Batman v Superman is right around the corner, and following that will be Suicide Squad later in the year. As the DC films ramp up in releases we’ll be seeing things like Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman standalone films and of course the team up film Justice League.
Some interesting comments have come from producer Charles Roven recently that indicate while solo films are in the works, they aren’t necessarily all going to be origin tales. In this case he was speaking specificially about Flash and Aquaman, stating that those respective films won’t be origin tales, and will instead simply pick up each character and run with an established setting.
This approach seems consistent with the upcoming take on Batman, with him being an older, established vigilante with a detailed history before audiences are even introduced to him.
Dropping the origin tale on the expectation that audiences are already familiar enough with these characters is certainly efficient in that it allows the films to delve straight into their cross over event or the stories they might wish to tell straight away rather than building up to, but at the same time it glosses over a significant opportunity in bringing this universe together on screen, and reflecting on each character prior to the big events.
Batman seems to make more sense given the recent Dark Knight trilogy, but Aquaman and Flash aren’t so well known. If the characters appear in Justice League beforehand however, that might be enough, we’ll have to wait and see!
