He Who Laughs Last Laughs Longest

For some time now, DC Comics has been criticized and laughed at for taking so long to start their Justice League cinematic franchise. Many were saying that they were fools for just standing by and watching Marvel capitalize on their indisputably successful avengers franchise. Well, in all honesty, from a business perspective, they couldn't have done better. As soon as Iron Man, the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, hit theaters, Marvel was unstoppable. Had DC started their Justice League series then, it would have been a disaster. We would have had both companies competing and trying to outdo the other. Phase One of the Marvel films enjoyed so much success because they had nothing to worry about but telling the story and making it good, trying to outdo no one but themselves. Now Phase One is over, and Phase Two is nearly done as well. DC knows this. They also know the obvious, that we will never view the new phase of Marvel with its new line-up the way we do Phase One. Think of it like Star Wars. We who grew up with the original will never like the new ones as much. Granted, I don't think Marvel will screw up Phase Three the way Lucas did with the prequels, but you get the general idea. Now it's DC's turn. Part of the interest that came to Marvel's Phase One and Two from the perspective of the comic book illiterate (myself included), is that they took the well known characters to tackle first. This generated the interest needed to fuel their multi-billion dollar success. While I couldn't be more excited about Phase Three, I must confess I don't know anything about these new heroes. I do, on the other hand, know very well about the characters involved in the Justice League movies. Batman, Superman, Flash, Wonder Woman, these are the top of their universe much like Phase One was the top of Marvel's. Top of the universe at least from the perspective of the average moviegoer, those of us who don't read the comics. At the end of the day, the Justice League franchise will be just as successful as Phase One and Two and I believe will surpass the coming Phase Three, set to start after Avengers 2: Age of Ultron. The average moviegoer doesn't know the more obscure characters that will inevitably need to be brought in to future Marvel phases but they are very familiar with the ones in the first phase of Justice League. The DC characters have the advantage of being more traditionally present on the big screen, albeit not as successful as Marvel has been the last few years. We all grew up with Richard Donner's Superman and Tim Burton's Batman, while Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy is a modern masterpiece and already considered by many a classic, as well as an international box office phenomenon. Marvel has had a great run bringing their favorites to the big screen and have enjoyed a healthy paycheck for it. But now it's DC's turn, and they may have just what they need to come out on top when all is said and done. They let Marvel make their splash and make everyone love superhero movies again and now they're just gonna ride the waves all the way to box office success.