No Rules: DC and Zack Snyder Refuse to be Beholden to the Comic Books

Image via Warner Bros

We are only two films into the DC Extended Universe, but one thing is clear already: DC and Zack Snyder will not play by the rules of the comics, or other superhero movies.  They are out to create their own unique world, and have already shown us that they aren’t messing around.  Spoilers for Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice to follow.

Batman is a killer

Image via Warner Bros

The DCEU version of Batman is a killer, which goes against pretty much everything comic book Batman stands for.  We still don’t know all that much about Batfleck, other than the fact that he’s been around the block a couple of times.  Zack Snyder isn’t preoccupied with playing by the rules of comic books, he’s trying to make is own universe, for better or worse.

Superman dies before Justice League

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OK, so Henry Cavill has already been confirmed to be playing Superman in Justice League, and let’s face it, nobody ever really dies in a superhero movie.  But Snyder making the decision to kill Superman before his resurrection tells us that nobody is safe in the DCEU, unless of course they’ve already been confirmed for more solo movies… But the DCEU has taken risks that the Marvel Cinematic Universe hasn’t.  Imagine if they killed off Iron Man before The Avengers?  That is what this is like.  I’m really disappointed that Marvel didn’t kill anyone in Captain America: Civil War, and it just goes to show that DC takes risks two films in whereas the MCU is still trying to play it safe (just forget about the fact that Civil War mopped the floor with Batman v Superman as a movie for a second).

Suicide Squad is all sorts of crazy

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And not just  because the Joker and Harley Quinn are the stars.  Suicide Squad is for many reasons one of the more interesting films to ever enter the superhero genre.  Between focusing on a group of villains and having the Joker in it, DC is signifying that the rules do not apply to them.  I hate the continued MCU comparisons, but just imagine if Marvel tried to make a movie centered around their villains.  It would not work, because their villains flat out suck compared to DC’s.  Part of it is lack of characterization for a lot of them.  One thing that DC has to be given credit for is that they have already characterized their two villains  (General Zod and Lex Luthor) pretty well, whereas Marvel has only done that with Loki.  Plus, Lex Luthor might be in Suicide Squad– my prediction is that the DCEU will feel like more of a cohesive universe than the MCU will, and you can thank Zack Snyder for that.

The DCEU isn’t preoccupied with origin stories

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Sure, we saw Superman’s origin in Man of Steel.  But almost no time was wasted on Batman’s, and we’ve already been introduced to most of the Justice League.  What is even more important, is that this is a universe that has already experienced a lot.  As I said before, Batman has been around the block a couple of times, and the best piece of evidence for this is the dead Robin’s costume.  Unlike Marvel, which created their universe from scratch, DC has already seen action in theirs.  What is more important for DC is what happens to these characters in the universe, rather than how they got there.

What do you think of these choices DC and Zack Snyder have made so far in the DCEU?  Tell me in the comments!