Among other things, one of the main reasons that both Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, and even Man of Steel to some extent, failed were because of their grim and dour tones. There’s nothing wrong with going dark and we’ll be the first to admit that the quip-happy nature of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is starting to grow a bit stale, but up until Wonder Woman hit theatres, the DCEU was in desperate need of some positivity, and the fans made sure that Warner Bros. knew it.
Of course, Patty Jenkins’ smash hit changed all that, bringing us a hero full of hope, optimism, humor and everything else that previous efforts had been missing. It proved to be just the thing that was needed to turn the studio’s burgeoning cinematic universe around, too, with the franchise now seemingly back on track ahead of the release of Justice League this November. As such, it’s no surprise that this is a direction that the DCEU will continue to head in with future films.
While speaking with The Wrap, DC’s Geoff Johns noted that the goal now is to make sure the upcoming efforts are fun and full of heart and humor. When asked what the new “guiding philosophy” would be moving forward, Johns said that the team is aiming to have more “optimism” in the franchise.
“Get to the essence of the character and make the movies fun. Just make sure that the characters are the characters with heart, humor, hope, heroics, and optimism at the base.”
That certainly sounds promising, and while we are hopeful that Justice League can continue to build on the momentum laid by Wonder Woman, it’s probably best to remain a bit cautious at this point. Yes, the Gal Gadot-led film was terrific and a huge win for the DCEU, but it’s only one movie and there’s still every chance that the next outing for the franchise will fail. We certainly hope that’s not the case, but there’s just so much in the way of rumors and speculation surrounding Justice League right now that it’s hard to say if it’ll be a hit or not.
Regardless, it’s great to hear that DC has finally learned from their past mistakes and we’re excited to know that they’ll be applying a much more cheerful and optimistic tone to their films from here on out.
