I've wrote this editorial to discuss the common fan complaint that seems to be getting thrown around a lot lately concerned fans about the upcoming untitled Man Of Steel follow up.
It goes without saying that Marvel Studios way of setting up their shared Universe worked exceptionally well in the long run, with The Avengers being a major success and going on to being the 3rd highest grossing movie of all time. Marvel Studios went about introducing majority of the team in their own solo outings first, giving you an opportunity to get to know the characters before they assemble together in The Avengers, but does that mean DC have to approach their Cinematic Universe in the same way?
Well, the simple answer would be no. There is no set way to build cinematic universe and while Marvel Studios way of setting thinks up worked extremely well for them, it doesn't necessarily mean that WB/DC have to set their cinematic universe up the exact same way. This has lead certain fans into believing that without characters being set up in a solo movie before a team up, the movie will be overcrowded.
Contrary to popular belief on this site, The Avengers isn't the first movie with an ensemble cast. In fact, there have been plenty of movies with en ensemble cast ranging from Lord Of The Rings to Oceans Eleven who all successfully balanced each character out in an appropriate way that serves the plot. Lets take a look at Lord Of The Ring huge ensemble cast that was all introduced in the first movie of the trilogy The Fellowship of the Ring.
Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey
Liv Tyler as Arwen
Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn
Sean Astin as Samwise "Sam" Gamgee
Cate Blanchett as Galadriel
John Rhys-Davies as Gimli
Billy Boyd as Peregrin "Pippin" Took
Dominic Monaghan as Meriadoc "Merry" Brandybuck
Orlando Bloom as Legolas
Christopher Lee as Saruman the White
Hugo Weaving as Elrond
Sean Bean as Boromir
Ian Holm as Bilbo Baggins
Andy Serkis as Gollum
Sala Baker as the Dark Lord Sauron
Marton Csokas as the Elf Celeborn
Lawrence Makoare as the Orc Lurtz
Craig Parker as Haldir
Mark Ferguson as Gil-galad
Peter McKenzie as Elendil
Harry Sinclair as Isildur
As you can see, that's a lot of characters and in comparison to the Man Of Steel's sequel current cast members, there are 16 more characters than the 6 confirmed for the Man Of Steel sequel. As you probably know, The Fellowship of the Ring was a highly successful movie that went on to spawn 2 sequels and a prequel trilogy. Of course, some fans will argue that those characters are not comic book characters, but then again, WB/DC aren't making a comic book, they are making a comic book movie.
Next, lets take a little look at DC's very own animated Superman/Batman: Public Enemies animated movie that was released in 2009 that also spawned a direct follow up called Superman/Batman: Apocalypse. The animated Superman/Batman movie featured an array of comic book characters that were all integrated into the movie, with some playing important roles with others making a small appearances. Superman/Batman: Public Enemies featured...
Tim Daly as Superman
Clancy Brown as Lex Luthor
Xander Berkeley as Captain Atom
Corey Burton as Captain Marvel & Solomon Grundy
Ricardo Chavira as Major Force
Allison Mack as Power Girl
John C. McGinley as Metallo
C.C.H. Pounder as Amanda Waller
LeVar Burton as Black Lightning
Calvin Tran as Japanese Toyman
Brian George as Gorilla Grodd
Jennifer Hale as Starfire & Killer Frost
Rachael MacFarlane as Nightshade & Lady Shiva
Alan Oppenheimer as Alfred Pennyworth
Andrea Romano as Giganta,
Bruce Timm as Mongul
Michael Gough as Hawkman & Captain Cold
In comparison to the upcoming Man Of Steel sequel, that is 15 more characters than the so far confirmed amount to be featured in the Man Of Steel follow up. I think I should mention that the direction follow up to Superman/Batman: Public Enemies also featured Wonder Woman.
However, it doesn't stop there because every single comic book movie being released next year have more confirmed characters than the Man Of Steel follow up currently has, with Captain America: The Winter Soldier having 19 officially cast characters with 1 unspecified role, X-Men: Days Of Future Past having 16 officially cast characters, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 having 15 officially cast characters with Felcity Jones and B. J. Novak in unspecified roles and finally with Guardians of the Galaxy having 14 officially cast characters and 9 unspecified roles as well as 1 confirmed cameo.
As you can quite clearly see, compared to the 6 confirmed characters set to appear in the Man Of Steel follow up, all the comic book movies being released next year have far more characters being featured, with Guardians of the Galaxy introducing a total of 23 characters that have never been introduced before. Funny enough, the other comic book movie that is widely considered to be overcrowded is The Amazing Spider-Man 2 but as it stands, both The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy have a larger cast.
So is the upcoming sequel to Man Of Steel currently overcrowded with characters? The obvious answer is no. I can understand that some fans are concerned with movies being overcrowded because I don't think many people honestly want to see these movies flop but I think its gotten to a point where its a bit silly to assume that the comic book movie with the smallest confirmed cast so far is overcrowded while the others are not. A movie having a huge ensemble cast doesn't mean the movie will automatically be bad since there are plenty of movies who have a huge cast that have gone on to be highly successful and to spawn successful franchises such as Lord Of The Rings and Stars Wars. There is no set way to build a cinematic universe and without an insight into how WB/DC plan to do this, its almost redundant to assume that they do not know what they are doing.
So fear not fanboys, an ensemble cast of characters that are being introduced in one movie does not mean automatic failure and can easily go on to be highly successful if all turns out well. Superman, Batman & Wonder Woman are set to hit screen on July 17th 2015 in the upcoming Man Of Steel with the story being written by David S. Goyer & the script being rewritten by Chris Terrio with Zack Snyder directing. 6 confirmed characters is far from being overcrowded, especially in comparison to other successful movies with a huge ensembles casts and the upcoming comic book movies set to be released next year.
Source: http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/Batmaniac/news/?a=92174
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