The term "Cinematic Universe" is the new trending term for "Canon". With previous crossovers such as Aliens vs Predator, Freddy vs Jason and even King Kong vs Godzilla, fans often get caught up in debates of the canonicity of such movies in relation to the original movie franchises - does an Alien skull appearing in Predator 2 mean that the Alien and the Predator exist within the same cinematic universe, thus making the crossover movies that followed canon? Though these crossover movies are ultimately an excuse to cash in on two or more lucrative franchises, studios such as 20th Century Fox have never confirmed nor denied the authenticity of such movies to a collective universe, and never will.
But all that changed in May of 2008 when Marvel Entertainment, tired of lackustre, near sighted movie adaptations of their comic book properties, unleashed Marvel Studios with the release of Iron Man starring Robert Downey Jr. which ended with Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury inviting Tony Stark into the Avengers Initiative. Little over a month later Marvel Studios released the Incredible Hulk starring Edward Norton, which ended with Downey Jr. as Stark approaching William Hurt's General Ross about a team he is putting together. The Marvel Cinematic Universe was born.
Each subsequent movie criss-crossed from franchise to franchise, fleshing out each of the characters individually before the release of the ultimate superhero crossover movie event with 2012's The Avengers (Assemble), which was not only praised by critics and fans but soon became the third highest grossing movie ever, raking in an impressive $1.5 billion worldwide. And that was just phase one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe - Marvel Studios have since released three of the five movies planned for stage two, with next years Avengers: Age of Ultron to end the phase before the studio commences phase three.
Their deal with Disney, and the studios desire to give their fans what they want with their Cinematic Universe has turned Marvel Studios from movie production newbies into a highly profitable, lucrative and desirable movie giant. Thus it is no surprise that Warner Bros. whom own the movie production rights to most, if not all, of DC's comic book properties, and especially after the success of Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, are eager to grab a piece of the cinematic universe pie.
Last years Man of Steel directed by Zack Synder, written by David S. Goyer and starring British actor Henry Cavill in the title role was the tentative first step towards a DC Cinematic Universe. Cautiously the studio waited until the Superman reboot performed well enough in the box office before greenligting their plans to compete with the Marvel Cinemtic Universe, leading to last years announcement at the San Diego Comic Con of Batman v Superman, also to be directed by Snyder, and again written by Goyer.
Since, it has been reported that Snyder and Goyer will film both Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and its successor, The Justic League, back to back, and also that both movies are to feature a wealth of meta-humans (DC's term for super-powered people) including, but by no means limited to, Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg, Aquaman and reportedly Doomsday.
While Scified Heroes hopes that Warner Bros., DC, Goyer and Snyder can pull the necessary magic out of their collective hat, we are worried about the studios over-reliance on one director to create a cinematic universe built upon the shaky foundations of a moderately successful and highly controversial reboot, compensating with an ever-swelling cast of superheroes, most of whom are not as widely known by the general public as Marvels heroes. Marvel Studios built towards the Avengers by introducing the viewing public to its key players Iron Man, Thor, Hulk and Captain America in individual movies using a talented team of directors and writers. Will DC and Warner Bros. impatience lead to one of the movie industries biggest failures? Though highly expensive movies have flopped in the past - Waterworld, John Carter - can Warner Bros. really afford such a loss, from such a risky and ill thought out project?
