This week was a big one for those excited about DC's upcoming cinematic universe. From a new Suicide Squad trailer to our first looks at Wonder Woman and Justice League, it looks like the home of Superman is finally ready to take on Marvel at the box office.
DC is no doubt following in Marvel's footsteps to build a blossoming entertainment empire, but unlike Marvel, DC has already built a successful entertainment universe outside of the realm of comics ... in the realm of video games.
While Marvel has conquered the box office with hit after hit, DC's video game franchises like the Batman: Arkham series and Injustice have been enjoying both critical and financial success. And for good reason, too. There hasn't been a bad game from DC and its partner Warner Bros. Games in a long, long time. The film side of Warner Bros. would be wise to follow their recipe for success.
In many ways DC's films already are in that groove. Whether it is Batman: Arkham Knight or Injustice, recent DC games have taken a fantastical world filled with outrageous villains and superpowered heroes into something grounded in the real world. There is a grittiness to these game franchises that is reflected both in their writing and in their visual style. Though Injustice and the Batman: Arkham series aren't interconnected, they both clearly establish one fact to their players: DC comics and characters aren't for kids.
Being "adult" doesn't mean gratuitous violence and nudity. Rather, it means looking at these fantastic characters and universe through a particular lens, one informed by the real world. Footage from Batman v Superman and concept art from the upcoming Justice League film already point toward DC and Warner Bros. taking a similar approach. Much of Batman v Superman will deal with what one would imagine are the real-world consequences of a superpowered alien living on Earth. Some may love him and view him as a messiah. Some will hate him and view him as a threat. This isn't a children's story where the superheroes instantly become best friends and there are no ramifications for their city-destroying actions. Superman's presence divides the world.
It's an approach we saw in Injustice as well. In the game and ongoing comic series, we see Superman, the most powerful being on the planet, deciding to take the idea of his power to the real-world logical endpoint: If Superman is unstoppable, why can't he simply take over the world? The game series and ongoing comic deal with that question in some surprising ways, as some flock to Superman while others flee him. In Injustice, the stakes feel considerably higher, as characters who die are gone for good and the line between peace and tyranny isn't 100 percent clear.
It wouldn't surprise if Warner Bros. had looked to Injustice for inspiration, especially considering how the film's official concept art so closely resembles promotional art for the game. From the dust and debris to the look of Flash's costume, the two pieces closely resemble one another.
Developer NetherRealm made a big splash (sorry) in Injustice with their version of serious take on Aquaman as well, a character many had come to view as a joke. When he impaled you with his trident and summoned a great white shark to maul you as his ultimate attack, nobody was laughing. Instead, fans were cheering at how "the guy who talks to fish" had become a badass character almost overnight. Batman v Superman looks to do the same, casting Game of Throne's Khal Drogo actor Jason Mamoa as a truly intimidating looking king of Atlantis, almost as a means of overcompensating for the mainstream audience's long-held idea that Aquaman is a joke.
Even the idea of Superman conquering the world looks to get some service in the film. In trailers we've seen soldiers wearing Superman insignias, with Batman fighting against them. It's a scenario straight from Injustice, where Superman does have a literal army and Batman (along with other heroes) fights against them. Heck, the soldier's even look similar to one another, clad in all black.
It's not just Injustice the films seem to be drawing from, either. Both Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad look to have found inspiration in WB's popular Rocksteady Batman games as well.
Take Harley Quinn, for example. The character created by Bruce Timm for the classic '90s Batman series is now one of DC's most popular villains. Certainly, Margot Robbie looks like she will steal the show in Suicide Squad, and she's one of the characters fans are most excited about seeing.
That being said, her appearance in film is much different from the character's classic appearance. We might have Batman: Arkham Asylum to thank for that. Though Rocksteady's Harley and Robbie's version from Suicide Squad don't look similar visually, they both share an aura of sex appeal that for a long time wasn't a part of Quinn's playbook. When Arkham Asylum released in 2009, nobody had seen a version of Harley Quinn that looked like she does below. Sporting a miniskirt, corset and with her underwear clearly showing, clowns had suddenly become sexy. Her look would continue to change in subsequent games, but her sex appeal was there to stay. When DC's New 52 rolled around in 2011, Quinn played a much larger role than she previously had, and while elements of her classic look remained, she, too, had undergone a visual overhaul.
Suicide Squad will no doubt play up this relatively new element of her character in the film, as Robbie squeezes into her pair of short-shorts for the role. But if Suicide Squad found inspiration for a sexy Harley from Rocksteady's Batman, the creators of Batman v Superman's Batmobile almost certainly took a few notes from Batman's ride in Batman: Arkham Knight. Sure, the two vehicles aren't identical, but the armor-plated style and clearly visible weaponry make them a close match. New footage from the film also features a segment of the Batmobile driving underground that could easily be mistaken for one of Batman: Arkham Knight's Batmobile race tracks.
Of course, DC's cinematic universe doesn't owe any of this exclusively to games like Injustice and Rocksteady's Batman. Years of comic book history, films and animation precede those games, and these upcoming films will be drawing from decades of material. Still, it's hard not to see how DC's success in the video game realm may have provided a solid road map for how to approach its film universe, one that is more firmly grounded in reality and embraces a far darker tone than that of its primary competitor. Whether that strategy causes audiences to flock to theaters in the same way Marvel's films have remains to be seen, but it certainly worked for DC's video games.
