Fan Fridays: Will DC Rebirth Affect the DC Cinematic Universe?

The recently released DC Rebirth promises to have massive ramifications on the heroes of the DC Universe moving forward. Old characters return, new plot twists arise, and a sense of legacy returns to DC proper with this first issue from Geoff Johns and a slew of talented artists. Controversy and announcements seemed to litter the airwaves in the world of comic books this week, but DC Rebirth arguably made the biggest splash. With these massive waves spreading across DC comics, could they eventually hit the DC Cinematic Universe as well? Comicbook Fan Dr. Rorschach believes it just might. Warning, there will be spoilers in this article regarding DC Rebirth so go read it if you haven’t already!

The major reveal of Rebirth was that Doctor Manhattan of Watchmen fame, and perhaps the Watchmen in general, will be appearing the DC Comics universe proper. Considering that Zack Snyder is still firmly at the helm of the first Justice League movie around the bend, and happened to direct the original Watchmen one as well, you have the right creator in place to bring these characters into the DC Cinematic Universe, that’s for sure. It would be quite a spectacle to see a fist fight between Batman and Rorschach or a drag out fight among the gods with Manhattan and Superman trading blows. Obviously, the team will have to fight Darkseid and the minions of Apokolips before jumping into any Watchmen shenanigans.

As for the other reveals of DC Rebirth, I think those are a long ways away with the possibility of never happening at all. Wally West hasn’t even been introduced proper yet as part of the Flash’s supporting cast, but this may change when the Ezra Miller led flick drops in 2018. It may be able to fit in with the backdrop of time travel that was introduced in Batman V Superman, but may be a tad too complicated for audiences to wrap their heads around.

The idea of three Jokers running around the world may be a bit of fan service but I would highly doubt we’d see that on the silver screen any time soon. Warner Brothers’ needs to work on pushing Jared Leto with the upcoming Suicide Squad picture before delving into the insanity of different eras of Jokers running around town. To be sure, Leto’s Joker looks like an interpretation of the character we’ve never seen before while also taking a combination of Jokers before him for certain aspects of this new Clown Prince of Crime.

With the DC Cinematic Universe introducing aspects of time travel, anything is really possible moving forward. Also considering the architect of DC Rebirth, Geoff Johns, is now handling a lot of the ins and outs of the DC Cinematic Universe, it’s entirely within the realm of possibility that we see elements from Rebirth start bleeding into the DCCU in the future.

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