The new DCU roster of heroes can be expanded to debut new heroes whose stories can help fix one common criticism across past DCU films.
- The new DCU reboot should focus on street-level heroes to differentiate itself from the DCEU and deliver more varied character-driven stories.
- Street-level heroes offer visually tamed and discrete stories with high stakes that don’t rely on city-destroying battles.
- Balancing screen time for lesser-known comic book characters would allow for a wider range of superhero films, including lower-stakes stories that can be just as thrilling and successful.
The new DCU reboot needs more than Justice League level threats to avoid becoming another clone of the DCEU. James Gunn’s reset offers DC Studios the chance to build a largely new team of heroes, and they should look to their street level characters more than the DCEU ever did. Simply recasting the heroes who have already made their DCU debut is not enough. James Gunn, Peter Safran, and DC Studios should create an identity for the new DCU that further differentiates it from the MCU. Not all superhero films need to follow the conventional super formula.
Repetitive high-stakes conflicts that focus more on showcasing visual effects than delivering complex plots and compelling character development are becoming a tired cliché for superhero films. World-ending level disasters are not the only interesting or visually engaging stories for superheroes, even if they are exceedingly powerful like Superman and Wonder Woman. Incorporating more street-level heroes can help the new DCU produce more varied character-driven stories that could fix their most complex DCU challenge while delivering different types of superhero films. And if that means not leaning entirely on the Justice League, so be it.
DC Has More Street-Level Heroes Than Batman
With a DCU reboot incoming, it’s time DC Studios expanded the theatrical onscreen roster to include street-level heroes beyond the Bat family. The Arrowverse has done well to showcase and build a fan base around lesser-known street-level heroes such as Green Arrow, Speedy, Wildcat, and John Constantine. Relegating these types of heroes only to television could be a missed opportunity for DC to create a fresh identity for superhero stories onscreen that is not largely centered on heavy visual effects and city-destroying battles.
Street-level heroes and their stories offer tales that are often more discrete and visually tamed. The stakes can still be as high as “life or death” but are not usually on the level of universal conquest. The lack of the latter should not be a measure of the quality of their stories nor the predictable factor for DCU box office success. DC Studios’ use of these heroes can even continue to build tension between them and their city-destroying counterparts, similar to the Batman v. Superman conflict.
Street-Level Heroes Can Help The DCU’s Climax Problem
Avoiding the criticisms of the DCEU’s past CGI usage in its films should be a concern for DC Studios moving forward. Saving the high CGI budget for the more powerful superheroes is expected and warranted. Street-level heroes, however, would benefit more from complex plots than complicated graphics that hurt instead of help the storytelling experience. Superhero films are no less super merely because their stakes are lower and more visually contained.
The biggest DCU change WB should make is balancing the screen time for lesser-known comic book characters to shine. The box office is big enough for all types of superhero films, from low stakes, or at least lower than worldwide threats, to atypical plots. Street-level heroes may be better suited to tackle some of these unconventional superhero stories because they and their antagonists tend to be less threatening in terms of the potential scale of damage. This, however, should not preclude them from joining the new DCU as their stories, like that of The Batman, can be just as thrilling and successful.
