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| The Flash on the CW. So good. So Very Good. |
I have an axiom that I use whenever people want to discuss
rumors about upcoming super hero movies, and stuff that “they” have said “they”
are working on: Until I see a picture of the alleged actor, in costume, on the
set, with a cup of Starbucks coffee in his hands, talking to the Director about
the next shot they are lining up, my official policy is, It’s Not Happening.
That axiom has saved me a ton of grief over the years. I’ve
used the hours I didn’t spend freaking out about things that ultimately did not
come to pass to write books, cherish loved ones, and learning to ballroom
dance. It’s added much to my quality of life, and I suggest you all implement
it immediately.
I bring this up because right now, there’s a lot of talk
going on about Warner Brothers’ plans with the DC Universe. You’ve seen the
announcement by now, I imagine, but just in case you haven’t, here’s Entertainment
Weekly’s coverage of the press release. Forgive me if I don’t get excited,
just yet. This sounds like a fanboy’s wish list, and looks like it closely
mimics the Marvel Universe movie line up, like their recently-announced
Phase Three Plans.
When you compare the two lists, a couple of problems bubble
immediately to the surface. Number one, Marvel is into Phase Three of what is
clearly a complicated, overlapping, interlocking network of movies—and in fact,
every single one of the movies in Phase 1 and Phase 2 has been made or is about
to wrap up. DC, on the other hand, has made, remade, and in some cases,
re-remade Batman and Superman origin stories until we are sick to death of
them. Their one foray into the wider DC Universe was Green Lantern, and it was
a hot emerald mess from top to bottom.
And if you remember the not-too-recent history, Warner
Brothers has a habit of starting and then scrapping plans when it comes to
their super hero franchises. The Doomed-From-the-Start Nick Cage/Tim Burton/Kevin Smith
Superman movie is proof of that. How far down the line did they get? And it
never got made, right? So, what does this announcement about two Justice League
movies mean to me? Bupkiss, is what.
When we do get a Batman and Superman movie—again, because
I’ve totally forgotten their
iconic-to-the-point-of-being-imprinted-on-our-collective-DNA origin stories,
they are either happy accidents (Nolan’s Batman trilogy) or controversial
wedges that divide the Geek Nation (Zach Snyder’s Superman). Warner hasn’t hit
one out of the park since Nolan’s second Batman movie, The Dark Knight (2008), and even then, there was a small
sub-segment complaining that the movie was too dark. But it was that success
that took us directly to neck-snapping Superman, because Warner Brothers
executives don’t understand their intellectual properties and haven’t in
decades. For the reasons why this is so,
I’ll point you to this excellent article on how
the accountants are running Hollywood these days, as well as why this is so.
In short, I have no faith, nor any confidence that Warner
Brothers Studios will be able to fulfill or deliver on any of the promises made
in their grand announcement. It would be great if they could, but if you’ll
look closely at me, you’ll notice I’m not holding my breath. I feel like
Charlie Brown, trying to kick the football, only instead of trusting Lucy one
last time, I’m walking off. I’ve got better things to do.
I told you all of that to tell you this: I am in love with
what Warner Television is doing right now.
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| Arrow. It's gotten much better. |
I wasn’t, for a long, long time. Arrow did not grab me, initially, and that’s mostly because I
suffered through an excruciatingly long marathon of Smallville—nine seasons, in fact—to get to the “good stuff,” only
to find that I really didn’t like where Smallville
ended up. I hated the soap opera elements of the show, and I really hated the
casual name drops that showed someone in the writer’s room googled “Superboy”
but that didn’t always connect with an actual in-show concept. It was too
intense, too apologetic about the source material, and way too back lit for my
tastes. But for a decade, it was the only live-action super hero show in town.
Yes, I know, there was Birds
of Prey. I stand by my original statement.
The first season of Arrow
looks and feels exactly like 2001 Smallville,
only 30% more Grim and Dark. The Geekster Eggs are dropping like drone strikes,
full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. “See? We named his SISTER Speedy!
Eh? That’s what you guys like, right? Lots of in-jokes?” Then there’s the back
story... However, despite all of that, Arrow
covered a lot of ground for a show that had nothing more powerful in it than
guns, arrows, and martial arts.
The second season felt like a response to the Internet, and
so here come the super powers. Nothing major, just yet. Super soldier stuff,
mostly. I suspect this toning down of the Four-Color Hero stuff was a way to
pitch it to executives that didn’t quite get what the show was about. “Green
Arrow? Why is it green? You know, studies have shown that Orange is trending with the kids right now.
Let’s call him Orange Arrow!” Hey, I get it; you had to get the show on the
air. That’s why the soap opera elements are cranked up through the roof and
there’s not a lot of trick arrows flying around. But it got better. And it
continues to move closer to what we wanted to see in the first place: super
heroes doing super hero shit.
But in the middle of the series, we get to watch the Flash’s
origin play out, and then suddenly, the kid gloves are off, and they never come
back on. It’s still Grim Dark, and major characters are dropping like flies,
because that’s how you keep people’s (and hero’s) interest; by slaughtering
everyone around them. Somewhere in
there, it was announced that they were spinning off a Flash TV show. Helmed by
the same guy that did Arrow. Very
cool, but...will it be Grim and Dark? I was initially worried, because in the
new, retconned, and thoroughly unnecessary origin written by Geoff Johns, young
Barry Allen witnesses his mother’s death at the hands of a super speedster
dressed in yellow. Because we can’t have nice things, apparently. Everyone has
to die, or there’s no reason to be a super hero.
Aside from that, the show has been a real breath of fresh
air, throwing villains out into the show, nilly-willy, and with alacrity in its
heart. Actual super powered villains. Captain Cold, for example. Granted, he’s
not dressed in the blue and white parka, but you didn’t really expect him to
be, now, did you? And instead of reworking his name, they kept Leonard Snart.
No stupid fake Easter Eggs here that go nowhere and do nothing. When one of the
characters says Ralph Dibny (and he does), he’s talking about the guy who will
become The Elongated Man. Really? How cool is that?
And you can really appreciate the difference in tone from
the two part, two show crossover (one of which was named The Brave and the
Bold) and see these two characters working side-by-side. It’s striking at just
how different the shows are. But the more important thing going on here isn’t
the transformation that has taken place in just two and a half seasons of Arrow and a half season of The Flash. No, the thing you need to be
checking out is the world building going on.
Those two shows are building the DCU right under Warner
Brothers Studios’ noses.
So far, in the two series, Arrow and The Flash, we
have been introduced to, among other minor and lesser and non-powered
characters the following DC staples:
The Huntress
Count Vertigo
Black Canary
H.I.V.E.
A.R.G.U.S.
Amanda Waller
The Suicide Squad
Deathstroke, The Terminator
Deadshot
The League of Assassins
Ra’s Al Ghul
Speedy/Arsenal
Brother Blood
Wildcat
Bronze Tiger
China
White
Captain Boomerang
The Atom
S.T.A.R. Labs
The Flash
The Crisis on Infinite Earths event
Captain Cold
Reverse Flash
Weather Wizard
Multiplex
Prism
Mist
Plastique
Simon Stagg (and Java)
Gorilla Grodd
Firestorm, the Nuclear Man
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| Grodd! Grodd! I swallowed my gum when I saw this. |
This is not every single reference in both shows: I
specifically omitted characters whose names were appropriated in a stupid way
and never used (Arrow, seasons 1 and
2) and that list of characters we all heard, but haven’t seen yet (The Flash,
season 1) I ended with Gorilla Grodd and Firestorm on purpose. Show of hands,
here: who among you ever thought in your wildest dreams that we’d ever see
Gorilla Grodd and Firestorm on live-action TV? If you actually raised your
hands, then take a well-deserved victory lap, because the rest of us just
snort-laughed and said, “Sh-yeah, that’ll be the day. We can’t even get a
Wonder Woman movie.”
That list above encompasses some very large concepts and
real estate in the DC Universe. First of all, I want to point out that the
League of Assassins and Ra’s al Ghul are Batman Family concepts, and pretty big
ones, at that. So Star(ling) City and Central City are in the same world as Gotham and Metropolis. That means, Bludhaven, Hub City, Coast City,
and in fact, they’ve already mentioned Keystone City.
Pick your favorites, place your bets, ladies and gents! The Question?
Nightwing? Who’s up next in this collection of shows? Another spin-off? Sign me
up, man.
Greg Berlanti,
the creator of both Arrow and The Flash, is in a unique position at the moment.
He’ll have two full seasons of Flash and four seasons of Arrow under his belt
before the next turgid, overblown Zach Snyder movie trundles in and splits the
comic con hall in twain again. Considering how fast (forgive me) The Flash is
developing, how much extra world building do you think he can get done between
now and then? Firestorm? Metamorpho? The Atom?
Granted, it’s not Hawkman,
Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern, but at this point, who would you rather have
helming those projects? The movie studio that gave us that last Superman
fiasco, or the guys who just pulled off a Two-Part Green Arrow/Flash Cross Over
that introduced Prism (formerly known in the Silver Age as the Rainbow Raider,
I swear to God) and Captain Boomerang? You heard me, Captain Boomerang, and he
was a bad ass from start to finish. I’ll take door number two, every single time.
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| I should be the target audience for this. Instead, I'm dreading it worse than a trip to my German Dentist. |
So stop worrying about the DC movies. There’s nothing you
can do to save them, except, you know, stop thinking they are going to be
great. The odds are not in your favor, here. And they won’t be, either. Let
them go. If you want to see them, fine. But if you don’t like them—and you
probably won’t—the worst thing you can do is contribute to their bottom line.
The only way to get what you want in today’s culture is to loudly explain why
you’re not giving the company any money, and then, you know, don’t give them
any money.
Better instead to loudly talk about what you DO want. For
example, Grant Gustin is currently owning The Flash. Likewise Stephen Amell as
Green Arrow. If you think they deserve to be in The Justice League Part 1 and
Part 2, then boost that thought to the rafters. Dangle money in front of that
idea. That’s what the studios will reply to. Kvetching about what’s maybe going to happen online is akin to
building a moat around your house in case the Visigoths ever decide to attack
you. It’s a big waste of time, and there’s no guarantees about anything anyway.
The really sad thing is, Warner Brothers Studios could use
the television shows to its advantage. After all, Arrow and The Flash are
doing all of the heavy lifting, right now. They could swoop in after two more
seasons, scoop everyone up, and announce a JLA movie with all of the current cast members and get not only the
movie-going crowd, but every single person watching any of the TV shows. And
they would spend exponentially less money on marketing, salaries, and so forth.
But they won’t do that. They are incapable of playing nice with others. So we’re going to see this weird TV versus
the Movies thing play out, and fans are going to try to convince themselves
that it’s Earth 1 and Earth 2 and this was the plan all along, and yadda yadda
yadda. And it’s not any of that. It’s willful ignorance and petty jealousy
propping up tent pole movies and counting the bottom line and calling that
movie-making.
I’ll stick with Berlanti, thanks all the same.
