Why DC’s TV and Movie Universes should Connect

Johns recently 'confirmed' something.

The MOSverse and Arrowverse will not coincide. Apparently.

Here's why I think it should.

1. Continuity

I understand that the majority of the supposed movie audience for BvS: Dawn of Justice doesn’t see Arrow and will not see the Flash or Constantine. But they aren’t the heavy hitters in the movies….it will be the Trinity (Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman), followed by the rest.

The Flash deserves a movie, full stop. But it doesn’t take too long for most of their origin stories to be told if as supposed, a team up with the Green Lantern is the first time he has proper focus in the movie verse.

Green Arrow, the Atom, Katanna, Firestorm – most of them will never get their own movies. So, how do you ‘introduce’ them on the big screen, especially when they are bit players at best? Easy, you don’t. The casual audience doesn’t come for them (we do) but for Bats and Supes, so why not ‘relegate’ their stories to tv.

In that way, both sides benefit from a single continuity. We don’t need to replace Barry with Wally on the big screen. We can just do the change season by season and then adapt the roster to the big screen. Why would you have two Green Arrows or two Flashes when you can have one of each?

I never liked how they just changed the Flash to Bart in Smallville. His history with Barry as well as the rivalry and later mentor-student relationship with Wally – all gone in a ‘flash’. For those who say, who cares – the casual viewer won’t care for who wears the mantle unless they’re made to, say by a Flash standalone film.

It helps that each show currently delves into a different facet of the DC universe – Arrow for the grounded outlook, Flash for the sci-fi and Constantine for the Supernatural.

So, the preferred continuity should be (Arrow S1-S3, The Flash S1, Constantine S1), MOS, (Arrow S4, The Flash S2, Constantine S2), Justice League and so on….

And this brings me to my next point…

2. Character and actor use from movie to tv and vice versa.

Many of us love Man of Steel. As well as Arrow. And maybe in time, The Flash and Constantine will join their ranks.

Most of the people say that Amell or Gustin won’t be that naturally inclusive to the movieverse. Right, cause they can’t hold a candle to Cavill or Affleck.

Stop right there.

None of them are of the level of high end actors and with the exception of an Affleck or an Amy Adams, none of them are movie household names.

My reasons for accepting that Gustin will be Barry is that he can bring the wide eyed new guy vibe to the League, earning an instant connection with Cyborg if they adapt Justice League War (like they did with Shazam in the animated movie, only this time we can have Aquaman and not need to shoe-horn in Shazam).

And what problems will an Affleck guest role on Arrow or a Cavill on Flash generate? Yes, the VFX cost will be higher for that episode (or more), but it isn’t that farfetched for them to be contracted to 5-6 guest roles for the respective tv shows just like in Agents of Shield (Maria Hill, Nick Fury and Sif all appeared).

I never want a Superman or Green Lantern live action tv show because the budget would be huge. The Flash pilot, despite all its awesomeness, is still a poor substitute for a film. So, wouldn’t it help if people like Superman or Green Lantern appeared for 1-2 episode and did a team-up?

We already got an organically built Suicide Squad, a pseudo Birds of Prey and a pseudo Justice League team-up as well as excellent casting choices that can work in both mediums. Why throw it all away to rebuild the same things for the movies?

As for one character being held to one medium, let’s leave that logic at the door. TV has come a long way since being treated as a stepson of visual media. We have shows like GoT, Breaking Bad and Hannibal that can give any movie a run for their quality and audience.

And both can help each other, as I show next……….

3. Marketing possibilities

Case 1: Say you’re a fan of Batman and couldn’t care less for the CW shows on….what was their name again. Now you read on a website that Affleck is guest starring for two episodes on Arrow as Batman. You decide to watch and a) see it’s a good show b) go back to not watching it and waiting for Justice League

Case 2: Say you love Arrow and couldn’t care less about that neck snapping buffoon in that stupidly dark movie by Hack Snyder, and then you found out your beloved Amell is in Justice League. WHAT? Must watch instantly. Yes, this case is less possible but there are people out there like this.

Other cases are like you see one thing and like the guy guest starring in it (Amell in JL or Affleck in Arrow) and decide to give their respective medium a try.

All these cases will accelerate growth for each medium’s audience. I’m saying that a Case 1 scenario will increase audiences by atleast 2 times or 3 and if they’re hooked, they’re hooked.

Finally…………

When Johns said that juggling such a massive enterprise like a combined DC TV and Movie universe is impossible because of compromises, he forgot what he does every day.

Yes, the comic book verse is probably the biggest juggling act of such a diverse cast that it is amazing how they keep so much cohesive.

Compromises will happen everywhere. Deal with it. We won't have Movie like VFX on tv, nor the episodic nature of comic books on the big screen. A properly balanced scenario is the proper solution, not this get-out-of-jail-free card that is cutting off both universes as separate.

I will love whatever direction they take. A comic book fan for life, I just care that I get good material on whatever screen I watch. I just listed what seemed prudent to me. There may be many reasons for not doing the merging, but per my view, there are too many for doing it.

Now excuse me while I see the new Guardians of the Galaxy extended clip.