So it seems like now it’s a yearly tradition that I make a video giving an update on the
state of the DC cinematic film slate and my thoughts on the upcoming films.
It’s kind of hilarious, because this has changed so much and yet as far as movies that
have actually come out, this has changed very little.
But there’s been new footage and info regarding movies like Aquaman and Joker that I wanna
talk about, new films have been announced or cancelled since I did one of these last
year, so hey while there may be some movies we’ve talked about before on here, I think
this universe deserves another video.
I’ve got a bunch of thoughts anyway on a bunch of these that maybe couldn’t make
up a whole video on their own, but in this kind of compilation, yeah I think that’ll
work.
So with that in mind let’s talk about the DCEU I’m sorry I mean, the Worlds of DC.
Never gonna get used to that.
Also little disclaimer here, I’ve been very busy with school for a while so I’ve been
working on this video on and off for a few months now.
And in that time new announcements come out and release dates are pushed and casting choices
are made, so if sometimes this may seem a little choppy and I kind of throw in a fact
at the last minute, sorry but that’s why.
First up there are actually 4 movies that are definitely no question about it happening,
which is refreshing.
The closest one of these is Aquaman coming out in just a few months now.
Now I’ll be honest, I found the trailer the released back in July at Comic Con time
quite underwhelming.
It didn't look terrible, but some CGI-wise, acting-wise, story-wise, a lot of it just
didn't look as good as I was hoping.
However more recently they released the actual footage they showed to the people in attendance
at Comic Con, a five minute extended….trailer?
Clip?
Preview?
Seemed too long to be a trailer.
Anyway, the point about that is, I’m way more excited for this now.
Initially when I saw that this was 5 minutes I was kind of nervous, and I’m still hoping
they haven’t given too much away, but in the end I think maybe having a longer thing
helped this?
Because it sort of gave me time to settle into this world that otherwise is kind of
jarring.
Because initially when I saw like Mera’s wig as one example or how parts of the CGI
looked, I felt like, oh this is kind of unpleasantly fake looking.
But seeing it more in the grand scheme of things, everything kind of looks very over
the top and not necessarily super real, and not in a way that doesn't work.
It’s kind of hard to explain but I feel like in the movie itself all of this working
together it could just be a fun style or aesthetic and not really a visual problem.
Also speaking of which visually, there’s some stuff in here that looks absolutely amazing.
I was kind of surprised and find it amusing that the standalone Aquaman film looks like
it’ll look nicer than the teamup Justice League film.
Costume-wise, this is kind of what I was talking about when seeing it in the grand scheme of
things.
The Black Manta costume, while very comic accurate, yeah i can understand when people
say it might look a little cheap or goofy or Power Rangers-y, personally I like it,
but especially if that’s the general tone the film is going for, more comic book-y crazy
ridiculous, I think it totally works.
And surprisingly, from the little we saw, the classic Aquaman costume really works in
live action, which I didn't think it would, especially with Jason Momoa.
The action looks fun, like that long shot of the chase in the village.
And it’s refreshing to see DCEU action that’s not just lightning and smoke in a grey destroyed
city or airfield or whatever.
It’s vibrant and you can actually see what’s happening.
Not just that action but also that final battle actually looks really promising to me.
Which surprised me, because the third act giant battles are usually the weakest parts
of these films, but to me, with the giant underwater creatures and everything, if it
isn’t just pure spectacle and has a proper progression and characters involved that we
care about, in addition to a crazy spectacle, I think it could be awesome.
Look, I’ll be perfectly honest, there are parts that still look bad to me.
The story and dialogue still seem fairly generic, and I know it's just a trailer so I’m hoping
that’s just from them cutting stuff up for marketing, cuz that happens a lot.
The comedy also really didn't work for me, the jokes were either really predictable or
just not funny to me, hope that’s not indicative of what the whole film will be like.
Overall, I’m excited for Aquaman.
To me, yeah, it looks kinda stupid, but in a fun way.
A lot of these comic book movies are kinda stupid, and fi the movie embraces it and is
self aware about it it can totally work.
In a Fast and Furious kind of way, which is a comparison I thought of before even remembering,
eyah this is James Wan, director of Furious 7.
If it can successfully walk that line between being too serious and ending up being laughable
and just total nonsense, I think this has potential to be a really fun time at the cinema
with a really cool new world.
Then there’s Shazam next year, which honestly, I don’t have a lot to say about cuz nothing’s
really changed since the Comic Con trailer came out and I gave my thoughts there, the
brief version, it looks like a lot of fun, the Billy Batson kid stuff looks kinda bland
to me but Zachary Levi looks like the perfect fit for this character.
Besides the fact that film looks weirdly cheap, at least in that trailer, it looks like a
really fun time and a character and story where that kind of fun lighthearted tone actually
fits organically, unlike other places where it seems like it was just jammed in.
I’m excited!
Wonder Woman 84 similarly I don’t have a crazy amount to say about.
Wonder Woman is a good, if not somewhat overrated superhero movie in my opinion.
I mean it’s really good….I wouldn’t call it amazing though.
But this sequel is shaping up to be a lot of fun, I like the idea of one of these movies
set in the 80s, I’m looking forward to seeing more Steve Trevor and Diana together, however
he may come back, and I’m also excited to see Pedro Pascal playing….whoever he’s
playing.
I’ve heard people say he’s gonna be Maxwell Lord, I think that’d be really cool, other
people have said he’s gonna be Hades, kind of secretly like Lupin was in the last movie,
hopefully they handle that a bit better here than they did there.
Also Kristen Wiig as Cheetah, still think it’s an odd choice, but one that has me
interested.
I’m very curious to see how that plays out.
But really, this being more just a fun standalone adventure, if they take on board some of the
criticisms of the first Wonder Woman and keep what really worked, then hell yeah.
So far these are all sounding quite good.
Oh and just as I’m writing this, this got pushed back to 2020….which isn’t a great
sign but I also don’t think is indicative of the quality really, because tons of stuff
has been pushed around recently and I think there’s just a bit of rescheduling going
on in Hollywood generally right now, or however that works I don’t really know.
And then we’ve come to the somewhat controversial Joker standalone film, which for a while honestly
I thought was just gonna be one of those DC movies that they talk about doing but never
actually get around to, but no, this is happening.
And honestly, I’m incredibly excited.
And that really really surprises me, cuz when I first heard about this, I was cautiously
interested but really thought it might fail spectacularly.
And it still might, but everything that’s come out in the past month, it’s looked
great to me.
I mean overall the team behind this, Todd Phillips, I’ve liked the movies of his that
I’ve seen quite a bit, and even though they don’t necessarily totally fit with this
tone, I think it’s a creative choice.
Martin Scorsese producing also isn’t a bad sign either.
But then if I’m gonna go through this chronologically from memory, first we got that picture of
Joaquin Phoenix as A. Fleck, as in, just a picture of Joaquin Phoenix.
Ok….cool.
I guess.
Then we saw some on set photos of him with this clown and showing off a pretty maniacal
grin which looked pretty promising to me.
And then we got the full Joker makeup reveal and the set videos from the Subway and all
that.
And honestly, I guess some people hate this, I think it looks great.
For the tone and style and world this movie’s going for.
See I’m kinda cheating putting this in this video cuz this technically isn’t part of
the Worlds of DC, or maybe it is now that that’s the official banner, but it’s not
gonna be part of what was the DCEU, that is it's not in the Justice League Batfleck universe
from my understanding.
It’s a standalone, more gritty character piece set in the 1980s, and for that, a more
real world take, this looks great to me.
It looks a bit Heath Ledger-ish but still is very distinctly its own thing, it looks
like something a crazy person would put on if they wanted to look like a clown and terrorize
people.
I mean I’m quite uneasy just looking at it, so mission accomplished there.
Look this is all just speculation, of course the movie could totally suck, we don’t really
know much about the script or story specifically, but just based on what we’ve got, the cast,
the behind the scenes team, and the photos and videos we've seen so far, I’m way more
excited for this than I ever thought I’d be.
Now things start to get more murky.
Those movies are all definitely coming out, and these next….dozen?
It’s not as sure.
We’ve got Birds of Prey which is supposed to come out in 2020, and then also Gotham
City Sirens.
Now I’ve put these two together because they sound a bit similar, Harley Quinn leading
a team up of two or three other female superheroes on all kinds of wacky adventures, but of these
two it looks like Birds of Prey is the one that’s being pushed first.
The main thing we know about this besides the director is the recent casting confirmations,
which actually sound pretty great to me.
Joining Margot Robbie will be Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary and Mary Elizabeth Winstead
as Huntress.
Now I haven't seen a lot of stuff that Smollett-Bell is in but I’m a really big fan of Mary Elizabeth
Winstead and Huntress was also a great character on the JLU show, so from that perspective
this sounds pretty good.
Also, as I’m writing this, Ewan McGregor was just cast as Black Mask, which is an awesome
casting choice.
I love Ewan McGregor, although I personally haven't really seen him as a villain in anything
yet, he’s very charming and likable, but he’s also a great actor, so I think that’ll
be really interesting.
Even more excited now.
Now we don't really know anything else so this is still a bit of a coin toss, as I’ve
said before I’m not crazy about Margot Robbie’s version of Harley Quinn, I feel like it starts
to get a bit grating after a while, but if they play this right and have it be like a
buddy movie with these two keeping it somewhat more grounded and stopping it form just being
annoying and/or nonsense, at least one of them playing the straight man role, this could
maybe really work.
And then Gotham City Sirens is gonna be something similar?
From my understanding it’ll be Harley Quinn with Poison Ivy and Catwoman?
And maybe other female superheroes?
I don't know, not much to say since we know very little about it, but if Birds of Prey
is well received I can imagine this going forward.
The Cyborg movie?
Yes this isn’t happening.
The least interesting character in a movie that already underperformed?
I don’t think this is the direction DC wants to go with their movies at this point.
Cue all the Cyborg fans saying he actually was interesting in Justice League, that’s
your opinion, I have my opinion, both are fine, let’s move on.
The Green Lantern movie.
I can see this happening, although I think DC is waiting till people really get the taste
of the original Green Lantern out of their mouths, which Deadpool certainly isn’t helping
with.
But there’s so much crazy awesome stuff to do with Green Lantern and it's such a cinematic
premise, it can’t be that hard to make a good movie out of it right?
There have been rumors of John Krasinski as Hal Jordan, I’m always up for seeing John
Krasinski in something although Marvel may snatch him up for Fantastic Four before then,
I would also absolutely love to see Idris Elba as Jon Stewart, I think that’d be a
perfect casting choice.
The Flash, which then became Flashpoint but is now the Flash again but might still be
Flashpoint?
I don’t know.
Originally this movie should’ve already come out by now, but it keeps getting pushed
back and back and losing directors so who knows if we’ll ever really see this.
For the record if it’s really hard to make these characters work individually, I think
DC should take a page out of the Marvel book and team these heroes up, like having a buddy
cop Green Lantern Flash movie since they’ve worked really well together in the past.
Last I heard this was gonna have a Back to the Future vibe to it, which fits with the
whole idea of it being Flashpoint, I guess, but instead of time travel it's dimension
travel.
On one hand, I feel like this is a Batman v Superman and/or Justice League situation
where they’re kind of rushing into it and that consequently leads to these stories losing
their original impact, again, it's like if Days of Future past was the third X-Men movie,
it just wouldn’t have the same impact.
But then I think on the other hand, the general public is already so familiar with these characters,
showing alternate versions maybe could be a refreshing take even if they are a bit new
to this specific universe.
Also this keeps getting pushed back so who knows how developed this universe will be
when it eventually comes out.
Also like Days of Future Past I think they could definitely use this to fix any mistakes
they don’t like about their universe and just keep what’s worked, so they could keep
Wonder Woman and maybe Aquaman and this could give them a chance to recast roles that I
personally think were really well cast but the actors are moving on so they need replacements,
get Jon Hamm as Batman if Affleck's out, that’s all I’m saying.
And if the stand alone Joker movie is really successful they could just bring him in to
the normal world and forget about Jared Leto cuz hey dimension hopping, anything is possible,
and maybe even crossover with the tv shows which are arguably more popular than the movies
right now.
Anyway, this sounds like an interesting idea to say the least.
Then there’s the Batman which I don’t think is gonna happen in the way it was originally
intended anyway.
Apparently Affleck is out, totally, although that seems to change on a daily basis.
But it seems like he’s out and while that’s a shame, if he didn't wanna do it anymore,
then it's probably for the best so he won’t just be phoning it in and hating it the whole
time.
So now, if this comes after Flashpoint and they recast, just get Jon Hamm in there and
it should be good.
Good director, a lot of potential in this more comic book-y world they’ve built, I’m
excited for this if it ever actually gets made, which I think it will.
Justice League 2 is maybe happening but I kinda doubt it given the disappointing box
office of the first.
Honestly I think this is a real shame, because I love the idea of the Justice League fighting
the Injustice League, to me that’s vastly more interesting than any number of crazy
alien armies invading Earth again.
Seeing the League fighting all of their top villains in one film, that just sounds like
cinematic gold to me, I can’t believe they haven’t really done this yet.
I think Marvel might do something with that in Phase 4 but DC really has potential here.
I wouldn’t even mind seeing Eisenberg’s Luthor in this, I like this idea that much.
That being said, odds are this won’t happen and if it does, it won’t be for a while
until this universe really gets going and at that point, it will look very different
from the Justice League we saw last year.
They’ve been talking for a while about this Black Adam movie with the Rock, I love the
Rock but why not just have him be an awesome villain/antihero in another movie rather than
make his own right off the bat.
Anything can work though and with the success of Venom, another antihero movie, I’m guessing
they’ll be fast tracking this, if Dwayne Johnson’s schedule lets him do it between
the 50 billion other things he does on a daily basis.
Then we’re getting Suicide Squad 2, which just got a huge development recently with
James Gunn reportedly coming on board to write and possibly direct.
Honestly, I was sort of interested in Suicide Squad 2 before this, just because even though
that first movie isn’t necessarily great, I think with these characters and actors,
if you put them in a better plot with a better villain (that they’re more suited to fight)
and better editing (basically, if you fixed most things with that film), I think they
could really work.
I liked these characters for the most part.
They weren’t given a ton of depth and there was some bad acting, but I think seeing them
teaming up again in the future could be fun under the right person.
And James Gunn seems like the obvious choice for that.
Now from purely a business standpoint, this to me looks like DC and possibly James Gunn
giving a big middle finger to the Marvel higher ups who fired him, that he’s now going over
to the competitions quite obvious attempt to recreate what he made at Marvel.
And I think if this does better than Guardians 3, or even comes out before Guardians 3, Marvel’s
really gonna regret firing him and look even worse for doing so.
From a movie standpoint, on paper this does sound like great news.
I mean James Gunn worked with a very similar premise with Guardians.
I also think he would know how to handle this more kind of down to earth premise, what I
would really love to see is this squad taking on a much smaller scale villain, like a mob
boss or something like that.
Not giant lasers and witches and armies of mud people, that seems like something the
Justice League should fight.
Here there’s a chance to do something more unique and I think James Gunn would see that
potential.
Or have them try to invade a superhero base or do some kind of heist, like I’m pretty
sure they did in that one episode of Justice League.
My biggest concern with this news really is that it gives me major Joss Whedon Justice
League flashbacks.
Guy who left Marvel for one reason or another goes over to DC, works on a film that is basically
the DC equivalent of what he made at Marvel.
Now I know there were a lot of different factors with Whedon, he wa coming into a film that
had already been partly filmed and entirely planned out and had to try to make it coherent
with his vision, he wasn’t given a ton of creative control by the studio, but still.
My point is, no matter how good the news sounds on paper, with especially Warner Bros, I’m
at the very least gonna be cautious for a while now, cuz even the best ideas can be
ruined later on.
Still, overall this is pretty great news and as someone who thinks James Gunn shouldn't
have been fired, I’m glad to see him making his comeback.
Speaking of which they’re supposed to make that Deadshot movie at some point.
Will Smith is interested but I don’t see this happening, for at least a long while
or maybe ever.
Alright, speed round, speed rounding this category I like to call, has been announced
and maybe will happen but there’s a pretty equal chance that it won’t.
There’s that Lobo movie they’ve been talking about doing for forever, first it had Guy
Ritchie on board, then Brad Peyton, then I think the latest version was with Michael
Bay attached in some capacity but that’s probably not happening anymore.
Honestly all of those sound like directors who would make a Lobo movie but probably not
a very good one, I mean Guy Ritchie and Michael Bay can make good movies and Brad Peyton made….well….yeah
this probably isn’t happening.
Justice League Dark, pretty sure this is dead, I mean they just made that animated movie.
Booster Gold Blue Beetle, sounds like a fun buddy cop premise for a superhero movie but
there hasn’t been any major news on it for a while.
The Blackhawk movie.
Look I know very little about these (as I think is the case for most casual moviegoers)
so forgive me if this isn’t totally accurate, but from what I’ve gathered they’re a
group of World War 2 pilots and they….fight evil, I’m guessing.
Honestly I thought this was going to happen because Spielberg was on board fora while
there, and it very well might still, but there hasn’t been any news for awhile and Spielberg's
got a lot of other projects lined up.
On one hand, I look at this and go, why of all things would they make this, when they
haven’t made a Flash movie or a Man of Steel 2 or a solo Batman movie?
But on the other hand that could it's greatest strength, it's different and unique and new
and that’s something this universe could need.
So hey, actually kind of optimistic.
The Nightwing movie, with Titans actually getting good reviews and people liking the
Thwaites version of nightwing, which surprised the hell out of me, I think they might put
this movie on hold.
The Batgirl movie that had Joss Whedon and then didn't have Joss Whedon and now has….someone
else?
Or not?
DC’s director slate switches so often it's hard to keep up.
Anyway it’s got one of the writers from Bumblebee, which looks good.
But will it be good?
The Jared Leto Joker movie and the Harley Quinn Jared Leto Joker movie and the Harley
Quinn solo movie.
Just cancel….just cancel all of these.
We don’t need this many Harley Quinn films, which currently is looking like 5?
Possibly 6?
And we definitely do not need a standalone Leto Joker movie, especially if we’re getting
the Joaquin Phoenix one.
A Deathstroke movie….I mean it could be cool….I guess?
I don’t think it’s getting made though.
The New Gods movie from Ava Duvernay.
Duvernay directed Selma, which I think is an amazing film, but also directed A Wrinkle
in Time, which i haven’t seen but by all accounts is….not an amazing film?
And so I imagine this movie would be much more like A Wrinkle in Time than it would
Selma so….I don’t know.
I mean maybe if it focused on more personal aspects of the characters themselves?
But I don’t think that’s what this would be.
It’s an interesting and kind of unique concept though, I don’t know a hell of a lot about
the New Gods beyond what was in a few of the episodes of Justice League.
As you can probably tell by now a lot of my knowledge of the more obscure DC stuff comes
from the Justice League cartoon I watched growing up.
This could be kinda Thor-esque with an Asgard type utopian god city?
I don’t know could be interesting.
Then a Supergirl movie?
Isn’t Supergirl pretty big on TV right now?
Just seems like a weird time to announce this kind of thing.
And finally, Man of Steel 2, because apparently Cavill and Affleck aren’t officially out
yet, even though, they’re pretty officially out.
But Cavill did post this weird video.
What does it mean Cavill?
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?!
So look, despite him not getting a hell of a lot to do in the later DCEU movies and some
unfortunate mistakes made with that lip, I think Cavill was a great choice for Superman
and I liked the version they put in Justice League, again minus that part.
So I think it's kind of a shame that they’re now getting rid of him.
But hey, I think Cavill’s also a great actor generally and I’d like to see him do other
stuff in other franchises.
But if they were to make this, with maybe Brainiac as the villain, I think that could
be great.
Probably won’t though, because Cavill’s most likely out, unless this video means he’s
not out, again, what does it mean?
So those were my thoughts on the DCEU.
Which of these are you most excited for?
Let me know all of your thoughts down below in the comments.
While you’re at it be sure to like this video, check out my Instagram and Twitter
@bhl_hudson, check out this podcast about movies and TV and whatnot I do every other
week with a friend of mine, it’s called The Poorly Planned Podcast, and subscribe
for more videos like the one you just watched.
Thanks for watching and I’ll see ya next time.