Infinity War is officially a smash hit at the box office, with earnings of over $2 billion worldwide in its first seven weeks of release. And it’s all due to Marvel’s careful build-up toward this installment. It took ten years to introduce the characters, tease the villain, and insert the MacGuffins. And now, here we are, just waiting to see what will happen next.
In comparison, the DCEU has stumbled from its first movie through its most recent offering, even though Warner Bros. owns the rights to all of the characters from DC Comics. The shared universe’s major downfall came with Batman v Superman and grew worse with the release of Suicide Squad. Wonder Woman was a major improvement, but Justice League brought it all crumbling down again.
During the Fatman on Batman, Infinity War writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely shared their thoughts on why Warner Bros. continues to fail at getting the DCEU on track. They suggested that Warner Bros. take a page from Marvel’s book and slow things down to build toward a major event.
However, the biggest difference between the shared universes lies in the characters. Markus commented that the MCU began with second-tier superheroes, but Warner Bros. launched the DCEU with their strongest characters.
This isn't to say that the DCEU should avoid using its Trinity, but Markus added that it may be to the DCEU’s advantage to look at additional characters as well. And he may be right. Just think of all of the Batman-related movies that are currently in development!
On the other hand, McFeely paraphrased a line from Justice League: Make one good movie (via Screen Rant). But it’s difficult to agree with him, because that one good movie was Wonder Woman. But filming for Justice League wrapped, and then reshoots began, so the superheroine flick had that to contend with that.
DC Films made some changes after Justice League’s release, the most notable being the appointment of Walter Hamada as president of production and Chantal Nong as his vice president. Hamada’s successes include The Conjuring series and the movie It.
