While Zack Snyder has a loyal fan base among DC fans, his movies have faced criticism right from the beginning. His first movie, Man of Steel, kickstarted the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and explored the story of Kal-El / Superman. Snyder next jumped to a team-up movie with Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, a move that many considered to be misguided and which ultimately led to the downfall of DCEU.
Henry Cavill did not get another chance for a standalone Superman movie. Ben Affleck’s Batman also only appeared majorly in team-up movies, including Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League. According to critics, the superhero teaming came way too early in the franchise and there was a reason why.
Not Zack Snyder, DCEU Writer Blamed Warner Bros. For Franchise Failure
Warner Bros. wanted to achieve the same level of success as their Marvel counterparts and aimed to build a franchise as big as MCU. The Marvel Universe had a head start of nearly five years and had already released a team-up movie. However, one thing the MCU did right was to establish most of their heroes’ origin stories before The Avengers in 2012. They also added superheroes with no backstory into the team, but did it perfectly and maintained an element of mystery in their stories.
In contrast, Warner Bros. and DC Studio got it all wrong when they tried to emulate the success of MCU, failing miserably in the process. This was revealed by Man of Steel writer David S. Goyer when he appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz. Goyer is famously known for his work with Christopher Nolan on The Dark Knight.
Goyer bashed Warner Bros. for rushing with stories and ruining the franchise. Goyer agreed with the host that there should have been a second Superman movie before Batman v. Superman was made. Goyer pointed out that Warner Bros. put the writers and directors under pressure to build the next MCU. It seems like Zack Snyder just became a pawn in the studio’s senseless quest to compete with Marvel.
Another Studio Problem Also Proved A Headache For Zack Snyder And The Writers
Besides the competition with Marvel, there was another nagging problem for Zack Snyder and his team from Warner Bros. and DC Studios. According to David Goyer, the top brass kept changing every 18 months at the studios and every newly appointed executive had the aspiration to go bigger, without proper planning or understanding of how franchises worked.
Goyer recalled an instance when one of the executives, who was in charge of WB at the time, proposed a pitch for 20 DCEU movies spanning over the next 10 years, without any conceived idea or script. The Blade: Trinity director shared with the Happy Sad Confused podcast:
“I remember at one point the person running Warner Bros. at the time had this release that pitched the next 20 movies over the next 10 years. But none of them had been written yet! It was crazy how much architecture was being built on air… This is not how you build a house.”
Had the studios exercised a little more patience with their franchise and provided Zack Snyder with a better winning chance, the DCEU might have faired better. Their impatience has led to a situation where the entire DCEU is being rebooted to start afresh. James Gunn and Peter Safran have assumed control over DC Studios and announced the new DC Universe (DCU).
If studio interference continues, DCU could also face a fate similar to its predecessor. Zack Snyder’s DCEU movies are now available for streaming on Max.
Source: Josh Horowitz – YouTube
