James Garcia on why Warner Bros.’ “filmmaker-driven” approach to the DC Cinematic Universe is the very best thing for the DC slate, and the superhero genre…

Early this week, THR released a piece on some of the perceived struggles currently happening behind closed doors at Warner Bros. as the studio maps out the burgeoning DC Cinematic Universe, which began with 2013’s Man of Steel, and will jump into high gear once Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad hit theaters next year.

According to the report, Warner Bros.’ approach to the DCCU is rather different than the one taken by rival studio Marvel, who have, of course, paved the way for the contemporary shared movie universe (to the tune of $7 billion and counting). Many have already taken the news as a sign that the DCCU is in trouble, or that WB is taking the “wrong” approach to the material. I disagree. Not only is it far too early (and impossible) to claim that WB is taking the “wrong” approach (we have only seen one DCCU film after all), but in the long run, their method may even, dare I say it, lead to better movies than what Marvel has given us.

The difference in approach is rather simple, and could very well change at any given moment, seeing as how young the DCCU is. In any case, Marvel has approached their cinematic universe like someone would a television series, with a showrunner of sorts (Marvel Studios head and executive producer Kevin Feige) handling the “big picture” stuff, while each film itself serves as an “episode” of the MCU as a whole. It is, in essence, a producer-driven approach that puts the emphasis on the universe as a whole, rather than on each individual project.

WB is taking what THR calls a “filmmaker-driven” approach to the DCCU, as there currently isn’t a Kevin Feige overseeing the entire operation. Instead, each film is controlled by the director chosen (David Ayer has supposedly been given “broad creative control” of Suicide Squad, for instance), and worked into the larger universe in a less-controlled manner.

While it would be easy to look at this as a lack of a larger plan, that’s a premature assumption. At best. WB has an obvious goal in mind for its DC slate, as the current ten release dates stretching to 2020 show. How each film will connect is a mystery, and one we won’t know the answer to until films like BvS and Suicide Squad arrive.

The big difference between these two methods is this: Marvel is focused on making a strong, cohesive universe, while DC is more focused on making strong films that then fit into a larger continuity. As a moviegoer, that’s incredibly exciting, and as a DC fan, it’s not altogether surprising.

In fact, this is the exact same way DC Comics runs things, so it would make sense that the same creator-driven approach be taken with the films. Back when the New 52 reshaped the DC Comics universe, continuity purists questioned how everything “fit” within the new timeline that had been established. Jim Lee responded by saying:

“We’re really asking the creators to put stories and characters first and really focus on canon than continuity. Continuity is where this character was today and this is where the character was tomorrow. Those are things that sometimes the readership gets too wound up or too concerned about. It starts overshadowing what we’re in the business of doing, which is telling stories. By focusing on canon, which is really the stories that matter, the best stories we tell with these characters, they’ll get elevated… This was an attempt to refocus the line… focus on producing great stories that became canon, and let the creators have some freedom to tell those stories without having to necessarily be confined by the ‘resurgence of continuity.'”

This filmmaker-driven approach is not a sign of weakness, but instead something to be championed, especially in a climate that comes dangerously close to genre over-saturation. Why bemoan a studio for taking a step back and allowing a director the freedom to tell their own story? That’s what we want as fans, isn’t it?

You’d be hard-pressed to find someone who could legitimately say that movies like Iron Man 2 and Thor: The Dark World and a show like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. truly benefit from Marvel’s way of doing things. In fact, those films suffer highly from the constraints of shared universe storytelling, and act largely as place-holders and setups for things to come. They lack a true sense of identity, which is a symptom of being projects not managed or driven by a single filmmaker’s vision, but by the necessity to facilitate a larger universe.

The fact of the matter is, a lot of Marvel’s work isn’t greater than the sum of its parts. Many of the studio’s films, while enjoyable and highly profitable, are remarkably ephemeral. While all of them are necessary cogs in the Marvel machine, few of them hold up as great movies or will likely stand the test of time. Those that do stand out – Iron Man, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Daredevil, for instance – are projects that were made with a strong creative vision behind them, and a director (or directors) with more creative freedom.

Now, I’m not trying to say here that the Marvel approach isn’t a good one, or that the DC films couldn’t benefit from having someone oversee the entire operation. THR points out that the script process for films like Aquaman and Wonder Woman has been a bit taxing as several writers have been tasked with penning a handful of different scripts, each competing for their work to be that ends up on screen. Several drafts have already been thrown out because they didn’t fit within the ever-changing parameters at WB, so there clearly needs to be some sort of creative grip on the universe as a whole.

That’s where people like Zack Snyder, his wife/producer Deborah Snyder, DC chief creative officer Geoff Johns, and Warner Brothers CEO Kevin Tsujihara come in. Each have had quite a large role in shaping the films thus far (The Snyders even have a producing credit on Suicide Squad), and as long as they work together, they can continue to drive the process forward as more and more DC films enter the pipeline.

From there, it seems that the creative driving will come from the directors chosen for each project – which is what each film needs. Much like DC Comics’ approach to storytelling, each director and their team of writers will be in charge of the story at hand. Then, the characters they create will unite for the big crossover event – in this case two Justice League films – before going back to their own stories. As such, these directors stand a chance to make the films they want to make, and tell the stories they want to tell, without the burden of fitting into the strict confines that some studio head has mandated.

If you want proof of what a director-driven story could mean, look no further than Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy, which benefited greatly from the autonomy Nolan was granted. We may not get that close to such a thing for quite some time, but with WB opting to allow other directors to follow in his footsteps, while still connecting each of their films together, we may be in for quite the treat.

Only time will tell whether one method is superior to the other. It’s frankly quite sad that we find director autonomy such an anomaly in today’s world, but it’s a brave and bold approach that’s so crazy it just might work.

James Garcia