Compared to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) hasn’t had the best time at the box office, as evidenced by the fact that 2017’s Justice League was re-titled and re-released four years later to undo the disappointment the original wrought on the superhero fandom. There’s a sense that the DCEU is a bit of a chimera, though, a creature with two entirely different faces to present to the world.
The Riddler
Following the release of The Batman, much of the conversation online actually centers on who will replace The Riddler as the main antagonist in the confirmed sequel, rather than on upcoming titles like Black Adam. Of course, what made this latest portrayal of Edward Nigma so compelling was his disguise, which dispensed with the goofy outfit worn by Jim Carrey in Batman Forever (1995) in favor of a more militant look for actor Paul Dano.
An infographic produced by ExpressVPN notes that disguises are one of the defining aspects of characters in the DC universe. They're crucial for separating the real person from the persona within the popular story arcs. The Riddler is both an engineer and a master manipulator, for instance, while Prof. Jonathan Crane, as Scarecrow, uses his experience as a psychologist to frighten his enemies.
Sadly, despite having almost 90 years’ worth of storytelling under its gadget belt, DC still somehow manages to get everything wrong in Hollywood. The company routinely creates outstanding movies, like The Dark Knight Rises (2012), yet the mess that was 2016’s Suicide Squad still manages to leak through. On the upside, the recently released sequel to the latter seems to be doing quite well with critics.
Arkham Asylum
It could be said that, by now, DC’s career at the box office has been eclipsed by Marvel's success during the 2010s. Current figures put the gulf between the two companies at US$1.649bn, in terms of the difference between the takings of the top-grossing movie from each side (Aquaman vs. Avengers: Endgame). Nobody would expect the DCEU to be out of ideas just yet, though.
Movie site ScreenRant notes that two upcoming TV shows set in the Batman canon, Arkham Asylum and The Penguin, could serve as an opportunity for DC to explore quite an old idea. After leaving the role of the Caped Crusader, Ben Affleck was supposed to continue on as a writer for what would eventually become Matt Reeves’ The Batman. This would have put assassin Deathstroke in the role of the lead bad guy.
What makes this particular story interesting is that Affleck has already written a script based in and around the same Arkham Asylum. This part of Gotham has already been covered in the 2009 video game of the same name but Affleck’s re-telling would likely take its cues from a graphic novel entitled Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth, by Grant Morrison. Most interesting of all is that Morrison’s book falls into the horror genre.
Whether Affleck’s story will make its way into either of the new TV series is debatable but DC’s continued experimentation with the source material is both a welcome and necessary development.
