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Overanalyzing Anime
Blog Owner & Lead Writer
The SCALE of an event is important when it comes to action/adventure flicks; it’s especially important in shared universes such as the MCU and DCEU. The reasons it’s important is because when you’re telling an elongated story you don’t want the most interesting conflict to come at the beginning; there needs to be a progression - one that grows until it can no longer contain itself and explodes into an unforgettable, world-shattering conflict. This is part of the issue with the DCEU; its first movie had, by far, the largest conflict.
In Man of Steel #GeneralZod literally shook the Earth. But it’s not only that - each conflict in the DCEU has been a world ending scenario - be it Doomsday, Enchantress, Ares, or Steppenwolf; that in juxtaposition to Stane, Abomination, Loki (who EVENTUALLY became a much larger threat), & Red Skull. The villains of the DCEU were massive threats, while the enemies of the MCU would have eventually been stopped by other means if the titular heroes of the film had not succeeded. The MCU saved their largest scale battle for the final confrontation (Avengers) while the DCEU did the exact opposite (because even Steppenwolf didn’t quite reach the world-ending levels of Zod.)
The issue with having such large scale events in every movie means that DCEU is going to have a very difficult time one-upping itself if it continues with this trend. This is something the MCU will not have an issue with because we’ve yet to see a full on planetary war take place - well, not until next year anyway. Yes, the Guardians of the Galaxy have fought large scale battles, but defeating a threat at such a macro level doesn’t carry the same personal threat of it being just the Earth under siege. But even in the case of the GOTG, each of their films has had a gradual progression which will culminate with #InfinityWar in a universe ending scenario.
I’m not saying that DCEU can’t continue to raise the stakes, I just imagine that by doing so they may get into the “ridiculous” or “nonsensical” side of things, & I would prefer for the DCEU not to be criticized more so than it already has been.
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