FalcFans Forums

DC and Marvel Do Battle
by Mike Krumboltz · February 10, 2010
Holy blockbuster, Batman! A buzzy article from the New York Times revealed that director Christopher Nolan is hard at work on another flick.

Of course, it's not like this is a huge surprise. There was no way Hollywood wasn't going to make a sequel to the "The Dark Knight," the third-highest-grossing movie of all time. Still, Nolan's participation will likely cause a huge sigh of relief among moviegoers. Remember when, back in the '90s, director Joel Schumacher replaced Tim Burton and nearly killed the franchise?

The forthcoming blockbuster (not yet titled) also illustrates the escalating battle between Warner Bros. -- which produces many movies based on DC Comics, including "Batman" -- and Disney, which recently acquired DC's biggest rival, Marvel Comics.

Indeed, both studios have a slew of superhero flicks coming soon to theaters. In the New York Times article, it's revealed that "Wonder Woman" and "The Flash," both longtime favorites from DC, are "expected to (be) announced" in the coming months. Additionally, DC's "The Green Lantern," starring Ryan Reynolds as the hero and Blake Lively as his lovely love interest, is scheduled for a 2011 release. There's even a rumor that Mr. Nolan may supervise the development of a "Superman" reboot.

Clearly DC has a lot of irons in the fire. But Marvel isn't surrendering the cineplex anytime soon. Not only does Sony's forthcoming "Spider-Man" reboot have a hot director at the helm (Mark Webb of "500 Days of Summer"), it'll also come to theaters in 3D. Barring any delays, the flick, which will focus on Spider-Man's high school trials and tribulations, will spin its way onto the big screen in 2012.

What's that, Marvel superfan? Can't want that long? No problem; "Iron Man 2" has you covered. Paramount's sequel to the surprise 2008 hit starring Robert Downey Jr. lands in theaters this summer and already has a sizable following in Search. Over the past month, online queries on the film are among Yahoo's top 3,000. Additionally, Web interest in the trailer shows no signs of slowing down. Kind of like the war between DC and Marvel.

I was reading about some comics that Marvel was prepping to get turned into movies, and it's getting pretty ridiculous now.

I mean after the Avengers, and the trio of movies leading up to it (Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man 2), Marvel should be pretty much done expanding beyond that. I hear they're making Spider Man 4. Talk about unnecessary. If it's not a sequel to any of the movies that have already been done (X-Men, Hulk, and the movies noted above), then they just need to stop. Spider Man is done, I can probably stomach one more X movie, and maybe a few more Avengers-related sequels, but tha'ts about it.

As for DC, one more Nolan Batman movie ought to do it. I can stomach another Superman reboot, but only if it's a trilogy eventually leads to Doomsday (like say in the 2nd one where Superman dies). I can do Wonder Woman, maybe the Flash, but the Green Lantern? Eh. And ultimately if it leads to a Superman-Batman movie together, that'd be cool I guess.

But really Hollywood is inching ever closer to hitting rock bottom with their mining this comic book material with every script they option. There really just isn't much originality nowadays. Next thing you know in 5 years when the comic book fad is probably dying down, they'll start turning to 80s classics to remake like Back to the Future, The Goonies, etc.

What am I talking about? It's already here! Clash of the Titans, Predator, Nightmare on Elm Street, Conan the Barbarian, Dune, Mad Max, and the Karate Kid are all coming to a theater near you in the next few years.

Soon, we'll be waiting for the remakes of Pretty Woman, Jurassic Park, Clueless, Austin Powers, Groundhog Day, and Men in Black.