Man of Steel and the DC Cinematic Universe: 5 Ways Forward

Superman is back in a big, bad way.Even with the official Warner Bros. estimates coming in at a little below the numbers that exhibitors have been calling out all weekend long, the film will have broken the record for the biggest opening weekend ever in June, in addition to another $12 million in corporate screenings on Thursday that don’t even count toward the mark.The film took the #1 spot everywhere this weekend with a gross of $71.6 million in the 24 overseas markets in release. That made for a worldwide total of $196.7M in its first 4 days, meaning that it will have made its production budget back likely before next weekend even hits, and the standard 50%-65% dropoff for a big, new release will still give the film a $50 million domestic second weekend or so.And so the conversation begins about sequels, spinoffs and other DC Universe films not specifically tied to Superman.So…where do they go from here?In the earliest days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was pretty clear what they were building to, and how; Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury would be the man to assemble the Avengers.The DC Universe, though, doesn’t really have someone who serves that kind of function in their comics. Do you use Snapper Carr? Maxwell Lord? …Yeah, you see the problem. Obviously the plan is to build to Justice League sooner or later, but…how? And what will come next?