DC Comics Multimedia General - A crisis of infinite fuck ups

[Newcomer 42]

What if Gunn wants to sabotage Warner for whatever reason? Once his movies tank, people will be fed up with superheroes for at least a decade, thanks to the stream of shit hero movies. Worse, even the proper heroic hero is getting rare as they're all weaklings or safe edgy anti-heroes. 2025 Supercuck was a lengthy humiliation ritual for a character that doesn't deserve it. Hell, Superman can't even say "the American Way!" anymore for reasons.

 

[Drag-on Knight 91873]

What if Gunn wants to sabotage Warner for whatever reason? Once his movies tank, people will be fed up with superheroes for at least a decade, thanks to the stream of shit hero movies. Worse, even the proper heroic hero is getting rare as they're all weaklings or safe edgy anti-heroes. 2025 Supercuck was a lengthy humiliation ritual for a character that doesn't deserve it. Hell, Superman can't even say "the American Way!" anymore for reasons.

No, I don't think it's intentional because all the blame falls on him. His stink is everywhere on these projects even when uncredited, so WB will easily point to his insanity as to why these projects fail.

 

[Beelzebub's Lawyer]

What if Gunn wants to sabotage Warner for whatever reason? Once his movies tank, people will be fed up with superheroes for at least a decade, thanks to the stream of shit hero movies.

He's not that smart and also, what would he have to gain from this?
After this universe fails completely, Gunn's career will be over.
Maybe he will get a Netflix movie or 2 afterwards like Snyder did.

 

[Incecticyder]

In this case my criticism isn't on the premise, but on choice of characters. Practically everything can work if you write it well.

But I question Gunn wasting precious time and resources on this. It's not that it can't be done well, it can, but rather that is massive detour from his priority that should be people falling in love with the main DC universe and it's characters.

Kids are born everyday that still need introducing to the DC universe, and also work on making new and old people love and be fans of characters like, indeed, Captain Atom. The Z list might have potential, but they are just a terrible choice to jumpstart a universe you are supposed to steward.

I can see this as a case of "wetting the feet". Starting with character no one knows to see what the writers can do with a blank canvas. If you can't write Z-listers, you can't write anyone.

Oh you know libshit Gunn would just make Captain Atom the Flagg guy who Peacemaker killed in his gay Suicide Squad movie.

Gunn was the wrong guy to direct this. Have him direct a few of the more cynical characters but not the entire true blue universe.

And he’d be made by Waller and he’d still lead the Suicide Squad despite his powers being “Doctor Manhattan but not a jewish scientist and therefore not at what he could be.”

Or he’d be on the Authority, cause ain’t no way is something as based as Armageddon ever going to happen again and you must humiliate the veteran widower, right-leaning guy who is extremely masculine.

In my mind, his story should be this: Nice Pilot that wanted to fight for his country, got into trouble for beating a criminal soldier related to one of his superiors, was forced to take part in the experiment and he transformed. There, good man, got into a fight because he was good and got super. That is how it should be done.

 

[Humble Architect]

I think Captain Atom should’ve been “The Superman” for an “almost” generation of heroes in the Cold War and he just spawns into present day, everyone thought he died absorbing an apocalyptic amount of nukes but no, he just blasts himself into 2026. Like in his original comic but so much worse cause more time has passed since the end of the war, whatever’s left of his family would be alien to the poor guy. Which would transition nicely to being put on the League as a spy.

Hell, have him be an inspiration for Clark, the same way Superman is to Billy Batson. With the Justice Society you can say they inspired Nathaniel Adams who grew up on the idea of costumed heroes and could’ve been *the* superhero of his time.

Captain Atom is great because on the surface he’s Mr America and when he’s written well, it’s his version of Clark Kent. Nathaniel Adams uses his super-persona to hide his real self, which is the inverse of the cliche where the “secret identity” is an act, to throw off suspicion like clumsy Clark or idiot Bruce Wayne.

Whether he’s a propaganda tool, a weapon, a spy, horribly depressed and sinking into work, the silver skin is his version of the baggy, ill-fitting suit on a hunched oaf with bad glasses.

Both in-universe and out, it’s very good, because he’s seen as a flag-wearing thug that go boom. When internally he’s already on the path to Doctor Manhattan levels of despair-born indifference.

 

[BubbaRobot887]

What if Gunn wants to sabotage Warner for whatever reason? Once his movies tank, people will be fed up with superheroes for at least a decade, thanks to the stream of shit hero movies. Worse, even the proper heroic hero is getting rare as they're all weaklings or safe edgy anti-heroes. 2025 Supercuck was a lengthy humiliation ritual for a character that doesn't deserve it. Hell, Superman can't even say "the American Way!" anymore for reasons.

There has been talk about bringing him in to run the MCU after the universe is reset with the next two Avengers movies.

Using him to take down DC may have been Disney's plan the whole time.

 

[Fatsuit Shinji]

Captain Atom was Charlton Comics contemporary to DC's Superman, as was Fawcett Comic's Captain Marvel. Except Captain Marvel/Shazam was better received by DC staff and treated like as a hero. As opposed to Captain Atom in which DC's haves a general off and on dislike of him.

 

[Basic Blond Boy]

Bankrupt studio Warner Brothers must have already spent a billion dollars on James Gunn's DC projects and have gotten nothing in return yet they keep writing him blank checks.

What does he have on the executives at Warner Brothers?

Nothing

Gunn got the reigns because Zazlav is a business man and didn’t care how the universe ended up. His goal was to sell Warner to someone and at a higher price-point than Warner was actually worth.

Gunn was a Marvel legend and with his name plastered, he could sell the idea that DC was now a big brand worth those millions another company would pay for Warner. It’s all corporate marketing and getting ready for the next merger. ATM, Gunn is just announcing shit to keep pushing that DC is back and probably convince Paramount that he is still super great and worth keeping once this merger goes fully through.

Most likely outcome is Paramount shitcans this entire thing and probably starts over again once Zazlav isn’t there to gas up a mid.

 

[Humble Architect]

Captain Atom was Charlton Comics contemporary to DC's Superman, as was Fawcett Comic's Captain Marvel. Except Captain Marvel/Shazam was better received by DC staff and treated like as a hero. As opposed to Captain Atom in which DC's haves a general off and on dislike of him.

Oh I’m well aware, I’m just saying how he should be used.

Lord do they hate him.

 

[Mystery Spy]

Captain Atom was Charlton Comics contemporary to DC's Superman, as was Fawcett Comic's Captain Marvel. Except Captain Marvel/Shazam was better received by DC staff and treated like as a hero. As opposed to Captain Atom in which DC's haves a general off and on dislike of him.

To be fair the SHAZAM franchise has too always been a victim of being mishandled by DC and WB.

Easy to forget, but he, and his family were the most popular superheroes in the world for a time. It has always been my theory marvel snagged the trademark of the name “Captain marvel” in back in the day, in part out of fear of him being reaching that potential again.

A fear that ended up unfounded as he always has ended up playing second fiddle with Superman around.

Nowdays people care more about him because Young Justice and the first movie. But he is still easily a case of wasted potential.

 

[Incecticyder]

I think Captain Atom should’ve been “The Superman” for an “almost” generation of heroes in the Cold War and he just spawns into present day, everyone thought he died absorbing an apocalyptic amount of nukes but no, he just blasts himself into 2026. Like in his original comic but so much worse cause more time has passed since the end of the war, whatever’s left of his family would be alien to the poor guy. Which would transition nicely to being put on the League as a spy.

That would be too similar to Captain America. They wouldn't beat the accusations.

Hell, have him be an inspiration for Clark, the same way Superman is to Billy Batson. With the Justice Society you can say they inspired Nathaniel Adams who grew up on the idea of costumed heroes and could’ve been *the* superhero of his time.

Captain Atom is great because on the surface he’s Mr America and when he’s written well, it’s his version of Clark Kent. Nathaniel Adams uses his super-persona to hide his real self, which is the inverse of the cliche where the “secret identity” is an act, to throw off suspicion like clumsy Clark or idiot Bruce Wayne.

Whether he’s a propaganda tool, a weapon, a spy, horribly depressed and sinking into work, the silver skin is his version of the baggy, ill-fitting suit on a hunched oaf with bad glasses.

Both in-universe and out, it’s very good, because he’s seen as a flag-wearing thug that go boom. When internally he’s already on the path to Doctor Manhattan levels of despair-born indifference.

I think that a conflicting loyalties would work no matter what. It worked in JLU Captain Atom might be a soldier but he is also moral. I do not think he would go full emo like Dr. Manhattan.

Gunn was a Marvel legend and with his name plastered, he could sell the idea that DC was now a big brand worth those millions another company would pay for Warner. It’s all corporate marketing and getting ready for the next merger. ATM, Gunn is just announcing shit to keep pushing that DC is back and probably convince Paramount that he is still super great and worth keeping once this merger goes fully through.

You see, I get that. Give a talented storyteller a blank check. I can understand that. What I don't get is why give the guy who failed to understand "Superman VS the Elite" was criticizing that kind of "heroes". He took Superman and turned him into the naïve idiot the Elite thought he was. My question is this: Why did no one think this would happen? Give him the heroes that fit his sensibilities. Not Superman.

Lord do they hate him.

To the point they wanted to turn him into a villain.

To be fair the SHAZAM franchise has too always been a victim of being mishandled by DC and WB.

Easy to forget, but he, and his family were the most popular superheroes in the world for a time. It has always been my theory marvel snagged the trademark of the name “Captain marvel” in back in the day, in part out of fear of him being reaching that potential again.

A fear that ended up unfounded as he always has ended up playing second fiddle with Superman around.

Nowdays people care more about him because Young Justice and the first movie. But he is still easily a case of wasted potential.

Shazam is such a waste. They have no idea what to do with him.

 

[Mystery Spy]

Shazam is such a waste. They have no idea what to do with him

I think the SHAZAM franchise only has one real way up.

I’ve read some of its no canon comics that DC has done and they are surprisingly solid, as well as the few glimpses we got of Earth-S. Trouble is they are aimed at kids, and kids just don’t buy comics anymore (manga, on the other hand...).

As good as the first live-action SHAZAM movie was, it just highlighted the Achilles' heel of doing it live-action. Movies can take 2 years to make, at least. Realistically, even if you started with a 12-year-old kid, by his third movie he will be 18 years old.

I think the one way it can recover is just going animated. That way you don’t have to worry about the kids growing up.

Doesn’t even have to be high-quality animations (though that would be ideal), or even CGI. Just a high-quality show would do wonders for them.

The last time the SHAZAM family had a show was in the 70’s. Meanwhile they have had to survive over the years as guest stars in other shows

 

[BubbaRobot887]

I am just waiting for SHAZAM to enter the public domain in just over a decade so that someone who cares and has a brain can do something good with the character.

 

[Fatsuit Shinji]

LOTR, Matrix 2 & 3 and Harry Potter shown how to do two or three movies before the actors age up too much. However with the current TPTB destroying Hollywood and still pedoing the underage. Going with animation is the far better route as you said.

 

[Incecticyder]

I think the SHAZAM franchise only has one real way up.

I’ve read some of its no canon comics that DC has done and they are surprisingly solid, as well as the few glimpses we got of Earth-S. Trouble is they are aimed at kids, and kids just don’t buy comics anymore (manga, on the other hand...).

As good as the first live-action SHAZAM movie was, it just highlighted the Achilles' heel of doing it live-action. Movies can take 2 years to make, at least. Realistically, even if you started with a 12-year-old kid, by his third movie he will be 18 years old.

I think the one way it can recover is just going animated. That way you don’t have to worry about the kids growing up.

Doesn’t even have to be high-quality animations (though that would be ideal), or even CGI. Just a high-quality show would do wonders for them.

The last time the SHAZAM family had a show was in the 70’s. Meanwhile they have had to survive over the years as guest stars in other shows

Yeah, animation would be ideal.

 

[Beelzebub's Lawyer]

Using him to take down DC may have been Disney's plan the whole time.

Taking down DC won't do Marvel any good.
These companies are propping each other up.
If one releases a series of gigantic flops, that affects the perception of the general audience as far as the entire superhero genre goes and Marvel will lose their audience too.

 

[BubbaRobot887]

Taking down DC won't do Marvel any good.
These companies are propping each other up.
If one releases a series of gigantic flops, that affects the perception of the general audience as far as the entire superhero genre goes and Marvel will lose their audience too.

This is the same Disney that thinks if they just call people racist enough that they will come back to their movies and who thinks paying RDjr. 100 million dollars per movie to play someone other than Tony Stark is a good business move. They could make Godzilla Minus One ten times over for what they are paying one actor who hasn't had a hit film since 2019. I don't think they are smart enough to understand that. I think they think if they are the only game in town they will make all the money, that is why they buy every studio out there and if they can't buy it they try to destroy it.

 

[strumpets exeunt]

Oh I’m well aware, I’m just saying how he should be used.

Lord do they hate him.

I'm not sure at what point being a comic author became synonymous with being a commie dickhole, but it definitely seems to have happened. Now it seems you can only have a good militarily-aligned character if their entire existence is centered around stomping Nazis/corrupt police officers/rednecks. Hal Jordan suffers a lot from this one, too. It's going to eventually become the case that you can't have a character even be friendly with the police, which is what we're seeing happen in Batman right now. Does Barry Allen still do police work, or has that been phased out by now?

 

[BubbaRobot887]

I'm not sure at what point being a comic author became synonymous with being a commie dickhole, but it definitely seems to have happened. Now it seems you can only have a good militarily-aligned character if their entire existence is centered around stomping Nazis/corrupt police officers/rednecks. Hal Jordan suffers a lot from this one, too. It's going to eventually become the case that you can't have a character even be friendly with the police, which is what we're seeing happen in Batman right now. Does Barry Allen still do police work, or has that been phased out by now?

Yeah these guys rage against the police but I have been to Marvel and DC's offices and there is a heavy police presence out side the offices and they have armed security guards. Like all commie cowards they call for the death of cops while expecting the cops to take a bullet for them.

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

They could make Godzilla Minus One ten times over for what they are paying one actor who hasn't had a hit film since 2019. I

you can hide five millions dollar in money laundering a lot more easily in a two hundred million dollar production than a ten million dollar one