Zack Snyder Explains Why DC Movies Can't Be Like Marvel Movies

There may not be a rivalry between the people making Marvel and DC films, but the two franchises [...]

By Charlie Ridgely

There may not be a rivalry between the people making Marvel and DC films, but the two franchises couldn't be more different in style as they continue to grow and expand. Warner Bros. and DC have taken a more standalone approach to their films as of late, embracing the styles and stories of individual filmmakers before trying to fit everything into the greater connected universe. The Marvel Cinematic Universe, on the other hand, is all about its connective tissue. There are different styles to be found in the different projects, but the goal for every title is to serve the greater narrative.

Neither approach is wrong or better than the other, and Justice League director Zack Snyder believes it's important for the companies to continue delivering different products. While speaking with YouTube channel TheFilmJunkee, Snyder explained why it's important for DC films to continue forging their own path.

"Well frankly, I just love that they decided to kind of embrace their personality," Snyder began. "I think that there was always this sort of criticism and or the middle step. What's the middle step? Ya know, trying to be like Marvel? Trying to do your own thing? Like, what are you going to do? But I think now, it's kind of locked in to this very specific trajectory where, I think and I hope, the idea is that it's filmmaker first... Which is basically what the multiverse allows for, filmmaker first and then, here's the characters, bringing the characters together.

"Even when I was doing Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, and Justice League, there were DC animated films that had nothing to do with what we were doing, and there were DC TV shows that had nothing to do with what we were doing, and there was no way to seam those up without alienating a giant fandom by saying 'Your Flash doesn't count' or 'Your animated show doesn't mean anything.'"

He went on to say that the Marvel Cinematic Universe took the time to establish itself, and it worked because there weren't any popular shows or movies out there with those same characters that people were already attached to. DC had to approach things differently from the start.

"I think that Marvel, they've built [their universe] over a long period of time, so by the time they got to their later movies, everything had kinda locked in, and it was all sort of moving in the same direction. But that was just never going to happen [with DC] because the DC TV shows were so popular and because their animated shows were so popular. I mean that was a success that they had," Snyder continued. "And [Christopher Nolan's] movies sort of had another tone and other universe. So there was no way that those things were going to ever like 'OK, we're going to say those things don't exist now, and it's this.' And I think there was that thinking for a while, but I'm glad that it kind of settled into a much more diverse [approach]."

Following the release of Wonder Woman 1984, DC's next project is expected to be Zack Snyder's Justice League, which will arrive on HBO Max in 2021.

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