Why are DC’s newer, R-rated superheroes more popular than Zack Snyder’s bolder attempts?

by Chris Snelgrove
| Published 27 seconds ago

I have something of an embarrassing fan confession: I love Peacemakerand I especially love James Gunn’s R-rated take on superhero stories. vulgarity, nudityThe extreme violence made this show insanely popular.

This leads to an obvious question: Why did audiences (myself included) embrace such a dark approach to superhero stories when everyone else rejected Zack Snyder’s gritty, gritty superhero films? The straightforward answer to this question is that James Gunn creates mature stories intended for intelligent adults, and the Snyder era has focused almost entirely on appealing to teen masters.

Dark art

Before Zack Snyder fans start bringing things up, hear me out: The DCEU started out as a darker alternative to the MCU, which sounds good on paper because some of the best comics ever (from The guards to The Dark Knight Returns) noticeably dark. But those stories were only dark because the writers wanted to tackle adult themes like tyranny, hero worship, and the thin line between good and evil.

The DCEU never did that, though, instead presenting a series of really stupid moments created purely for shock value, like Superman killing someone in his first movie. or Lex Luthor Congress bombed after mailing a woman a jar of his urine. or Batmanthe character who famously doesn’t kill, but just executes enemy after enemy in Batman v Superman.

Edgelords audience

Let’s be honest with ourselves: no one These things are done to enhance the characters or provide a satisfying story. Instead, it’s all written to shock audiences into thinking they’re watching something mature…or at least, a ’90s teenager’s idea of ​​maturity. But what? James Gunn Easily explained with Peacemaker is that it takes much more than shock to create a mature story.

clearly, Peacemaker Full of shocking moments ranging from a naked orgy in our hero’s house to his murder of his multi-dimensional personality. Oh, and the absolutely wild revelation that the Peacemaker’s new favorite dimension is filled with hardly anything but racist Nazis. But even at its stupidest, Peacemaker These moments are not presented simply to shock or impress the viewer; Instead, they’re all tied into the development of our main character.

Zack Snyder ruined your childhood

For example, Peacemaker has a drug-fueled orgy because Harcourt isn’t interested in him, and this leads to him discovering a new dimension where he has to fight and kill a version of himself who, by the way, also has a drug problem. The reveal of the Nazi world helps show our main character’s stupidity (he doesn’t notice big things like everyone in ARGUS has copies of Mein Kampf and the building contains a huge mural of Hitler) and the bitter decision he must face. In the end, Peacemaker realizes that it is better to be a depressed hero in his own world than to live in a dimension where his happiness is conditional on the suffering of millions.

Simply put, every moment is shocking Peacemaker Moves the story and characters forward in every way. For example, the Peacemaker’s Justice Gang interview is filled with corny jokes, but they help further expose Guy Gardner’s stupidity as he explains why Peacemaker doesn’t join the world’s most famous band of heroes.

In the DCEU, shocking moments come at the expense of our favorite characters. Can we all agree that Batman and Superman becoming killers makes fans love them? lessNo more.

And having Superman commit nearly a hundred acts of 9/11 while fighting Zod doesn’t make him look like a hero. In fact, it makes us more sympathetic to Lex Luthor for wanting to kill this hothead Alien A demigod before he accidentally split the world in half. And when DC tries to make its heroes dark and gritty and makes its supervillains look like the good guys, it’s clear that this attempt to create a dark cinematic universe is a complete failure.

James Gunn: Head of Crass

Peacemaker It’s not a perfect show, but it proves that it’s possible to create R-rated comics without destroying characters and ruining the universe like the DCEU did. There’s nothing wrong with creating dark and gritty tales, but what’s the point if you’re just going to try to make something that only foolish teenagers would ever believe? The DCEU collapsed because it bet everything on shock moments that almost fatally poisoned the brand, leaving James Gunn to build a new cinematic universe from scratch.

In the final irony, it would take a man obsessed with d*ck jokes to create the most surprisingly mature cinematic universe in Hollywood history. This maturity hasn’t stopped him from creating a lighter, more fun world, one that was so successful in large part because the DCEU tried too hard to be dark. In the end, James Gunn keeps winning because he makes movies and shows for actual adults Zack Snyder It focuses almost entirely on pleasing teen internet trolls.

Maybe Snyder will finally learn that it’s never too late to grow up. And if his fans can learn the same lesson, they might finally stop celebrating the DCEU, which (I’ll say it very loudly to those cheap seats in the back) will go down in history as The worst cinematic universe ever.

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