The Dark Knight Couldn’t Happen Under The DCU’s Elseworlds Plan

More than 15 years after it was released, it is safe to say that Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy still holds up as one of the greatest comic book movie franchises of all time – but it is one that could not happen with the new DC Universe Elseworlds plan. The DCU will finally get underway with the release of Creature Commandos, then on the big screen with Superman: Legacy, and with these projects comes a new shared universe of comic book movies. This isn’t unfamiliar ground for DC movies, as their first attempt with the DCEU comprised characters that all fed into each other’s stories – but The Dark Knight trilogy was not a part of this.

Elseworlds, meanwhile, is a concept borne of DC Comics in which alternate versions of characters and franchises are allowed to explore storylines that aren’t connected to the main continuity. The Batman and Joker are both a part of the cinematic iteration of this alternate universe, and are both lauded as yet another DC cinematic success for their eponymous characters. As for whether they can follow in the footsteps of The Dark Knight trilogy, however, is something that the DCU might hinder substantially, along with any other Elseworlds venture.

The DCU’s Elseworlds System Could Prevent Another Dark Knight

James Gunn confirmed that Elseworlds will be allowed to forge ahead with DC stories alongside, but entirely disconnected from, the DCU’s smorgasbord of movies, animated and live-action series, and even video games. Anything that falls within the DCU branding, such as Superman: Legacy and The Brave and the Bold, will share the same iterations of their characters right down to the actors that portray them. Anything else, including The Batman trilogy, will fall under the Elseworlds branding.

This seems fair enough at face value, but it would be remiss to ignore the impact of the DCU on such projects. In this current state of affairs, the acclaimed Dark Knight trilogy would fall under the Elseworlds banner like The Batman does now. At the same time, the DCU will be introducing its own iteration of Batman in The Brave and the Bold, whose chosen actor will be set to reprise their role for many movies to come. The amount of cinematic Batmen is already excessive, but to have two Batman franchises run alongside one another at the same time is on a whole other level.

The Dark Knight

Release Date

July 18, 2008

Director

Christopher Nolan

Cast

Nestor Carbonell, Morgan Freeman, Ritchie Coster, Cillian Murphy, Chin Han, Gary Oldman, Eric Roberts, William Fichtner, Aaron Eckhart, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Christian Bale, David Dastmalchian, Michael Caine, Anthony Michael Hall, Heath Ledger

Rating

PG-13

Runtime

152 Minutes

Writers

Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, David S. Goyer

With that being the case, one iteration of the Caped Crusader is bound to be quashed. While the current The Batman trilogy is going ahead, that is because it was already in motion before the DCU was established. It is hard to see how, under this model, a standalone epic like The Dark Knight trilogy could reemerge in the shadow of a sprawling shared universe.

Why The DCU’s Elseworlds Plan Is A Major Risk

If the DCU does hamper the production of standalone movies of the same quality as The Dark Knight, then it’s not hard to see how this could quickly become a lose-lose situation for DC. Overshadowing potentially successful solo projects with the inevitably inescapable DCU will stifle their impact, and dissuade those that would be perfect visionaries for these projects from even starting them. That leads to the success of DC’s cinematic presence hinging entirely on the DCU, which will itself be kicking off at a time when superhero fatigue is at an all-time high.

Conversely, the DCU could suffer in the wake of standalone success stories. The Batman and Joker, which both have upcoming sequels in the works, have been critically acclaimed to the same degree as The Dark Knight trilogy. The DCU, then, will now have a tough time distancing itself from these movies while making an impact in its own right, potentially suffering as their quality is measured up against that of their darker yet less narratively constrained cinematic counterparts.

DC Is Sacrificing Standalone Movies For Its Shared Universe

What all this means is that Gunn and Safran must be exceedingly confident about the success of a shared cinematic DC Universe over a series of standalone films. There is, of course, a lot to be excited about when it comes to the upcoming DCU offerings. Gunn has proved time and again, for instance, that he can offer something unique with his penchant for exploring underappreciated characters from the source material.

Whether the dogged pursuit of a shared universe to match up the massive success of the MCU is a good idea still remains to be seen. What can be presumed, however, is that having Elseworlds and the DCU run concurrently can potentially magnify superhero fatigue and overstuff cinema with DC characters. Either way, DC seems to be happy to prioritize the power of its shared universe, which given its potential returns, isn’t all too surprising.