Considering how dark and gritty Warner Bros. have been steering the DC Comics movies as of late, the latest rumour to come out of their growing DC Cinematic universe proves to be quite believable. According to Drew McWeeny of HitFix, there is a mandate doing the rounds at Warner Bros. concerning their DC characters: "No jokes". It seems after Green Lantern fell flat, a darker and edgier approach is what is needed moving forward. Well, there was quite a few problems with Green Lantern, editing, pacing, script, but the lighter tone wasn't one of them. But if a more realistic and darker tone is where this universe is heading, as evidenced by Man of Steel, we can't really argue. Warner Bros. have their plan set in concrete it would seem, but if this all proves to be true, is a superhero universe devoid of humour the way to go?
Sure, it would separate it from what Marvel Studios are doing, and while a dark tone suits Batman, and to a certain extent Wonder Woman, what about the other character that are planned on being brought to the big screen? Man of Steel proved that a gritty Superman doesn't exactly sit right, the Flash is quite a happy go lucky character (as is Green Lantern if they plan on bringing him back), and Shazam is basically the mind of young boy transplanted into a body with the powers of Superman (possibly played by The Rock to boot). That's the makings of a kid friendly adventure film if I ever heard one. It seems the success of one franchise, The Dark Knight trilogy, has dictated the direction of an entire cinematic universe made up of many disparate properties and characters. I am in no doubt that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will be one hell of a dark film (Warners practically shouted it with the first picture of Supes being him looking serious in the rain), but do they all have to be GrimDark affairs? It is just a rumour at this stage, but one quite a few of us can believe. I just hope when this cinematic universe gets up and running someone remembers that, like the comic books that spawned them, they are meant to be escapism, and that every so often in escapism there has to room for laughter.
