Sometime in the last couple of weeks, I got to see The Flash and Green Arrow team up. There was playful banter, crossing of super hero teams, and clashes in physical and mental approaches to situations. In the big crossover event between CWs The Flash and Arrow, I got to see in live action what I’ve only seen in animated movies and comic books for DC characters. Marvel has been dominant with their franchise so far. They were first to get a team of heroes all on one screen to fight a larger threat and it was freaking awesome.
And I’m saying that as a DC fan. Since 2008, Marvel Studios has hammered down their connected universe and are even backed with Marvel movies from Fox and Sony. Even though not all of these movies are true cinematic gems, I still watched them, I probably enjoyed them, and then they all made lots of money.
So where’s DC in all of this? 2008 was the latest highpoint in the DC cinematic universe with the release of The Dark Knight. We got Green Lantern, The Dark Knight Rises, and Man of Steel, but let’s be honest, no one holds a close enough candle to say Avengers, Captain America 2, and more recently Guardians of the Galaxy. And comparitively, Marvel and the affiliated studios have been releasing up to three movies a year vs. Warner Bros./DC’s 1.
So all in all the cinematic candle won’t come close until 2016 when DC finally kicks off its connected cinematic universe with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. And they still might not come close. But action stews further away from the silver screen. But what about the smaller screen candle?
DC has taken to television before. Besides animated favorites like Justice League, Teen Titans, and Young Justice, shows like Smallville, The Flash (1990), and Birds of Prey were somewhat popular. But now in this age of where superhero and comic book based media isn’t lame anymore, DC has really let their shows fly and their audiences with them.