Marvel vs. DC at the Movies - Round Three

It used to be that DC could spring big-budget Superman and Batman franchises onto the big screen, while Marvel could only manage movie versions of their characters starring the likes of Dolph Lundgren as the Punisher or some guy you’ve never heard of as Captain America. (And don’t even get me started on the Roger Corman “Fantastic Four” movie.) But that’s all change in Round Two, with “Iron Man”, and to a lesser extent, “The Incredible Hulk” shaking things up, and putting DC and Warner Bros, the studio behind all of DC’s movies, on notice. Marvel has unveiled an ambitious (and some would say, overly optimistic) plan to take over the comic book movie world, and Warner Bros. and DC Comics have taken notice.

Variety reports that the suits over at Warner Bros. and DC have gotten together to discuss what they are calling a “master strategy” to deploy their characters into theaters. They were probably on their way with the “Justice League” movie, which has since been torpedoed by, let’s face it, the movie itself, which reeked of craptacularness from every one of its stinking pores.

Warners and sibling DC Comics are holding high-level talks to hammer out a master strategy for their stable of superheroes.

Warners has never had such a strategy, and there have long been complaints the studio has been slow to exploit a potential treasure trove of franchises. And while the studio is basking in critical love for “The Dark Knight,” it has watched studio rivals rake in big bucks from Marvel Comics characters, and Marvel itself get into the tentpole business.

While it’s assumed there will be another Batman pic, there’s been no formal announcement. And Warners has no movies based on the classic DC universe to preview at this year’s Comic-Con.

You would think that with DC and the WB being in business all these years, and how every single DC property must pass through the WB first, that someone over there would have enough common sense to create a movie universe for their characters to co-exist by now. (How long have they been doing this, 30 years?) But apparently you’d be wrong. It took someone new to show them that it not only CAN be done, but that it can also MAKE MONEY, for Warner Bros. to even consider the idea.

And we wonder why Hollywood is currently full of remakes of bad ’80s slasher flicks…