James Gunn and Kevin Feige have been trying their very best to pull together their respective franchises. For years, Marvel and DC fans were at each other’s throats, with constant arguments about which is better plaguing their interactions. However, as both franchises started to lose their fan base and desperately tried to grasp on to relevance, this didn’t seem to matter anymore.
All of a sudden, both were in survival mode and doing damage control. While this stage went on for a few years for both franchises, they both seem to have reached a relatively stable position now. With their bigger projects being around the corner, a little competition might not be the worst thing, and DC seems to be winning.
James Gunn knows his audience
One of the most consistent and long-running aspects of the superhero genre is continuity. These films are known for their interconnected nature, making it so that there are a lot of films that a viewer has to watch before they can understand what is happening in new releases. DC Studios has also followed a similar formula when it first started releasing the new age of its films in the DCEU.
However, now that Zack Snyder has parted ways from the franchise and everything has been put in the hands of James Gunn, he seems to be taking a very different approach with the films that he is making. Since David Corenswet’s Superman and Milly Alcock’s Supergirl seem to be the most significant films from the franchise’s lineup, Gunn recently talked about them during an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
While he revealed the overall plan for both of these films on this subject, it could be showcasing the approach that the franchise is taking for all of its films, and it could be genius. Gunn confessed that Superman and Supergirl are not going to be connected in the storyline.
I am really trying to be careful that anybody can dip in and see the story that is up next and not feel like they’re missing information.
Elaborating on this, Gunn revealed that he is trying to shape Alcock’s film in a manner that viewers can watch it without needing to watch Corenswet’s film. This could imply that the DCU is trying to stray away from making all of the films a requirement to watch.
Marvel needs to take notes
On paper, James Gunn’s strategy for DC Studios seems flawed. One could argue that now that he has confessed this, fans who just want a Supergirl film will only watch that, reducing the revenue of Superman. However, Gunn seems to trust his viewers a lot more than this.
In the time that DC has been gathering itself and starting fresh, one of the biggest criticisms that Marvel has received is that audiences now have too much material to watch before new releases. Releasing multiple projects in a year can be very stressful for the viewers as well.
Although the franchise has stopped such an approach now, they did release a lot of content during the time when they were still doing it. This has caused fans to get overwhelmed and frustrated, fully leaving the fanbases due to the amount of homework that they have to do.
Kevin Feige doesn’t seem to have learned from this, as Avengers: Doomsday will require audiences to watch over ten projects before they can even consider stepping into that theater. With this in mind, there is no denying that viewers will find DC’s laid-back and audience-focused approach to films much better than Marvel’s strategy.
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