Outspoken comic book writer Robert Kirkman, the man behind the hugely successful The Walking Dead, has spoken out against DC’s Cinematic Universe going up against Marvel. While not exactly saying, “Marvel rocks and DC sucks”, the writer did have some harsh words about Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and its lead up to Justice League.
Anyone would be foolish to think that Marvel hasn’t done something extremely special,” Kirkman said during his SXSW panel (via EW). “I think of Iron Man ending with with a surprise cameo from Samuel L. Jackson [mentioning] The Avengers – you were like, ‘What?! How did that happen?!’ People forget that was a surprise. Everything that came out of that was very organic and very exciting. I think [DC] announcing you’re going to do a Justice League movie after a Superman movie, that was neat and had some awesome things in it, but it wasn’t like amazing or groundbreaking – I shouldn’t have said that.”
“It was an awesome movie, I like it,” he said of Man of Steel. “[The plan] just seems derivative, so it puts them in a backseat position to Marvel. It’s not organic so there’s going to be so much scrutiny on Batman vs. Superman when it comes out, it’s got an uphill battle. If they hadn’t told anybody if the Justice League were going to appearing in that, and they were forming that, it would have been surprising and exciting and weird. People are forgetting how important the surprise is. But, you know, Aquaman looks awesome and I’m sure it will be great.”
What do you make of Kirkman’s comments? Should DC have played their cards close to their chest, or where they right in announcing their Justice League plans?
Originally published March 15, 2015. Updated April 13, 2018.
