OPINION: The Case of DC v The Media

 We live in a great time, geeks. A time where we can see gods fly around, aliens attack, and warriors slay fantastic beasts on the big screen. A lot of hardwork is put into what is usually a 2 hour spectacle (or flop). Hardwork that goes on behind the scenes that fans of all ages never get to see and rely on the news to provide them with the “truth.” Well, the truth as I can tell you firsthand is not always the truth. 

UPDATE: The Nerdist has removed the article due to massive backlash.

It is 2016 and we’ve seen great comic book films that go from the Avengers to the X-Men and fairly soon fans will get to witness the Trinity in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. What’s not to like about that when it’s clearly something new? This amateur journalist thinks that it is something that fans of both sides, DC and Marvel, should be cheering on but sadly they’re not. Instead, people are outright bashing it or misconstruing what was said regarding the production for the DC Extended Universe. This mostly stemming from dishonest and unethical journalism using misleading headlines, shady vocabulary, and so on. It almost feels as if there is a need to grind an axe against DC and whatever they do because of a wide-range of biases.

For instance, yesterday several more images of the upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice film had surfaced with one particular image that had set fans off. That symbol being the Omega symbol that is very iconic to famed DC Comics villain, Darkseid, and thus came the fan theories, the excitement, and the media finding a way to deliver this news to people. Some sites provided fairly straightforward commentary on what was going on in these pictures whereas others made erroneous claims and weak comparisons. One such claim can be exemplified down below:

Will the Lord of Apokolips (created by the immortal Jack Kirby) make his live-action debut in the superhero slugfest? Or is the above image merely teasing bigger things to come in the Justice League follow-up film? In either case, it looks like DC’s again trying to mimic Marvel by putting its own version of Thanos in its burgeoning cinematic universe. For the definitive screen take on Supes versus Darkseid, be sure to check out Superman: The Animated Series, the final episode of which features the ultimate battle between these two titans. -The Nerdist

As a long time fan of both DC and Marvel Comics, I find this to be a rather erroneous claim that serves as biased commentary. Mainly due to the fact that DC is in no way making an effort to mimic Marvel’s method by using a villain that is similar to Thanos, or rather a villain that Thanos is similar to being that Darkseid had made his appearance in 1970 whereas Thanos appeared three years later. Not to mention that Thanos’ creator, Jim Starlin, had openly admitted that he used Darkseid as a basis for when he was creating Thanos. That is a fact that a lot of people are forgetting when it comes to DC and Marvel’s films as well as the characters they are intending to use and sadly sites like The Nerdist feel it’s okay to feed this kind of bait to fans. That’s just straight up unprofessional and violates every principle of journalism.

Thanos: February 1973 Darkseid: November 1970

There are numerous other instances that I can think of and I am certain that you, the readers, know exactly what I am referring to if you take even so much as a glance at certain headlines for articles at sites like comicbook.com. I remember that time when director Zack Snyder had commented on Marvel’s Ant-Man and everyone had a different point-of-view on what happened when he made that remark. From me, the fans, and the bigger journalistic sites that reported on everything that he said. Most of what these sites had stated was hyperbolic and taken out of context just so that the Internet would go all “Jerry Springer” with two sides being the Marvel fans and the DC fans. Now this may seem fairly biased but when this issue had occurred, I agreed with most of the defensive claims made by the DC fans because they actually knew where Snyder was coming from. When he said that Ant-Man was the “flavor of the week” he didn’t necessarily mean it as an insult. He essentially was saying that the character was not as well known as certain heroes like Batman, Iron Man, Captain America, and Superman and one could compare it to how you go to the cafeteria at your school and there’s a new dish every week. Some of the meals you’ve never heard of or tried before but then there are some that you do know about. With that said, Snyder wasn’t bashing Marvel or it’s production and nor does he hate DC. Especially when he stated in an interview with Empire Magazine that he actually loved Marvel and enjoyed Guardians of the Galaxy which more than likely stems from the fact that he had worked with the Guardians’ director, James Gunn, on Snyder’s directorial debut film Dawn of the Dead. That interview can be found here.

Now tell me why exactly did the media do this? They had no logical reason to portray Zack Snyder as this “rabid DC fanboy” as some people accused him of being and what I was also accused of being when I defended Snyder during that situation. I took big issue with this whole situation especially when Sebastian Stan fired back and said what was most definitely childish and the various news sites and some fans let Stan get away with it by using vocabulary that made it seem like he was “commenting” or “stating an opinion” when that was not even close to what Stan had done. Stan outright insulted Snyder by saying he was pretty much trying to emulate Christopher Nolan, which is far from the truth. Stan clearly never watched Watchmen which felt astonishingly different from Nolan’s style of filmmaking. This wouldn’t be the first time though that the media has held DC to a very unjust system of judgement while certain other individuals get off easy. Let’s remember that in 2008 Iron Man‘s Robert Downey Jr. literally said and I quote, “FUCK DC COMICS!” and nobody had cared about it but as soon as a DC star like Jason Momoa writes “Fuck Marvel!” on a poster it becomes a big deal. He had been painted as a “troll” and a “hater” for that remark which still follows him today. Why are the Marvel stars and films not being criticized in such a meticulous manner like the DC films and stars are? Nobody fully criticized or held Anthony Mackie accountable for what he said about Man of Steel and anyone who liked it. There is no equal standard and because of it we sadly have a fanboy war. A fanboy war that is undeniably pointless when both companies have something great about them and are going separate routes with their cinematic universes yet people feel the need to say that one side is rushing or one side is copying this strategy when that necessarily isn’t always the case. That’s what the news sites are forgetting but again, I suppose that they do not care. They’re too busy trying to push a biased agenda and grinding an unfair axe to realize how wrong they are. Not only have they defend Stan and RDJ’s comments but they minimized this type of behavior which was clearly not a joke like the MCU fanboys and the media have tried to say. The behavior featured in this video is unacceptable.

“But I would say we’re still making something very original in our own way. I mean, the Russo’s are coming in and taking something people are used to and they’re shaping it up and changing it in a very different way. They’re not trying to mimic a better Christopher Nolan movie or something like that.” -Sebastian Stan (2015)

“My whole thing is that that I saw The Dark Knight. I feel like I’m dumb because I feel like I don’t get how many things that are so smart. It’s like a Ferrari engine of storytelling and script writing and I’m like, ‘That’s not my idea of what I want to see in a movie.’ I loved The Prestige but didn’t understand The Dark Knight. Didn’t get it, still can’t tell you what happened in the movie, what happened to the character and in the end they need him to be a bad guy. I’m like, ‘I get it. This is so high brow and so fucking smart, I clearly need a college education to understand this movie.’ You know what? Fuck DC comics. That’s all I have to say and that’s where I’m really coming from.” -Robert Downey Junior (2008)

This agenda does not just exist between the films. It exists between the comics as well and at times it can be even worse as we recently observed with the whole “DC Rebirth” thing that was announced fairly recently. Many fans and haters alike have stated that this is another reboot just like Convergence was. However, there is one major flaw in that argument and that is that Convergence was not a reboot by any sense of the word. It was more of a transitional phase for certain characters and further expanded certain titles and their impact on the DC Universe as we know it. I have no clue why everyone feels this way but I suppose we should ask BleedingCool.com about that since they made the outrageous speculation without receiving a single comment from any of the DC executives. Would that not make their whole article fall apart? I would think so because if I were an executive at DC Comics, I would most likely NEVER reboot a universe that was recently rebooted back in 2011. It would make no sense whatsoever to do that and would be an absolute waste of money, time, and resources which never come easily or cheap by modern standards. So I would think that it would be a smarter decision to disregard that article posted by BleedingCool.com and wait for an official and more detailed explanation behind the whole “DC Rebirth” picture that Dan DiDio and Jim Lee posted on social media from an actual DC executive.

With all of this being said, what do you think? Do you feel that most journalistic sites have adopted a clear anti-DC stance and agenda? Do you feel they are biased to Marvel or another side? Let us know in the comment section down below!