MCU vs. DCEU
Box Office Gross
10 Movies That Got Sequels Despite Being Box Office Bombs
If you look at any list of the highest grossing films of all time, both these franchises have films among the best of all time. Just on films that have broken the illustrious $1Billion mark, the MCU has 8 films that bit that hallmark: Those being “Captain Marvel”, “Iron Man 3”, “The Avengers”, “Avengers Age of Ultron”, & “Black Panther”. On top of that “Avengers: Infinity War” & “Endgame” have both broken the $2Billion mark each. With the latter film on track to become the highest grossing film of all time next to “Avatar” at the time of writing. The DCEU on the other hand has exactly … one film that broke the $1Billion mark, … Aquaman. … and uhhh … There’s not really anything else positive I can say about the DCEU’s box office records. I mean … sure Batman v Superman had a great opening weekend but it also had the biggest box office drop compared to any other film in both MCU and DCEU. So … MCU is the clear winner. I mean the numbers don’t lie.
Critical Reception
So for this round we’re going to be using Rotten Tomato’s metrics. For the MCU out of it’s 22 films, 20 of them have a “Certified Fresh” rating. The only films that don’t hit that mark are “Thor: The Dark World” & “The Incredible Hulk” but they still rank in the positive. DCEU on the other hand ... only has 2 “Certified Fresh Films”, those being “Wonder Woman” & “Shazam”. “Aquaman” still hits the positive mark, but the other 4 films are critical flops. … Alright what about Metacritic? Well it’s a similar metric. 19 off the 22 MCU films have a positive green score, and the other 3 are in the mixed yellow range: The first two Thor films and Iron Man 2. Where as only 2 films are in the green for DCEU, (once again “Wonder Woman” & “Shazam”) with the other 5 being in the yellow. TIME OUT!!! DC fans; there really is no way I can spin this list to make this a fair fight! The MCU has more films, bigger box office results and a greater consensus ratio of films with positive reception. Not to mention DC’s best films are ones outside the Extended Universe. Hell even Warner Bros themselves seems to be split on continuing their Cinematic Universe, the upcoming Joker prequel starring Joaquin Phoenix is part of its own separate timeline. And there seems to be conflicting reports that this is still going to happen. Screw it I’m just going to call it early: The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the clear winner by a landslide 5-0. But the video player still says we have (?) minutes left. So you know what, let’s take a look at the Top 5 ways to save: The DC Extended Universe.
It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint
Top 10 Best Comebacks in DCEU Movies
If there’s one film that’s indicative of the DCEU trying to rush things; it’s all on display in “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice”. It was only the 2nd film in the universe and yet it tried to cram too much into this universe too quickly, and no I’m not just talking about the ham-fisted introductions of the rest of the Justice League, it’s the fact that they blew one of DC Comic’s biggest memorable moments so early on in the Death of Superman arc, to the point where the emotional impact its trying to hit doesn’t feel earned at all. Then there’s the fact that Justice League came out despite half the team not being introduced to film audiences yet. Not to mention Steppenwolf being an incredible throwaway villain. The reason why the MCU worked is because “The Avengers” was an amalgamation of the heroes roles for films prior as a final payoff ... and payoffs take time. Not to mention the main teamup villains was someone that had been built up in the past, first with Loki, then with Thanos. Darkseid looks to be your best bet to get things back on track. Not Lex Luthor … casting Jesse Eisenberg in that role blew that chance.
Keep your Tone Consistent
Top 10 Best DCEU Moments of 2021
We’re not saying: don’t change each film’s style. Cause lets be honest we would pretty much be killing the DCEU by saying that, and we wouldn’t have gotten “Shazam”. No what we’re talking about is: Don’t the tone of a movie WHILE it’s still in production. Both “Suicide Squad” and “Justice League” are clear examples of this. Ok to be fair on Justice League, part of the reason for the change was due to an unfortunate tragedy, but even then such a tonal shift also lead to … (Superman’s face) ahhhhhhhhh! Yeesh! At the end of the day though, both this film and Suicide Squad shared the same issue: They felt like two completely different films trying to compete for airtime with each other.
Not Everything Has To Be Batman
The Batman (2021): Everything We Know So Far
We get it, Batman is the biggest fan favourite superhero of all time, but over exposing your expansive universe with one comic universe upsets the balance of a team. The MCU films stands on their own, because nearly every film that’s not a teamup is its own self established universe, so it feels like when everyone comes together, it feels like a group effort rather than just one hero carrying it all. Right now we have “The Batman” & “The Suicide Squad” and the non-universe “The Joker” on the way. Not to mention some of the projects still in early production include a “Batgirl” film, a “Nightwing” film, a “Harley Quinn & Joker” film, a “Harley Quinn, Catwoman and Poison Ivy Teamup” film, and yet another “Joker” film, this one In-Universe. It’s the “DC Extended Universe” not “The Batverse” even the Teen Titans movie was self aware about how absurd this was getting.
Ease Up On The Brooding
With the exception of Shazam, all of the DCEU film posters seem to have one thing in common, they all seem to be trying to out-brood each other. It’s like someone was standing behind the photographer going “Broood. BROOOOOOOOOOD” Come on sat to yourself “I am Brood!”, Hey Ben “Tell me something? Do you Brood?”. Yes Batman v Superman was VERY guilty of this, but even the Aquaman and Wonder Woman posters couldn’t help themselves. Hey guys: You became popular for being childhood heroes wearing colorful costumes fighting cheesy criminals and super villains. Did you guys hide comics in your Shakespeare books at school?
Nail Your Script
Top 10 Moments We Found Out Comic Actors Could Nail Dramatic Roles
You can have amazing cameos, spectacular set pieces and interesting foreshadowing moments, but all of them will mean diddly squat if the script feels like it was written by someone who feels like they’ve being pulled in 50 different directions. There’s a delicate balance for nailing a cinematic universe film script: have too little plot threads: and it feels like you're wasting everyone’s time, jam too many threads and everything feels like it’s going at an unnecessary breakneck speed. Most importantly: getting to these key moments have to make sense, and feel justified. Remember; your DC comics … Detective Comics, maybe think like a detective after you complete your script. Keep all of that in mind, take it easy and the DCEU may be worth saving.
