Kevin Smith Reveals the First DC Comics Character He Would Do if He Took Over Their Movie Universe

If you have a blank slate to establish an entire cinematic franchise featuring beloved characters, the first entry in such a series brings with it a lot of expectations and weight, with filmmaker Kevin Smith recently noting that, were he to be given the opportunity to develop a DC Comics cinematic franchise, there wouldn’t be a question about kicking off the series with a Superman film. Smith detailed how Superman was the seminal superhero that would serve as the crux that an entire franchise would hinge upon, setting the standard of what the entire franchise would have to live up to.

“If I’m a smart business person and they give me the DC Universe to play with, first thing I’d do is Superman, because there’s your Jesus. You get that right, everything else would be f-cking easy,” Smith shared on his Fatman Beyond podcast. “This is the first superhero, the f-cking blueprint, the prototype. This is a character that they should be making more movies of than Batman, because he’s a character that stands for f-cking hope and stuff like that. So I think you get that right — and I’m not saying, ‘I would do the best version of Superman,’ no, not at all. I would try like f-ck to get that right, because once you nail that, I think everything else is f-cking easy.”

He continued, “Superman has a lot of elements that are more challenging than Batman. We all love Batman, because it’s like, ‘I can be Batman, you can be Batman. He’s a rich guy with a f-cking car and he’s real emo.’ Superman gives you something to aspire to, something you can’t really be the way that some religious people or the spiritual look to Jesus. They’ll never be Jesus, but look at him, he’s this great, model savior. Same way with Superman, Superman’s just got a better outfit than Jesus. You can tell a lot more stories because Superman’s got way more bad guys than Jesus. Jesus has got Pontius Pilate, Superman’s got everybody in the DCU.”

Surely Smith isn’t off base with his remarks, as Zack Snyder kicked off the DC Extended Universe with Man of Steel, which established the overall tone of that franchise. The world of DC films has started deviating from that initial vision, leaving fans to wonder when Superman could make a triumphant return to the live-action franchise.

The filmmaker also went on to note that Green Arrow could make a good character to kick off a shared universe, though with the recent success of Arrow and subsequent Arrowverse, the film would have the cards stacked against it. He also admitted that, while it would make the most sense to start a franchise with Superman, his personal interest in Question would mean he would also be compelled to develop a film based on that character, even though it wouldn’t be the smartest decision from a business perspective.

“[Green Arrow] makes a lot of sense, too, but they made that show and you’d be letting people down if you don’t make a movie as good as the show that they watched for six years, then you’re the f-cking idiot who’s ruined it,” Smith pointed out. “Green Lantern is a possibility, too, because that’s very magical. If you get that f-cking right, you could make the Guardians of the Galaxy in DC. But I think Superman, if I was being the smart business person, the Question, if I was being me. And that’s for DC — Marvel, I wouldn’t do anything, they’re doing everything f-cking right, they need no help from me whatsoever. They got a Kevin in charge there and he’s f-cking brilliant so they need no help from this Kevin.”

Stay tuned for details on the future of the DC Extended Universe.

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