The feelings that most fans have towards the current slate of DC Comics films from Warner Bros. are that they lack any semblance of “fun” in their stories. Man Of Steel features Superman with no regard for the people who are living around his heroic battle and Batman V Superman was essentially a mopey, rainy drag with some cool Batman scenes. They have their fans, but they’re also on another planet when compared to the Marvel films.
It was bad enough that Warner wanted reshoots on Suicide Squad and that current DC Entertainment’s chief creative officer Geoff Johns is promising a far brighter future for the film adventures of the company’s heroes. Warner has reportedly been scrambling to make changes and now Johns is confirming it in a new interview with The Wall Street Journal:
“Mistakenly in the past I think the studio has said, ‘Oh, DC films are gritty and dark and that’s what makes them different.’ That couldn’t be more wrong,” said Mr. Johns, who has written comic books featuring most of the company’s top superheroes. “It’s a hopeful and optimistic view of life. Even Batman has a glimmer of that in him. If he didn’t think he’d make tomorrow better, he’d stop.”
Many have complained that such a sense of optimism was precisely what was missing fromdirector Zack Snyder’s “Batman v Superman” and his 2013 Superman reboot “Man of Steel.” Neither Ben Affleck’s Batman nor Henry Cavill’s Superman crack a smile, and both films feature so much death and destruction, including killings perpetrated by the main characters, that bloggers labeled them the “DC cinematic murderverse.”
Johns definitely knows a bit about pushing DC Comics out of the darkness and into the brighter, happier type of stories fans saw in the ’70s. His work in the actual comics has always tapped into that nostalgic vein from the days before the death of Superman and the broken Batman. Having him at the helm of DC’s film productions alongside production executive Jon Berg is promising, at least for those who want a brighter movie experience.
As The Wall Street Journal points out, Johns and Berg being in charge marks changes for the initial strategy following the end of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight films. Zack Snyder will likely not have as much of a leash to do whatever he wants on screen, at least while Warner and DC attempt to figure out their place in the superhero film landscape. Hopefully, that comes before Steven Spielberg’s predicted end for all the heroic goodness.
(Via The Wall Street Journal)
