DC Comics Multimedia General - A crisis of infinite fuck ups

[Basic Blond Boy]

In better news than Supergirl, more LEGO Batman:

I am really hoping every character gets costumes because the main designs used are not great. Surprised by the nod to Asylum though...

 

[Overly Serious]

literally 10 seconds in and Superman is literally being pissed on.
Then it was typical slop, finished with a shot of Supergirl hovering in the air looking as if she's both suddenly developed a congenital disease and is trying really hard not to shit.
Shelf it forever.

Okay, so a variant on Guardians of the Galaxy. It's sad how when that came out I really enjoyed it and with everything Gunn has ever done since, it somehow tarnishes my enjoyment of that movie. All I can see when I watch it by this point is more Gunn-isms.

Them fucking up Lobo a near inevitability. So you better have your fedposting gear locked and loaded.

Maybe it'll be the Lobo-Kara Romcom that we never knew we needed.

Star girl was sure lightning on the bottle.

Star Girl had Geoff Johns at the helm. This is a man who truly understands both story and comic book action. What a universe it would be if Geoff Johns had been given Gunn's role instead. There is so much to recommend about that show but chiefly is how perfectly it nails a DC tone that is both grounded but not ashamed of being a comic book. No ironic comments about how silly they all are, no knowing winks at the audience to say "it's okay, we're not taking ourselves seriously." And all the heroes have a way of fighting that suits them. Star Girl uses the staff's movement and ability to anchor itself in mid-air like some kind of cross between gymnast bars and a stripper pole, suddenly swinging up onto it or using it to support a flying kick. It's unique and ties to Courtney's background as a gymnast. Meanwhile Sportsmaster is using hockey sticks and baseball bats like Casey Jones and Wildcat (female inheritor version) is crouching and springing about the place. It's a really, really great show. Johns would do an incomparably superior Supergirl. That I would watch.

Just wait until they cast Nicolas Cage to play him because he was Ghost Rider.

I'm more familiar with the CW show. While it's far from perfect, it still nails the kind nature of Supergirl.

Also, Melissa Benoist has great taste in movies.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=9RP_RocGchg

I tried the show out of curiosity. It leans into preachy quite a bit and lines like "I'm actually a bit stronger than my cousin" and I think it got very pandering to a Reddit and (pre-Musk) Twitter. Between seasons, her step-sister goes from hinted complex romantic arc with Maxwell Lord to suddenly she's discovering she's a lesbian in her forties.

But Melissa Benoist does a likeable Kara despite some of the atrocious writing. She's especially good at portraying a goofy and somewhat naive/carefree Kara.

She also does a passable evil Supergirl too.

But the show as a whole was... actually I wrote bad there but it's not, I'm just not the target audience. For teen shippers it's probably spot on. The writers knew the audience they were writing for so I'll give them the credit for that.

I do not and have never liked Kara, unlike Robin she brings nothing unique as a sidekick and her kit is Clark’s only weaker. Her mere existence undoes his “Last Son” title and makes him being the “child of two worlds” less unique.

I like the Kara that could be. The idea. Someone from an alien culture stuck in some primitive world. It should be jarring for her and traumatic. But depictions almost never lean into that. At most they brush over it quickly to get to the quirky fun Supergirl.

I really liked the Sashe Calle Supergirl and will admit when I'm wrong - the moment I saw her on screen I was sold. The only thing 'wrong' with her is that she's not Kara, not Supergirl. She's more of a female Clark, a Superwoman. But as a character in her own right she was great.

 

[Fatsuit Shinji]

Maybe it'll be the Lobo-Kara Romcom that we never knew we needed.

Unironically in the late 1980s to late 1990s with the talent DC had on Lobo at the time, that idea could work.

 

[Overly Serious]

Unironically in the late 1980s to late 1990s with the talent DC had on Lobo at the time, that idea could work.

I mean, she's more powerful than a locomotive and harder than concrete. There's more to attraction than physical strength but still, there's got to be something to finding one of the few guys who can actually move you around. Plus depending on version, she's quite nerdy. Some giant biker dude might just do it for her.

It would give Clark a fit, too.

 

[Fatsuit Shinji]

I mean, she's more powerful than a locomotive and harder than concrete. There's more to attraction than physical strength but still, there's got to be something to finding one of the few guys who can actually move you around. Plus depending on version, she's quite nerdy. Some giant biker dude might just do it for her.

It would give Clark a fit, too.

Trolling and griefing Clark/Superman is all the reason you need to start this story off for Lobo.

 

[Overly Serious]

Trolling and griefing Clark/Superman is all the reason you need to start this story off for Lobo.

"I got yer kryptonite right here, Supergirl," *grabs crotch*



Yeah, I'm stopping here. I have too much self-respect to get into shipping characters. Lobo+Supergirl is either the most inspired pairing ever, or the worst idea possible. It might be both. If Gunn even goes there it'll be Lobo making some inappropriate comments and getting punished for it as a lesson on Toxic Masculinity. So don't think it's a concern.

 

[Gondolindrim]

The new Supergirl would be much more impressive if the whole "bitter superhero who hates being a superhero" archetype wasn't run into the ground over a decade ago. If this came out at the same time Iron Man did, it'd be fresh. As it stands it's just another GOTG clone. Which is funny because"Oh but Gunn isn't directing it" is seen as a defense as if it's not very clear that his style of writing is all over it.

 

[Kether]

can't wait for GOTG 6, or as its now called, Supergirl. i rewatched Super recently and it was nothing like GOTG, so why is every film gunn is involved with like that now?

and didn't just turn it into Krypton and he of course wants both worlds to coexist

this is going to lead to a lot of meme answers, but is this really what every immigrant's ultimate goal is? Superman was created by two cleveland ohio guys, is every immigrant in cleveland ultimately only there to transform it so it looks more like the shithole they just left? like what the fuck

 

[mlanguishi]

The new Supergirl would be much more impressive if the whole "bitter superhero who hates being a superhero" archetype wasn't run into the ground over a decade ago. If this came out at the same time Iron Man did, it'd be fresh. As it stands it's just another GOTG clone. Which is funny because"Oh but Gunn isn't directing it" is seen as a defense as if it's not very clear that his style of writing is all over it.

Bigtime, the 'wary bitter superhero' scheme is old. It hasn't really even been used that much specifically in comic stuff, but we've seen it in Star Wars and Star Trek and so on for ages now.

I don't want Snyder 'they are literal Jesus Gods' or this Gunn 'they're goofy bitter bastards'. I kinda like the Gadot first WW's approach, kind of a mix but that didn't go over too well either.

If this was right after Returns or early Snyder as a subversion I'd say maybe. But it's 2025 (mid 2026 on this), and we've been through that endlessly. It's frankly time to have a based pure super hero movie that's like 77 Reeve era. As Kether said, this is probably going to have a lot of 'immigrant be hated' shit in it too.

 

[Solomon Bundy]

Seconding this, and including the Batman and JLA/DCAU Adventures series in whatever form they're collected in, and also the Batman Brave and the Bold series if it's collected. By the end of the BatB series it was essentially DCAU-tier levels of excellent storytelling with the BatB art style. I'll never forget how gripping the Catman team-up issue was,

I've always been amazed how those DCAU/animated tie-in comics.... end up being unironically good superhero comics, by any metric. BETTER than most mainstream ones, even: tight pacing, action-packed, one-and-done plots, and both superhero and villain well-defined in gimmicks, powers, and personalities. It's ironic since I'd imagine the one-and-done and "all ages" limitations would hurt them, but.... apparently the lack of editorial fuck-givings meant the writers could actually write great stuff without worries on endless continuity (so to speak), overly-large expanded universes, or bigwigs breathing down their neck.

This why I am very very interested in Mark Millar's Superman, coming in ten years.

Millar has stated he loves the property, and he wrote Superman Adventures for a few years in the late '90s. I can tell you they were the best Superman stories at the time. They also directly lead him to writing grimdark, because those Superman stories were very optimistic and positive, and Millar has stated in interviews they sold terribly. I think it's because of the way the Adventures line is marketed, but I digress.

 

[Overly Serious]

This why I am very very interested in Mark Millar's Superman, coming in ten years.

Millar has stated he loves the propety, and he wrote Superman Adventures for a few years in the late '90s. I can tell you they were the best Superman stories at the time. They also directly lead him to writing grimdark, because those Superman stories were very optimistic and positive, and Millar has stated in interviews they sold terribly. I think it's because of the way the Adventures line is marketed, but I digress.

Hadn't heard about that. This sounds ace.

There should be some big board of heroes (and other properties) showing when they become free. It'd be pretty cool to look at. I'd love to know when I can get my hands on The Question.

 

[Solomon Bundy]

The Question will be public domain in 2061, according to Grok. Also:

2034 - Superman (Kal-L), Lois Lane
2035 - Batman
2036 - The Joker, Robin (Grayson), Catwoman, The Flash (Garrick), Green Lantern (Scott), Hawkman (Hall), The Spectre, Luthor (ginger mad scientist)
2037 - Wonder Woman (sans Lasso of Truth), Aquaman, Green Arrow
2038 - Shazam Captain Marvel

 

[King Dead]

can't wait for GOTG 6, or as its now called, Supergirl. i rewatched Super recently and it was nothing like GOTG, so why is every film gunn is involved with like that now?

Short answer: he found a formula that worked, and he's going to ride that into the ground.

Long answer: It's been ages since I saw Super (I actually went out of my way to go see it in theaters when it came out and haven't rewatched it since), but what I remember being entertaining about it was the fact that the main character wasn't just some lovable rogue, he was legitimately off his rocker. He saw himself as the hero of his own story, but the reality was that he was mentally unwell and seeing the world through his delusions of grandeur. It's only when real consequences start to hit him that he begins to realize the error of his ways.

Naturally, that shit isn't gonna fly with general audiences. Especially the God tentacles groping his brain scene. Still mind-boggling he actually got a gig with Disney after his Troma work.

So for GotG, he toned down the weirdness and the psychopathy. Star Lord is a goofy dweeb who does what he wants, he meets a gaggle of other weirdos, and they team up and form an unlikely family. Sold like hotcakes and made a group of characters that were hardly A-list into recognizable names. Worked so well, he got to pretty much do whatever he wanted with the followups, to the extent of his movies being considerably more divorced from the rest of the MCU.

The problem is that this seems to be all he actually wants to do now: take a group of quirky nobodies, throw in a bunch of "oh so relatable" humor/memes, add a dash of sappy "found family" messaging, and release to the waiting public. He did it with The Suicide Squad (and extension Peacemaker), he did it with James Gunn's Superman, and he'll keep shoehorning it in everywhere else.

As to why he doesn't do anything else? Maybe he's a firm believer in not fixing what ain't broke; his movies aren't necessarily doing gangbusters, but they're not outright bombs either. Maybe he just really enjoys this kind of story and doesn't have a problem with doing it again and again. Maybe he's trying to catch lightning in a bottle. Who can say? All I know is that I'm tired of capeshit in general, and changing out one formula for another doesn't make me any more likely to want to go see any.

 

[Kether]

The Question will be public domain in 2061, according to Grok. Also:

2034 - Superman (Kal-L), Lois Lane
2035 - Batman
2036 - The Joker, Robin (Grayson), Catwoman, The Flash (Garrick), Green Lantern (Scott), Hawkman (Hall), The Spectre, Luthor (ginger mad scientist)
2037 - Wonder Woman (sans Lasso of Truth), Aquaman, Green Arrow
2038 - Shazam Captain Marvel

crazy to think that if Cher's first husband was a better skier than Warner Bros would have been completely worthless in the 2010s. i imagine newgrounds would have had a lot of fun with steamboat willie too. i imagine there would have been tons of big band samples in gangsta rap right now too.

Maybe he's a firm believer in not fixing what ain't broke

how is he not tired of it? Michael Bay had to be bribed with funding passion projects to crank out 6 transformers films. most people in hollywood, no matter the money will be tired of doing the same shitty film over and over.

 

[Birthday Cat]

Yeah, I'm stopping here. I have too much self-respect to get into shipping characters

lmfao no point in stopping. half of what comics are is shipping, nightwing and peter parker alone are just self insert vehicles for whoever the writer wants to smash or whatever fetish they want. besides that, shipping is about the only thing even left in comics since the pre enshittening era stories just end in vacuums so you just have "what if"s.

speaking of shipping, i have no "self respect", i'll throw my hot take in the ring: the teen titan show shouldn't have retroactively changed the entire dynamic, forever, starfire should have remained a bipolar traumatized amazon, raven should have remained older, she barely ever even talked to beast boy, she identified more with robin being less a retard/mentally young and being reliable, and the second her emotions "came on" she was wanting to "come on" robin and instantly formed a triangle with starfire, which was what led to the shit climax they shoved out the door where she fucking literally futa impregnated starfire (using vague other terms) during starfire/robins wedding while robin impotently raged. can throw that shit out but the triangle and raven having extreme jealous anger among other things which was what led her into eventually her final character arc showdown and white raven was the best angle for that. everything else modern with raven is just her being a goth girl with goth powers that never leads to them having to literally fight satan or fight her but satanized. bboy was terratraumatized and before that literally just a boy pre puberty, cyborg was permanently in a existential crisis and had shit to deal with, think he also had a bad breakup early on post robo-copping though

really though, official shipping in general should have been handled differently for a very, very long time. using teen titans again since that's the main one i have decent knowledge of and also contributes to one of the most dumbfuck retarded shipping properties in comics (nightwing), the forced status quo and overhead was/is dumb af. really started something like midway through the wolfman run, nightwing and starfire had a marriage crisis where starfire was supposed to marry someone else for political gain, was setup so starfire and the other guy both had someone else but there was still icky shit involved. robin starts drunkenly raging, and then editing must have been late or some shit because the climax of it was VERY OBVIOUSLY set up as robin supposed to crash the wedding and take the girl, like the trope made fun of in the waynes world movie. the priest starts going into "uh yeah if you both marry each other, your souls will be eternally entwined through our voodoo magic, you will forever be a part of each other, it's like super sex, if anyone wants to stop the wedding speak now... uh, i say again if anybody wants to stop this open wedding please speak now" while starfire is completely mentally breaking down mentally begging for robin to show up looking back and forth, but uh, no, robin got drunk and then drove back home while starfire just married the other dude then banged him for multiple issues while robin remained actively drunk on earth til wonder girl had it with his bitch shit and threw him through a wall lmfao.

but more seriously tons of the shipping in general should have had "official" lines and au/what if lines. there's too much "canon" in comics, like if you have a story where nightwing fucks catwoman (nightwing 2001) that shits in the au or branched off. if catwoman randomly fucks a detective and has a baby daddy fright with batman, that shit should go in the au. if starfire is fucking a more retarded variant of red hood, au. apparently editors didn't want any marriages or official long term shit made but now there's perfectly accepted too much of everyone officially fucks everyone, and there's long term characters even still hardcoded to have been long term interests, like in said red hood/starfire run she's like straight up keeping robins suit to sniff. she's randomly cornered him naked in a pool saying she always has loved him and he just goes "cool i don't". so you have that shit, then him randomly get with b gordon for a run, then him fucking the equivalent of his step mom, then him break up and start fucking some random black chick in chicago or some shit, and he just looks like a retard. and many, many male and female characters suffer the same fate.

shipping is also an important topic because it retroactively rapes characters, like neither harley quinn or ivy is now allowed to exist as anything but a progressively more retarded couple or looked at as an incoming couple, even to the point ivy is just a different form of abusive than the joker causing harley to detach and they just kind of fuck everything, nothing matters, not even their stories, white knight, many problems as that shit has, is the only portrayal of harley quinn that's been any different or had meaningful relationships post joker, but of course THAT one's forced to the fucking au

 

[el bandito loco]

Maybe it'll be the Lobo-Kara Romcom that we never knew we needed.

I love this idea? I wish they made that movie instead lol but for it to work id rather not have aggressive burnt out anti-hero supergirl but like more classic sweet nice supergirl so that her pairing with Lobo isn't just two people who have the same attitude.

Trolling and griefing Clark/Superman is all the reason you need to start this story off for Lobo.

unironically this would be probably the most interesting thing they've done with either of these characters in years. it starts out as Lobo on some "i hate that guy, im gonna fuck his little sister" type of thing, and then he ends up liking her because she's nice but kicks as much ass as him lol

It sort of writes itself. It makes sense and it works, so DC would never.

 

[Ultraman Orb Dark]

I tried the show out of curiosity. It leans into preachy quite a bit and lines like "I'm actually a bit stronger than my cousin" and I think it got very pandering to a Reddit and (pre-Musk) Twitter.

The worst part is how the second season ends with Supergirl fighting a brainwashed Superman... and Superman proceeds to tell his cousin that he wasn't holding back. Putting aside the face that Superman has had years of experience while Supergirl has only been a hero for a little over a year at this point, how the hell is she struggling against villains if she can beat Superman at full strength? It's Green Arrow vs Ra's al Ghul all over again.

Speaking of villains, the Supergirl show really loved to ape Superman's villains, like the Toyman, Brainiac, Livewire, Parasite, Manchester Black, Silver Banshee, Cyborg Superman, Mister Mxyzptlk, even the Black Mercy. Hell, halfway through the show, Lex Luthor becomes Supergirl's primary arch-enemy.

But Melissa Benoist does a likeable Kara despite some of the atrocious writing. She's especially good at portraying a goofy and somewhat naive/carefree Kara.


https://youtube.com/watch?v=oJLWt1oJPJMShe also does a passable evil Supergirl too.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=_WxYisxxxSQ

In general, the Arrowverse shows had solid casting choices, even if the writing never always fit them.

 

[The Nothingness]

Which is funny because"Oh but Gunn isn't directing it" is seen as a defense as if it's not very clear that his style of writing is all over it.

In honor of his voice actor passing away, you can modify this Sheen meme to represent Gunn's DC universe.

"This is my superhero movie featuring a main character with issues and bathos."

"James...this is the 7th time in a row you've shown a superhero movie featuring a main character with issues and bathos."

 

[Ultraman Orb Dark]

In honor of his voice actor passing away, you can modify this Sheen meme to represent Gunn's DC universe.
View attachment 8279190
"This is my superhero movie featuring a main character with issues and bathos."

"James...this is the 7th time in a row you've shown a superhero movie featuring a main character with issues and bathos."

"This is a story about the Suicide Squad!"

"James...this is the 7th week in a row you've shown a story about the Suicide Squad."

 

[OutInTheRain]

The foundation of the Gunnverse is rotten. You could do a cheap Supergirl movie where she is struggling to get out of her cousin's shadow. Where her arc is learning that sometimes just saving people and the knowledge of a job well done is more important and you don't have to live for fame and adulation. But that would require an emotionally mature Superman to impart life lessons onto his cousin which she rejects at first. But later realizes the importance of. But of course we can't do something like that.

We have to do Guardians...again.

You could have made the whole thing a commentary on fame for fame's sake. Have her pull over the top stunts to get noticed. Work Maxwell Lord in as a shifty agent trying to promote her, trying to make her a super-influencer. Work in some of the sillier super-villians from DC. Could have made the thing for a song, and easily made money back. Instead we get Guardians and girl Starlord.