Marvel Comics movies and television is doing what DC Comics did with their animated series years ago. Taking different series and characters and putting them all into one shared universe. Batman the Animated Series tied into the Superman Animated Series. Both characters then starred in the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited series. They also were connected to Batman Beyond which also tied into Static Shock. It was amazing and the fans loved it. But what about the live action movies and shows? What did Marvel do to make it work? What is DC doing for their Universe?
Marvel obviously hit a home run with Iron Man. Personally he is one of my least favorite characters at Marvel because those movies are fun. They then tie it to the next upcoming Marvel movie. To begin tying it together they use two people in particular: Nick Fury Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samuel L. Jackson), and Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg). Both would interact with Thor, Captain America, The Hulk, Iron Man in their own movies which bring us to finally having them all together in The Avengers Movie. Post Avengers more movies have come and gone with additional movies to be released. Marvel has also introduced the Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television show which also ties in to the movies. Along with the TV show there is a list of short films that also happen within the Marvel movie universe and an additional Marvel TV show based on the character Peggy Carter from Captain America is forthcoming.
Marvel Movies in order of Release Year
- Iron Man (2008)
- The Incredible Hulk (2008)
- Iron Man 2 (2010)
- Thor (2011)
- Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
- Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)
- Iron Man 3 (2013)
- Thor: The Dark World (2013)
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
- Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
- Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
- Ant-Man (2015)
- Captain America 3 (2016)
Marvel is fortunate in that they have major backing by one of the biggest media companies, Disney. With Disney they had the money they would need to make their movies a reality. Each movie that came out and would tease the next one. It took years but it’s paying off. Most importantly they are making comic book movies. Not a drama with some short hero moments. We have people in costumes right out of the comic book. Sadly many of Marvel’s popular characters are held up at other studios. X-Men is currently with Fox, Spider-Man is currently with Sony for example. Marvel using the X-Men for their Universe would be amazing. Spider-man swinging by Stark Tower? Yes! But sadly it’s not something that will happen for a long while. But they have a very large roster of characters to choose from as seen in their next film Guardians of the Galaxy.
So where is DC in all this? They’ve done some very successful movies so far. The last Batman trilogy was great. The previous Superman movie did fine as well. Although they were a bit heavy handed with the action at the end. Green Lantern was a big missed opportunity. The unnecessary romance plot, the boring villain and barely any time being Green Lantern let alone in space made for a real downer. As of now I think they should go for a Green Lantern re-boot. The guy is a space cop, have him in space. Keep him there for a while. Let him return to Earth at a later movie. Another thing they have going that I’m hoping they take advantage of is Arrow and the upcoming Flash TV shows. Arrow has been great so far. The cameos and references have been a lot of fun and now they are doing The Flash. Why not have them in the same universe as the movie characters? Perhaps the folks that did awesome work on the animated series could be brought in to consult on these projects. Bring in people that love and are passionate about these characters.
Finally, DC needs to stop licensing out their characters and try to get what’s out there back. There is an upcoming Constantine TV show. I hope it’s good because since I like John Constantine Hellblazer comics. But why is it on NBC on not on the WB? Constantine should be sharing that Arrow/Flash universe. Same goes for the new Gotham city show on Fox about a young James Gordon. Like Marvel, DC also has a large selection of characters they can use that are accessible to them. It’s one of the reasons Green Arrow is used like Batman on his current show and previously on Smallville.
Marvel has proven you can please fans and still make cash. DC has the brand and iconic characters. On top of that they have proven they can make popular shows based on their characters. Now its time to make them shine the way the way Marvel is. If this is going to happen it will take a long time. This is something we as fans have to keep in mind. A movie has to be established and then linked to the next one even if in a small way. Hopefully this will lead into an awesome universe that we can enjoy for years to come just like in our comic books.