioning comics were made in the 30s for children hasn't held water since at the very least 1973, when Gwen Stacy died. They haven't really been for children for a very long time. Things evolve, things "mature" and change.

 

[RJ Dalton]

They would just get too exhausting to watch.

You mean they weren't already?

Substantively, while I don't mind a more serious tone overall, you can't do 100% super serious all the time. It just gets boring. You need smaller, lighter, even funny moments from time to time just to make a story work. It's all a question of timing. When, how, and how often you drop a joke matters more than whether or not a joke is there.

 

[i4njw]

1) This is most likely not true.

2) Even if it is, they're not going to send a script back for having a bit of levity. They just don't want jokes being cracked a la The Avengers, which is a great idea, in my opinion.

Hopefully they don't make non-dark characters (read: Flash, GL, Cyborg, Shazam) dark and gritty. If they do, there'll be hell to pay.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

...Really, DC? I understand you don't want to try competing with Marvel's movies, but a series of grim, serious movies with no levity whatsoever is gonna get real dull real fast...

 

[Flammablezeus]

I'm sure there will be jokes. Even the most serious of DC stories have jokes in them. I'll never forget Flash's reaction to discovering Batman's lack of powers in the recent Justice League comics.

Now for some strange reason, the bit that sticks out most to me from this article is referring to Aquaman as kid-friendly. He's one of the few heroes who is a warrior at heart and will kill without hesitation if need be, along with Wonder Woman. Seriously, the most kid-friendly hero in DC would easily be The Flash. He's the goody-goody of the bunch (which is not a negative thing at all in my opinion.)

 

[Triality]

A no joke rule?

More like no personality rule.

 

[Bara_no_Hime]

You know what this thread needs?

A big honking animated gif of Edna Mode saying "No Capes!" But instead, the caption reads "No Jokes!" And the whole thing is preceded by a plain text stating "DC's strategy for competing with the Marvel Cinematic Universe."

If someone wants to make that gif and post it, I will owe you a cookie. ^^

 

[Azuaron]

What was the best and, arguably, the most mature of the recent (highly successful) Batman films? What was it? The Dark Knight? With the villain of, wait for it, the Joker?

Oh, yes, DC, this is going to go so well.

Considering that version of The Joker didn't so much as make an amusing quip, I don't think he really works as a counter argument. He wasn't the Joker anymore than Ra's Al Ghul, Bane, or anyone else for the most part was to their comic book counter parts.

I think the closest we got to humorous from him was the "I'm going to make this pencil disappear" scene. I laughed at that.

Everything the Joker did was a joke. They just weren't jokes that many people find funny.

 

[Souplex]

Sounds great in theory but I some part of me doubts that they will pull it off properly. Expect a lot of grey and a lot of brooding from DC in the near future, kids.

So pretty much everything they produced from 08 onward?
This displeases me.

 

[sageoftruth]

Careful. The last time people tried to break away from the Silver Age, we ended up in the Dark Age. This no-jokes restriction sounds like just that. Too much bleakness and seriousness just leads to people feeling too nihilistic to care about the characters.

 

[Racecarlock]

The problem with this approach is that when everything is serious and important, nothing is serious and important. Because there's nothing lighter to provide any contrast. It's literally 50 shades of gray.

Justice League Unlimited was a great show, why not adapt that into a movie? Hell, just edit a season together and release that. Do the second season for a sequel. Seriously, it was like a 30 minute avengers episode every week and it was awesome.