DC Comics Might Consider Having Their Own Cartoon Series
This is how bad things were at Warner Brothers: their failures were turned into pop culture satire. On the hit show Entourage, the epitome of making fun of DC characters was showcased as Vinnie Chase got a starring role in a fictional Aquaman movie, which then surpassed the box office gross of Titanic. Aquaman, the butt of most lame-character attacks for DC characters, became the symbol for Time Warner’s inability to field a decent superhero movie. Even Sony’s Hancock has out-grossed the earlier Batman Begins. The gross of Pixar’s superhero cartoon Incredibles is ahead of every DC movie except for the Dark Knight. There are rumours that DC are considering having their own cartoon series like Marvel did with Iron Man Armored Adventures.
They got another wake-up call when Marvel formed their own movie studio, deciding that they knew their characters best, and were therefore better suited to translate the stories to the big screen than the mixed results that came from such pics as Fantastic Four, the first Hulk, Elektra (shudder), and others. Iron Man was a smash hit. Luckily the Dark Knight scored big for Warner Brothers, helping them to appear to stay in the game, but it was perception only. After the Batman sequel and Watchmen, they had nothing left in their armory.
The one bright spot for DC has been in animation, and it’s good that Marvel hasn’t has a clean sweep of everything already. Whether it’s the older Batman animated show, the newer things like the New Frontier, or pretty much anything at all that Bruce Timm has worked with, the animated adventures of DC’s heroes have far outclassed almost everything that Marvel has attempted for the better part of two decades. But now the race is on for the whole ball of wax.
TV. Movies. Cartoons. Video games and online virtual worlds. Amusement rides and action figures and statues and clothing. DC and Marvel have both been well and truly absorbed now into the two entertainment monoliths of America (a duolith?). For all of the years that DC was part of a bigger company, they really have put up a poor showing as far as trying to find synergies that would help everyone to properly harness the power of comics. Now that Marvel is backed by the Mouse, we have a genuine grudge match on our hands.
It is fair to say that Marvel has embarrassed DC with its fast success in Hollywood, and it is only reinforced when even executives on DC’s side complain that Superman is a bit stale as characters go, while everyone wants to be Iron Man for next Halloween. You may have heard of culture wars before, but this is a culture war of a different type, and the two companies will be competing for the premier place for making their properties the most celebrated, most successful pop culture icons of the future. Disney outlasted Hanna-Barbera, and now Disney is backing Marvel.
