[0:00] Welcome to the Heavy Spoilers Show. I'm
[0:02] your host, Paul. And in this video, I
[0:04] want to talk about why I'm even more
[0:06] worried about the future of the DCU.
[0:08] Now, if you follow the channel and
[0:09] dedicate your very being to watching us,
[0:11] then you might remember that 7 months
[0:13] ago, I did a video talking about why I
[0:15] was worried about the future of the DCU.
[0:17] In it, I talked about the Paramount
[0:18] merger, Supergirl, and Clayface, and why
[0:21] I was worried about the level that those
[0:23] projects would perform at. Now, things
[0:25] have come to pass, and Supergirl has
[0:27] opened below MorbiiUs.
[0:30] I wasn't having a [ __ ] there, right? But
[0:33] it's brought in just $68 million
[0:35] worldwide, which is not good when you're
[0:37] wanting to build something that's going
[0:38] to rival and potentially even surpass
[0:40] Marvel. To be fair, though, MorbiiUs did
[0:43] make one more billion dollars. So, yeah,
[0:45] everything's going to fall short. But I
[0:47] think whatever way you look at it,
[0:48] there's going to be a lot of worries
[0:50] about the long-term viability of the
[0:52] DCU. Hell, I was even thinking like
[0:54] yesterday, like how many out of the last
[0:56] 20 DC movies have actually made money?
[0:58] because I think we're talking in the
[0:59] single figures if you start adding it
[1:01] up. Beyond just the box office
[1:02] performances though and numbers on the
[1:04] streaming shows like Creature Commandos
[1:06] and Peacemaker, there's also a massive
[1:08] corporate upheaval. So, in this video, I
[1:10] want to discuss the state of things and
[1:12] where I think things will likely end up.
[1:14] Obviously, I want to frame this more as
[1:16] a conversation as well. So, if you want
[1:18] to add to it, disagree with me or
[1:20] whatever, then the comment section below
[1:22] is exactly where you can go. And I don't
[1:24] mean that in like a bad way like go to
[1:26] the comment section. Go then have a have
[1:28] a good time have a read and have a chat.
[1:30] Now in order to understand the current
[1:32] anxieties about the future we can simply
[1:34] look at the past. I was there Gandalf
[1:37] thousands of years ago and I remember
[1:39] what happened with Zack Snder. In 2013
[1:41] he launched Man of Steel and though
[1:43] things weren't wellreceived critically
[1:45] right from the off. The universe
[1:46] actually produced lots of financial
[1:48] successes. Man of Steel did a similar
[1:50] number to Superman from last year and on
[1:51] top of that you had Blu-ray sales and so
[1:53] on and so on. though it's pretty
[1:55] contested I think because of the
[1:57] aftermarket and inflation that Man of
[1:59] Steel has outperformed Superman because
[2:02] yeah physical media sales were great
[2:04] aftermarket you also had the rental
[2:06] market like Blockbusters then you had
[2:08] them selling things to cable networks
[2:09] and blah blah blah there was lots of
[2:12] stuff back then that doesn't exist today
[2:14] I think they then expected Batman v
[2:15] Superman to make a billion and when it
[2:17] didn't they started to worry but I think
[2:20] if they got those numbers today they'd
[2:22] actually be happy with them Woman did
[2:24] well critically and commercially. And
[2:26] Aquaman grossed over a billion. And it
[2:28] was all because of that Pitbull song in
[2:30] it that I had burned out of my brain
[2:32] until people started talking about
[2:33] Needle Drops this weekend and how the
[2:35] Supergirl one was the worst one ever.
[2:37] And someone was like, "No, the Pitbull
[2:39] one from Aquaman." And I was like,
[2:40] "Yeah, fair enough. That was the worst."
[2:42] There was also a Suicide Squad as well,
[2:44] and things did seem to be going well, at
[2:46] least financially. However, due to
[2:48] critical reception and a personal
[2:50] tragedy in Snider's life, that vision
[2:52] kind of got brushed to the side in favor
[2:54] of doing more light-hearted things.
[2:56] Eventually, we got later entries that
[2:58] collapsed under the weight of production
[2:59] issues, re-shoots, and external
[3:01] controversies. And all this culminated
[3:03] in stuff like The Flash. The Rock was
[3:05] also vying for his own universe. Henry
[3:08] Caval was announcing he was back as
[3:09] Superman one day and then fired the
[3:11] next. And you just had this constant
[3:13] state of flux where it seemed like
[3:14] everything was up in the air. Now, on
[3:16] top of this, I think there's definitely
[3:17] been a decline in audience interest
[3:19] across the board when it comes to these
[3:21] superhero movies. I talked about this in
[3:23] the last video and kind of likened it to
[3:24] music tastes. For example, you can look
[3:26] throughout time and see almost every
[3:28] decade has its own style of music that
[3:31] dominates pop culture. Whether it's rock
[3:33] and roll in the '60s, disco in the 70s,
[3:36] 80s music in the 80s, trends tend to
[3:38] rise and then become popular and then
[3:41] die out before being replaced by
[3:43] something else. Tastes change. Western
[3:45] movies weren't popular forever and it
[3:48] for sure as [ __ ] won't happen with
[3:49] superhero movies. But yeah, because of
[3:51] taste changing, people getting sick of
[3:53] stuff. I do think that the comic book
[3:54] movie genre is on its way out. Sure, we
[3:57] will have big successes. I'm sure
[3:58] Doomsday will do well. I'm sure
[4:00] Spider-Man will, Batman will always do
[4:02] well, but these lesserknown characters,
[4:05] people just aren't interested and it's
[4:07] not going to draw people in. You have so
[4:08] many projects at this point that we've
[4:10] kind of hit a point where it's all sort
[4:12] of much of a muchness. So, I did think
[4:14] when James Gun came out and announced
[4:15] they had a brand new phase that maybe it
[4:18] wouldn't even get brought to fruition
[4:19] because people are kind of past the
[4:21] point of caring. Was also a bit worried
[4:23] because there wasn't a full-on hard
[4:25] reset, which I personally think was
[4:27] something they needed to do. I know a
[4:29] couple of people who don't even realize
[4:30] this is a brand new universe because
[4:32] things just seem like there's no real
[4:34] disconnect between what's come before
[4:36] and this. Instead, they're kind of still
[4:39] tethered to the previous movies purely
[4:41] due to retaining some things. I'm a big
[4:43] fan of the phrase, don't be afraid to
[4:44] kill your darlings. And I do think
[4:46] though Gun had built up some characters.
[4:49] You know, he'd done a lot of work. He
[4:51] did need to hard reset and basically get
[4:54] rid of those characters as well and just
[4:55] start things a fresh. Because of that
[4:57] though, all the hang-ups and hangovers
[4:59] from the previous universe are still
[5:00] going to exist, even if they're coming
[5:02] out and clearly saying that this is DC's
[5:04] chapter 1, gods and monsters. But either
[5:07] way, the DC cinematic universe has been
[5:09] a mess for over a decade now. Whether
[5:11] it's Snider getting replaced on Justice
[5:13] League by Joss Weeden, the Hermadverse,
[5:15] The Rock, and then all the Gunverse were
[5:17] always in a state of flux where the
[5:19] studio is clearly just having these
[5:21] knee-jerk reactions at the first sign of
[5:23] trouble. However, Superman did kind of
[5:25] deliver on the promise of guns, saying
[5:27] that they were going for quality. Now,
[5:28] I've been pretty open in saying that I I
[5:31] personally didn't enjoy the movie that
[5:33] much, but I know I'm in the minority and
[5:35] that it was wellreceived. So, even with
[5:37] that, I was like, "Yeah, fair enough.
[5:39] wasn't for me, but things will get
[5:42] better. Also, just as a side note, um I
[5:44] am someone who sometimes takes a long
[5:47] time to adjust to things. I'm ashamed to
[5:49] admit this, uh but I really didn't like
[5:51] Batman Begins or Casino Royale when they
[5:53] first came out. They were just so
[5:55] different to what I thought stuff should
[5:57] be that when they dropped, I was like,
[5:59] "This this ain't for me. This isn't like
[6:02] it was back in my day." I was about 18
[6:04] years old. But yeah, these days are like
[6:06] two of my favorite films. And there was
[6:08] a part of me that thought, I can see the
[6:10] good in this. It's just not for me right
[6:12] now in terms of where I am. I think
[6:15] where Gun got stuff bang on though was
[6:16] with the hopeful tone, the casting, and
[6:19] the sort of comic book metropolis that
[6:21] was brought to life on screen. In
[6:23] general, I get a lot of [ __ ] on the
[6:24] channel for seeming like a gun hater.
[6:26] But I think the Guardians trilogy was
[6:27] excellent, and I have liked way more of
[6:30] his stuff than I haven't actually also
[6:32] think he's been really good to YouTubers
[6:33] as well. and all those interviews he did
[6:35] with like Ryan and Boba talks, you know,
[6:38] it was something he didn't have to do,
[6:40] but in my eyes was really positive and
[6:43] helped the show that the studios
[6:44] appreciate the people who love and
[6:46] support their stuff. But being
[6:47] realistic, it was clear that the film
[6:50] didn't quite hit the mark when it came
[6:51] to its worldwide reception. It
[6:53] underperformed globally and kind of got
[6:55] propped up by its US box office, which
[6:57] even led to people at the studio saying
[6:58] that maybe the rest of the world just
[7:00] didn't like Superman, which uh I
[7:02] probably disagree with, but where are we
[7:04] going next? Supergirl. Oh no. But look,
[7:07] it seemed like things were going in the
[7:08] right direction. And though it didn't
[7:10] break the bank, it was quite a good
[7:12] starting off point and actually the
[7:14] first DC film to make money in a long
[7:16] time outside of the Matt Reeves Batman
[7:18] stuff. So, it felt like it was starting
[7:20] the momentum and might justify a
[7:22] multi-year investment for the audience.
[7:24] Now, when they said Supergirl and
[7:26] Clayface were the next two films, I was
[7:28] a bit like m before as well when I was
[7:31] like, "What's next? Supergirl." I wasn't
[7:33] saying it cuz I'm sexist. I was saying
[7:34] cuz Superman wasn't like worldwide and
[7:36] Supergirl is a spit off of that. I think
[7:38] I've avoided the cancellation there. In
[7:40] general though, I think Gun
[7:41] sensibilities are to take obscure
[7:43] characters that aren't necessarily the
[7:45] big names and push them forward to try
[7:47] and give audiences something new and
[7:49] fresh. In general, I think he's someone
[7:51] who's just attracted to those kind of
[7:52] characters. And you could kind of tell
[7:54] that by the fact the first project in
[7:56] the DCU was Creature Commandos. Hell,
[7:59] Gun was even given free reign when he
[8:01] was hired to make Suicide Squad. And out
[8:03] of everything, that is the project that
[8:05] he said he wanted to make the most. Now,
[8:07] I am someone who is a bit I don't know
[8:09] adverse to risk when it comes to
[8:11] building a foundation. So, I personally
[8:14] think they should have established the
[8:15] trinity first and basically have done
[8:17] Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. Yes,
[8:19] I am basic. I think though when you're
[8:21] building something that you should have
[8:22] the characters that are the safest bests
[8:24] first because that's going to get the
[8:26] most eyeballs on them and make more
[8:28] people interested in exploring the other
[8:30] characters. I know Marvel didn't lead
[8:32] with their big names either, but that's
[8:34] because they literally had nothing else
[8:36] to work with, but I'm just kind of
[8:37] baffled that they've had over like nine
[8:39] flops in a row in the DCU and have still
[8:41] come out sort of betting on the
[8:43] sealisters. And mate, the other day I
[8:45] seen them announced Jimmy Olsen and
[8:46] Guerilla Garage Show and I was a bit
[8:48] like I I don't know, mate. I don't know.
[8:51] They need to move beyond just making
[8:52] projects for a small core audience,
[8:54] which is kind of the problem that Star
[8:56] Wars has run into as well. So, Supergirl
[8:59] I was a bit trepidacious on. Not because
[9:01] I'm sexist, you son of a [ __ ] Uh, but
[9:03] because she hadn't been in a big film
[9:05] and both her solo movie in the Flash
[9:07] bombed at the box office. Now, where
[9:09] doubts started to creep in was because
[9:11] of Woman of Tomorrow. I'm pretty sure
[9:13] this is the highest selling Supergirl
[9:15] comic of all time. And across the board,
[9:17] it's also regarded as being the best. It
[9:19] seemed like something that could really
[9:20] show that they valued quality first. And
[9:23] this is something that Gun was pushing
[9:24] as well. Right out the gate, he was
[9:26] saying that DC was going to be a studio
[9:28] where they wouldn't greenlight a movie
[9:29] unless the script was excellent, and we
[9:31] even saw projects fall by the wayside
[9:33] that didn't seem to live up to it. For
[9:35] example, you go back to that original
[9:37] video where he announces the slay and
[9:39] there's like loads there that has either
[9:41] been cancelled or we just haven't heard
[9:43] about. I also think the way that shared
[9:45] movie universes in general work make
[9:47] them pretty difficult to run. For
[9:48] example, Matt Reeves's Batman part two
[9:51] has got a lot of [ __ ] because of how
[9:53] long it's taken to make. But writing a
[9:55] script, finishing the script, and then
[9:58] shooting it, that's how movies used to
[10:00] be made. You see, back in the day, kids,
[10:02] uh, if you were a screenwriter, you'd
[10:04] you'd come up with the idea for the
[10:05] story. You'd sit down, you'd write out
[10:07] the whole thing, you'd get the
[10:09] beginning, middle, and end, hand it in,
[10:11] and go, "This is good. I like it. Maybe
[10:13] change this. Have we got the edits all
[10:15] done?" Great. It's all good to go. we're
[10:16] gonna go make the movie. Now though,
[10:18] they seem to just go in and hodge podge
[10:20] something together, film it, and figure
[10:22] it out as they're making it, which is
[10:24] something that's gonna cause issues.
[10:26] Though they've said that's not what
[10:28] they're doing at DC, it's clear this
[10:30] movie didn't have things nailed down and
[10:32] that they changed quite a lot in
[10:33] post-prouction. Unfortunately, with
[10:35] shared universes, you ultimately have to
[10:37] rush into stuff because if you don't,
[10:39] there's too big of a gap between
[10:41] projects. You might even hit the point
[10:43] where you announce something, stuff
[10:44] stalls, and then you can't really make
[10:46] it because the gap is too big and
[10:48] there's a big clash between where you
[10:51] are now and where you were when you
[10:52] announced things. See Blade for example.
[10:55] But because of Woman of Tomorrow, how
[10:57] good that that was. James Gun being
[10:59] like, we're not going to make [ __ ]
[11:00] around here. Superman also being good as
[11:03] well. It seemed like things were going
[11:04] to be good. Now, in all of this, looming
[11:07] on the horizon was Netflix and
[11:09] Paramount's bid to buy Warner Brothers.
[11:11] said this in the last video, but
[11:13] obviously, you know, they're going to be
[11:14] buying this company and wanting to make
[11:16] money. I can see them totally coming in
[11:18] and basically wanting to creatively
[11:20] stifle gun sensibilities and do the
[11:22] basic [ __ ] strategy that I talked about
[11:24] before. Time is something we only get a
[11:26] finite amount of. And that's also the
[11:28] case with money. So, I can really see
[11:30] them coming in and being like, look,
[11:32] shared universes cost billions and
[11:34] billions of dollars cuz you're producing
[11:35] so many like $250 million movies. Um,
[11:39] they take years and years to produce
[11:41] these films. And why are we doing this
[11:44] for these B and C list characters when
[11:46] we could just be making a Batman movie
[11:48] that actually makes back money? I don't
[11:50] even think fans can be mad at the studio
[11:52] either cuz to Warner Brothers credit,
[11:54] they've given lots of characters their
[11:55] own solo films and taking risks. Wonder
[11:58] Woman starred in BBS, two versions of
[12:00] Justice League, and also got two solo
[12:02] movies. And she was in Shazam, too, as
[12:04] well. I've just remembered that. Not in
[12:06] the script, but I just remembered it.
[12:07] But Aquaman was the same and we got two
[12:09] Shazam movies, Black Adam, Blue Beetle,
[12:12] The Flash. There was lots of characters
[12:15] given chances and lots that bombed. So,
[12:18] back to formula it is. Nah, but I think
[12:20] Supergirl has possibly shown the real
[12:22] results of what these characters can do
[12:24] financially, and I think Paramount will
[12:26] probably want to steer the ship into the
[12:28] safer bet territory, which I'm not sure
[12:31] if James Gun wants to do judging off his
[12:33] past choices. Beyond that, his contract
[12:35] is also up in 2027, so either party
[12:38] could decide the directions not right
[12:40] for them, and they have the actual
[12:42] financial results to worry them as well.
[12:44] Supergirl is estimated to have a budget
[12:46] between $170 and $186 million, and from
[12:50] the off, it faced a litany of
[12:51] nightmares. The film went through three
[12:53] composers, and there was also a rumored
[12:55] 25 minutes cut from the film.
[12:57] Pre-release tracking was also quite low
[12:59] as well, with them estimating the movie
[13:00] might make $50 million domestically. We
[13:02] now know though that it made just 38
[13:04] million and this was alarming for a
[13:06] number of reasons. It definitely won't
[13:08] be turning a profit and I think it
[13:10] represents a big drop from the launch of
[13:12] Superman. Now, anytime I've seen this
[13:14] brought up, um the obvious reply is to
[13:16] say that the MCU phase 1 movies didn't
[13:18] do crazy numbers either. Think you have
[13:20] to remember though that that's from the
[13:22] time before the superhero craze really
[13:25] took off. You're kind of comparing the
[13:27] first couple of disco albums to
[13:28] something released in the 80s. just two
[13:30] totally different time periods and
[13:32] expectations are of course wildly
[13:34] different. Plus, we just have so many
[13:36] superhero projects right now. It's just
[13:39] contextwise,
[13:41] it's not the same thing as MCU phase 1.
[13:43] I think when we live in a society where
[13:46] Marvel Studios Fantastic 4 movie
[13:48] underperforms that you have to realize
[13:49] that things just aren't the same and the
[13:51] market's totally different. I can
[13:53] guarantee right now that even if our
[13:55] lord and savior Christopher Nolan just
[13:57] kept making Batman movies every two
[13:58] years that the ones he was releasing now
[14:01] wouldn't be doing as well as the Dark
[14:03] Knight. Now, had the film been
[14:04] wellreceived and I think that could be
[14:06] spun that there might be other reasons
[14:08] for the performance. Ultimately though,
[14:10] word of mouth was terrible and the
[14:12] audience scores and reviews are pretty
[14:13] low in general. So, yeah, just I don't
[14:16] think it was ever going to perform well
[14:18] because of the movie that they made. I'm
[14:20] sure of course there will be people who
[14:22] enjoy it, but I think we have a good
[14:23] picture of the public consensus and it's
[14:25] pretty clear people disliked it than
[14:28] liked it. Also know there's people
[14:30] saying that it's because people don't
[14:31] want women led superhero movies but like
[14:33] um Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel
[14:35] disprove that by quite a bit. They show
[14:38] that they can be successful, but you
[14:40] have to do something that really sells
[14:42] the movie which this film just didn't
[14:44] have. you know, Krypto pissing on a
[14:46] picture of Superman as the first shot
[14:48] probably pissed people off. Uh, and the
[14:50] buzz around the film, every article that
[14:52] came out, it just seemed like things got
[14:55] more and more negative. I did even think
[14:57] in general that this might be a makeup
[14:59] break year for the DCU. We have
[15:01] Supergirl, Lanterns on TV, Clayface, and
[15:04] then the production of Man of Tomorrow.
[15:06] So, Supergirl is kind of if they can
[15:08] successfully bring side characters who
[15:09] cameoed in films to be successes on
[15:11] their own. Lens is whether they can make
[15:13] a TV streaming show a big success if
[15:16] they're using some of their A-listers
[15:18] and Clayface is whether the dark and
[15:20] disturbing stuff that makes up the
[15:21] monster part of Gods and Monsters is
[15:23] going to be wellreceived too. If all
[15:25] these fail to generate sufficient
[15:27] revenue, then I do think Warner Brothers
[15:29] might reassess their commitments.
[15:31] They've done it in the past. And the
[15:32] worst thing is they didn't even warn a
[15:35] brother. Yes. Yes, we did it again. This
[15:37] son of a [ __ ] Now, we did hear that
[15:39] David Ellison flew out to me. James Gun
[15:41] got a man of tomorrow to say he was
[15:42] invested in the vision, but I think guns
[15:44] leadership and creative control is tied
[15:46] to the old regime, so they might impose
[15:48] different things. There also might be
[15:50] more financial oversight, and they could
[15:52] even force DC to prioritize other IPs.
[15:55] Think DC's value is completely
[15:57] undeniable as a whole, but they'll
[15:59] probably want to focus on the surefire
[16:01] wins as opposed to taking risks. Though
[16:03] Gun did make Supergirl, per se, it
[16:06] definitely has a lot of his fingerprints
[16:07] on it. And you know, whenever something
[16:09] does badly, people are always looking
[16:10] for someone to blame. And I think the
[16:13] blame is probably going to fall at his
[16:15] feet because he's the face of the
[16:17] studio. If subsequent entries like
[16:19] Clayface or Lanterns also struggle, it's
[16:22] because of his choices. And the entire
[16:25] shared universe experiment could be
[16:26] deemed too risky or expensive. And
[16:29] profitability is always a pressure.
[16:31] Normally, if a film doesn't do well
[16:33] critically, like Minecraft or something,
[16:34] you can brush it to the side because
[16:36] it's done so well financially. But if a
[16:39] film like Supergirl underperforms
[16:40] theatrically, then it gets intense
[16:42] scrutiny, not only from the audience,
[16:44] YouTubers like me, but also from the
[16:46] studio itself. So, I think the timing of
[16:48] this and the results are basically yeah,
[16:51] not making me feel confident that we
[16:53] have a universe in slay that lasts 10
[16:56] years or more. Gun already talked to
[16:58] Boba talks about this as well and said
[17:00] that after Man of Tomorrow, he is unsure
[17:02] where things could be heading and if
[17:04] he'll even be the one who's doing it.
[17:06] Again, that contract ends in 2027. And I
[17:08] do even wonder if the wheels are in
[17:10] motion right now behind the scenes and
[17:11] they're just putting on a happy face
[17:13] while they're rolling things on Man of
[17:15] Tomorrow. God knows they've already seen
[17:17] the results of coming out and being
[17:18] like, "Oh, all those movies coming out,
[17:21] the next four, mate. Don't bother going
[17:22] to see them, mate. We're restarting the
[17:24] universe." And that basically killed
[17:26] Shazam 2, the Flash, Blue Beetle, and
[17:28] Aquaman 2. So, I can't see them being
[17:31] like, "Oh, yeah, we're scrapping this,
[17:33] mate. Things will be quiet if it's
[17:35] happening." Now, beyond that, I know it
[17:37] seems like I'm saying the sky is
[17:38] falling. Uh, but I don't think these
[17:40] worries are baseless and in fact are
[17:44] pretty grounded in corporate reality and
[17:46] observable data. The Paramount
[17:48] acquisition brings in some big
[17:50] uncertainty. And no matter what business
[17:52] you're in, new leadership coming in
[17:53] always has a focus on clear paths to
[17:55] profitability and it's normally less
[17:58] tolerant to losses. Superman did well,
[18:00] but not at the point of basically
[18:02] insulated the franchise from other
[18:03] criticisms in the way that Spider-Man
[18:05] and Multiverse of Madness helped
[18:07] dissuade criticism around some of the
[18:09] bombs in the recent MCU phases. That
[18:11] said, I do wonder if the past shakeups
[18:14] and guns reputation in general might
[18:16] also help. I'm really of the mind that
[18:18] even if things keep bombing, they should
[18:20] just steer the course, stay with how
[18:24] things are, wrap things up in a team of
[18:26] film, and then finish things after that.
[18:29] Tell a complete story. Like, in general,
[18:31] mate, if Zack Snder had got to release
[18:33] Justice League, they had that that set
[18:35] of films. That would have been it. There
[18:37] would have been no more chaos. It was
[18:38] the fact they didn't let things wrap up
[18:41] that caused so many issues, so much
[18:43] reaction, and I think the audience will
[18:46] just lose faith and not get invested in
[18:48] things going forward. If it's like, oh,
[18:51] here's another reboot. Make sure you get
[18:52] excited about it. We might stop making
[18:55] them in two years time and reboot again.
[18:57] It's kind of like, fool me once, shame
[18:59] on me. Fool me twice, shame on you. You
[19:04] You can't get fooled again. Basically, I
[19:06] think it would be a bad strategy in
[19:07] general to do another reboot after this.
[19:10] Um, so even if I'm not haven't really
[19:13] enjoyed either Superman or Supergirl
[19:15] that much, um, I think it would be a
[19:17] mistake to just reboot things once more.
[19:20] Gun's track record with Guardians of the
[19:22] Galaxy and the Suicide Squad, they
[19:24] demonstrate an ability to deliver
[19:26] distinctive superhero fair that works
[19:28] for the majority of the audience. After
[19:30] what's happened this weekend, I think
[19:31] they really need to come out swinging
[19:33] and that Comic- Con needs to have some
[19:35] massive, massive announcements. I also
[19:37] think they could do something with
[19:38] Clayface where they have a Batman cameo
[19:41] and do it where that's when they
[19:42] announce who's playing him. If you cast
[19:44] your mind back to the Flash screenings,
[19:45] you might remember that they cut off
[19:47] before revealing who is playing Batman.
[19:48] There was lots of rumors there was a
[19:50] past actor and I remember hearing it and
[19:51] being like, "Oh, mate, it's got to be
[19:53] Bale. Christian Bale is back." wasn't
[19:55] the case obviously, but stuff like that
[19:57] can really elevate hype and I think that
[19:59] would get a lot of eyeballs on the film
[20:01] and it probably wouldn't be that
[20:02] difficult to just add in that scene and
[20:05] doing like a minute long or even 30
[20:08] seconds could add a couple million to
[20:10] the box office. Ultimately though, DC
[20:13] survival will depend on how Supergirl
[20:15] legs out and how everything does between
[20:17] now and Man of Tomorrow. However,
[20:19] without stronger box office results and
[20:21] stable corporate support, the fears that
[20:23] the DCU may not continue in its current
[20:25] ambitious form, I feel are very real.
[20:28] The next 12 to 18 months will likely
[20:31] determine whether this reboot becomes a
[20:33] sustained success story or another
[20:35] chapter in DC's long history of
[20:37] cinematic reinvention and
[20:38] disappointment. I even wonder like after
[20:40] this what Gun's going to do. Um, and I
[20:43] do kind of hope that he goes and
[20:44] stretches his creative muscles on
[20:46] something else. I'd love to see him do a
[20:48] horror movie or something. In general,
[20:50] as someone who's been covering this
[20:52] genre for nearly 10 years myself, I can
[20:54] imagine being in this space is quite
[20:58] creatively limiting. Um, especially if
[21:00] you're doing decades and decades of it.
[21:02] So, I hope he just goes off and makes
[21:04] something else if this falls apart, but
[21:05] I also kind of hope that it doesn't fall
[21:07] apart. But yeah, that's my worries in
[21:09] regards to how things have gone this
[21:10] weekend. And I'd of course love to hear
[21:12] your thoughts on whether you disagree,
[21:14] whether you agree. If you've got
[21:16] anything to add, leave it all below. You
[21:18] can also follow us on Instagram at Heavy
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[21:37] life. Anyway, huge thank you for sitting
[21:39] through this bit of a rant. Uh, and I'll
[21:41] see you on the next one. Take care.