When the philosopher William James first coined the term “multiverse” in 1895, he did not mean “multiple universes”. He tried to describe how confusing the universe felt in which we actually live. But the more DC and Marvel venture into the parallel universes of their respective projects, the more accurate that original definition feels.
Take DC’s latest upcoming series, Peacemaker, Premiere on HBO Max on January 13th. The show’s latest trailer shows off the action, tone of the show, and John Cena’s general enthusiasm for being the guy who really wants to be that Guy.
There’s a reference to Wonder Woman at the beginning when Peacemaker describes how she “knocked him out of the eyes” during a party across the room. But while the exchange makes it clear that Wonder Woman does indeed exist in this universe, the nature of the conversation makes it seem that Peacemaker is exaggerating the truth at best. Wonder Woman probably doesn’t know a “peacemaker”.
Peacemaker is just one of DC’s offerings this year, and a lot of them take place in not just different universes – and not in the last few years where every DC theatrical story is set in the Snyderverse / DC Extended Universe – but in completely different styles. Peacemaker seems to resemble To the east and below more than even the Suicide Squad films that emerged from it Batman versus Superman and Justice League. Due to existing deals, the “Arrowverse” page of The CW’s DC s torytelling will also be expanded in 2022, initially with the January premiere of Naomi
Then there are the films, which will be back in full in 2022. In March there is The Batman, which was embedded directly in the DCEU with Ben Affleck, but no longer has anything to do with it. And then there’s the May release of DC League of Super Petswhich gives Dwayne Johnson the ability to utter Krypto the Dog and tell DC stories in an entirely different mode. (And in direct-to-video land, DC Animation’s pipeline still flows with the anime-inspired Catwoman: Hunted Arrival in February.)
Of course there is still a “main” DCEU, one that Johnson will play in Black Adam and Affleck will appear to have his final appearance as Batman in Michael Keaton’s Flashpoint-adapting November blockbuster as a co-star. The Lightning. Jason Momoa will also return in December at the end of the year Aquaman and the Last Kingdom.
But perhaps partly because of the planning and partly because of the unexpected, the state of the DCEU is much more fluid than Marvel’s famous Cinematic Universe, which now includes both movies and Disney Plus television series. When Suicide squad came out in 2016 and Justice League the following year, it was unlikely that Warner Bros. could imagine they would be making films with very similar names within five years.
Gunns The suicide squad, from which Peacemaker was branded “Standalone Sequel,” meaning that while there was some character overlap, watching the first movie was essentially irrelevant to the action here. And while Joss Whedon and Zack Snyders Justice League both share the same characters, the differences between them are day and night.
As tumultuous as the DCEU was with its restart and hires, the experience seems to have taught executives a valuable lesson: Trust the mood and tone of a particular character rather than the intricacies of a larger universe. Spider-Man: No way home and Hawk Eye are both filled with references to their common universe, including a musical tribute to Captain America. While The suicide squad Has references to its comical origins, the MCU’s detail-oriented world structure doesn’t seem to fit into what DC ultimately builds. Which in the case of 2022 seems to amount to “everything”.
It’s a difference that could very well be for the best. Back in the 20th century, when comics were mostly where shared superhero universes were built, audiences weren’t drawn to the “Big Two,” as they were called, because they were the same thing, just wearing different costumes. There were clear differences in style and substance between DC and Marvel, and those differences seem to keep popping up.
