I'm not going to say Aquaman was good, but it felt fresher with the underwater setting, costumes, and character.
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It's insane how a Justice League movie came out and no one gives a crap.
- Thread starter DragonSJG
- Start date
I was always kind of baffled by the way DC handled their material after the huge success of their animated shows. So many people grew up watching Batman, Batman Beyond, Justice League, Static Shock, Teen Titans, etc. This was mainstream superheroes way before Marvel took over. Millions of people were introduced to these characters and these universes through these shows and were loyal fans of these interpretations of the characters. These weren't comic book customers. This was the collective common media market.
When it came time to jump start the DC Cinematic Universe, they didn't use any of it at all. I worked at a movie theater when Green Lantern came out. When the first poster was printed we put it up in the lobby where it was visible from the cashier counter. Almost every single day, sometimes multiple times a day, somebody would ask "Why is Green Lantern white?" They probably don't remember the name John Stewart (I didn't at the time), but they recognized Green Lantern as a certain character that was not the one Warner Bros used.
I wonder what the actual recognizability data on these characters shows. I have a very hard time imagining there are more popular or more widely recognized depictions of Raven and Starfire than the Teen Titans, for example. Maybe I overstate the significance of the DCAU because that is the version of the DCU I like best. But I feel like that is where the vast majority of mainstream audiences grew familiar with the characters and they could have made much, much more successful movies playing to that expectation. I'm not even saying they should have adapted this universe. But they never used any of it. Ever.
Imagine the state of the DCU right now if they made a Teen Titans movie in 2011 and established all of those characters at the time.
Bah, what do I know.
It gets crazier than that..,
Justice League is released and grosses less worldwide than even WB's 'worst case scenario' numbers predicted. A film featuring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman makes less domestically and worldwide than the third Thor film.
The following year Aquaman is released and becomes Warners second most successful film ever handily outgrossing Justice League in North America.
Justice League is released and grosses less worldwide than even WB's 'worst case scenario' numbers predicted. A film featuring Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman makes less domestically and worldwide than the third Thor film.
The following year Aquaman is released and becomes Warners second most successful film ever handily outgrossing Justice League in North America.
BvS and Suicide Squad being abysmal killed all momentum that movie had, it's not hard to see why it failed when there was an expectation it would with high probability be bad. The movie launches and sure enough it's terrible, it's not hard to figure out why people ignored it.
Fortunately, struggling to think about the villain led me to think of a grey CG blur and that's basically spot-on.
As a kid, this would have been my most anticipated film of all time. And although I still do like the movie, it should have been a far bigger deal than it was. How a ball can ne dropped so hard is beyond me.
WB really rushed what should have been a long build-up towards a Justice League team-up. You can rush out 3 movies that barely set up the universe and then put them all together in a bad movie.
Should have been:
Man of Steel
Wonder Woman
Aquaman
Man of Steel 2
Justice League
Should have been:
Man of Steel
Wonder Woman
Aquaman
Man of Steel 2
Justice League
Insane. I never go to movies more than once. I would be so bored by the third viewing I would just nap through the whole thing. Who has time for that!?
Yep, its a shit movie and it doesnt help that MCU showed the correct way to do a team up movie before this came out. Hell, even the forgettable Age of Ultron was better than this garbage.
Aquaman is certainly a way better movie than both Batman V Superman and Suicide Squad, but I'm just not sure how you could come to the conclusion that "good movie = good Box Office" with the overwhelming amount of evidence that that's not the case, even in the context of this series.
And I would argue that Jason Momoa as Aquaman had way more hype and excitement on his side than the supposedly "bigger" heroes in this form of the JL ever had.
These are seriously what they went with as the threats in their team ups of two of the most recognizable characters in all media.
still can't believe that Krypton on the Sci Fi channel has a better looking Doomsday.
A Justice League movie still hasn't come out yet. I'm not going to be all #ReleaseTheSnyderCut but what was released was a Frankenstein creation. You have the 2 hour run time, several scenes from the trailer flat out missing, and backstory for Flash, Aquaman, and Cyborg cut.
Iris West, Vulko, and Cyborg's football games and mom were cut. Knightmare 2.0 cut. Darkseid cut. Steppenwolf backstory cut. Superman retrieving his suit and meeting Alfred cut. Longer history lesson with Steppenwolf killing a Green Lantern. Wonder Woman would've been shown saving the 1 hostage building but other bombs in the city would've still gone off. Just a lot missing. An incomplete film.
I'm with you. It is just crazy to me that they've got all of this great material to work from, and they didn't draw from it at all. The DCAU, for me, has damn near perfect interpretations of every character you'd want in a live action DC universe.
Nailed it. They wanted Marvel-tier money, they didn't give a damn if it was actually good.
I've said it before, but given that WB had over 80 years of DC history to pull from, thousands of talented writers and storylines to reference, and plentiful examples of the Justice League being done, er, justice (no pun intended) on the small screen, you have to almost actively TRY to screw up something so easy to get right.
That's what blows my mind. The groundwork had been laid decades before and they literally tripped over every single possible mistake along the way.
Just... how? How do you ignore nearly a century of getting it right in every other medium?
That's what blows my mind. The groundwork had been laid decades before and they literally tripped over every single possible mistake along the way.
Just... how? How do you ignore nearly a century of getting it right in every other medium?
The same people who sit on Twitter and harass WB for a longer cut of a terrible movie.
DC and wb have been on a mission to ruin their good will for their live action movies. It's taken some time to destroy but they finally got to a point that people just don't give a shit. They still seem determined to run it all into the ground even now.
Truly don't know what they're gonna do outside of a full universe reboot.
Truly don't know what they're gonna do outside of a full universe reboot.
The movie flat out sucked. And I say this as a big fan of Man of Steel and someone who actually enjoys Batman v. Superman.
Not anymore they aren't. Avengers took the throne. Turns out people want good movies that respect the source material
This is what sums it up for me. Marvel movies make me feel good and laugh and have a good time. DC movies, besides WW and Aquaman, are dark and depressing and who the fuck wants that when we're dealing with superheroes with god-like powers (and in this day and age of real-life depressing things happening daily)? I don't want to be afraid of Superman losing his shit and destroying full cities. Maybe Cavill's acting just made Superman seem more wooden and having zero personality, I don't know but I grew up with JL and Superman movies and this was a terrible way to do it.
But Superman wasn't even given room to ACTUALLY die.
The end of BvS had the rocks above his grave start to float, so in the same movie he dies they basically come whisper to you at the end "not really".
The 2 or 3 seconds of Superman Returns where you see the Newspaper headline SUPERMAN IS DEAD (before the camera pans and shows an alternate headline SUPERMAN LIVES) was more emotionally impactful than anything in BvS.
I still think a large portion of fans generally know the Justice League better as the Super Friends.
A live look at Steppenwolf from the DCAU being surprised that you don't recognize him:
None of that shit would have made the movie better, just longer.
I die everytime this is posted.
Warner Execs cared more about getting their bonuses than releasing a good film. DCEU will continue to flop until they put someone in charge that cares.
It's not that insane. The movies came before were junk, except for Wonder Woman, and ruined any good will that could have been had going into JL.
I'm glad they've seemingly turned a corner, as far as the quality of their movies go. But they've squandered their chance at a cinematic universe. Maybe try again in a few years.
I'm glad they've seemingly turned a corner, as far as the quality of their movies go. But they've squandered their chance at a cinematic universe. Maybe try again in a few years.
Oh yeah. I remember him. Doesn't look anything like that in the movie.A live look at Steppenwolf from the DCAU being surprised that you don't recognize him:
Kevin Feige: "We've always said if there's any 'secret' it's respect the source material, understand the source material and then, any adaptation you make from the source material should be done only to enhance whatever the original pure spirit of the source material was."
Zack Snyder: zachsnydernecksnap.gif
Zack Snyder: zachsnydernecksnap.gif
The fact that an Aquaman movie made more than a Justice League flick still blows my mind.