DC Impresses At SDCC

Positive

Positive is a word that hasn’t been used very much when talking about the DCEU.  With Justice League failing to attract large audiences last year (despite actually being a decent film) and BvS and Suicide Squad underwhelming critics, DC’s lone shining star in recent years at the movies was Wonder Woman.  But news out of San Diego Comic Con from sources like Hollywood Reporter and the Wall Street Journal and buzz on social media is showing that both Aquaman and Shazam! are getting a lot of positive vibes from fans and “professionals” alike.  Here are both trailers for you to check out.  My own thoughts will follow.

As expected, Aquaman drew the biggest attention on social media.  Ever the punching bag of comic “fans” that never picked up an issue of Aquaman and only know him from Saturday morning cartoons or Robot Chicken, Jason Momoa’s turn as Arthur Curry is looking to be a pretty solid one.  It looks like the film will focus on Curry’s battle with his half brother, Orm (Patrick Wilson), also known as Ocean Master, as the two battle for Atlantis.  The movie looks like it might take a few pages from the Throne of Atlantis storyline featured in DC’s New 52 run of the character.  If that’s the case, unknowing moviegoers are going to get a big fat fist of flounder planted on their jaw when they see what Aquaman is really capable of when his powers are fully realized.

Black Manta (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is also featured in the trailer, and hopefully the film will do him and the rest of the characters justice.  I’m also excited to see how Amber Heard’s Mera comes across in the film.  Fans of the comics know just how powerful Mera is, and I hope that DC and Warner Bros. let Heard flesh out the character’s full potential.

There’s a serious overall tone to the film’s trailer (with minor humor injected here and there) and that’s a positive in my book.  Instead of going full buddy comedy and (at least in my opinion) ruining what could have been a great story as Marvel did with Thor: Ragnarok (yes, I know that I’m in the minority with that opinion), it appears that director/writer James Wan, writer Geoff Johns, and writer Will Beall are attempting to tell an interesting story that relies as much on plot as it does on action.

Shazam! got plenty of positive feedback as well.  Again, it looks like Warner Bros. is going with the New 52 version of the character and if that is the case, then this film really does need to be a buddy comedy.  A friend of mine said that it reminded him of the Tom Hanks vehicle, Big, and I have to agree with him.  Zachary Levi is basically going to be a kid trapped in a superhero’s body, and the trailer reflected the humor in that extremely well.  We also got a brief glimpse of Dr. Sivana (Mark Strong), who will no doubt bring a bit of seriousness to the film.  I’m also hoping for a cameo or more from Ray Fisher as Cyborg.  I’d love to hear Zachary Levi chant, “Vic-Toe-Ree,” and see Cyborg roll his eyes in disgust.

I really hope that both of these films do well.  In my opinion, DC has more iconic heroes than Marvel and they really need to be given better representation on film.  I honestly believe that the bulk of movie fans that watch the Marvel films rarely or never actually read a comic book and that’s sad because Marvel does have some great stories on the page.  Nobody outside of the comic book shop ever heard of the Guardians of the Galaxy or Black Panther prior to their introduction in the MCU, but here they are, some of Marvel’s biggest heroes within the last few years.

I also believe that this is one of the main reasons (but not the only one) that DC hasn’t done as well with recent films.  In my opinion, DC and Warner Bros. rely too much on the assumption that moviegoers are already familiar with the storylines and/or characters culled from the comics, and they leave the theater feeling confused, angry, or bored.  Honestly, if you didn’t know that it was Parademons attacking Batman in his nightmare or the Flash contacting him in another dream sequence, you just aren’t that familiar with the comics.  Marvel figured this out many films ago, and DC needs to come to the same realization.

In any case, moviegoers are about to get a dose of two (three if you count Mera) of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe.  Sure, “fans” are already making  Finding Nemo jokes about the movie’s poster and I’ve even seen a few people say that they didn’t know that Ariel from Disney’s The Little Mermaid was in the film (an obvious slight at the very powerful Mera), but in the end, I’m confident that both Aquaman and Shazam (who’ll always be the real Captain Marvel in my book) will get a little more respect once these films hit the theaters.

Thanks for reading and be sure to let me know what you think about both film trailers and the DCU as a whole in the comments section.