Mark Millar on why DC’s properties aren’t translating that well to the big screen.
Mark Millar knows a thing or two about writing a comic. The creator of Kingsman, Miller also created the Civil War saga whilst working for Marvel comics, so it may be of interest to comic book fans to hear why he thinks that Marvel is so ahead of the game against their rivals DC in the comic book movie stakes.
Speaking to Yahoo Movies, Millar had this to say;
“I think it’s really simple, the characters aren’t cinematic, and I say this as a massive DC fan who much prefers their characters to Marvel’s. Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman are some of my favorites, but I think these characters, with the exception of Batman, they aren’t based around their secret identity; they are based around their super power. Whereas the Marvel characters tend to be based around the personality of Matt Murdock or Peter Parker, or the individual X-Men, it’s all about the character. DC, outside of Batman, is not about the character. With Batman, you can understand him and you can worry about him but someone like Green Lantern, he has this ring that allows him to create 3D physical manifestations and green plasma with the thoughts in his head but he’s allergic to the color yellow! How do you make a movie with that? In 1952, that made perfect sense, but now the audience have no idea what that’s all about.
People will slam me for this, but I think the evidence is there. We’ve seen great directors, great writers and great actors, tonnes of money thrown at them, but these films aren’t working. I think they are all too far away from when they were created. Something feels a little old about them, kids look at these characters and they don’t feel that cool. Even Superman, I love Superman, but he belongs to an America that doesn’t exist anymore. He represents 20th Century America, and I think he peaked then.”
Whilst his opinions may not sit well with some people, for instance fans of the recent Wonder Woman film helmed by Patty Jenkins being the obvious counter argument, Marvel Studios continues to dominate the comic book movie genre, with their total franchise gross now topping $14 billion dollars thanks to the recent hugely successful opening of Black Panther. No doubt DC and Warner Brothers will be hoping that the recent positive first screenings of Aquaman will help boost their acclaim both critically and financially, after Black Panther took more money ($235 million) during the Presidents’ Day long weekend in America than Justice League did during its full US theatrical run ($228.6 million).