James Gunn recently made headlines with the future of DC video games, revealing plans to have them be part of a larger, shared universe with the movies and animated shows by sharing the same stories and having actors crossing over and playing their respective characters. While the idea of a shared universe sounds fantastic, it may not be the best one, especially when you look at the long history of superhero video games.
For those wondering what “Elseworlds” is, think of it as Marvel’s “What If…?” stories. According to DC fandom “most Elseworlds stories instead take place in entirely self-contained continuities whose only connection to the canon DC continuity are the presence of familiar DC characters.”
The Curse of Movie Tie-in Superhero Games
When was the last time you heard a video game based on a movie was good? Wolverine Origins? Spider-Man 2? Yeah, it’s been a minute since we’ve gotten a decent video game project based on a movie, and for a good reason. Games based on their film counterparts are often announced and planned around the movie’s release.
That means that development often starts for these projects once the movies have been penned up, have actors, and hit the critical stages of having concept art, to sometimes even having a good chunk of it filmed.
That puts pressure on the studios assigned to make these games because it means they need to make a deadline. Rushing to make a deadline means, well, rushing to make it. These games are solely built to ride on the hype of a potentially successful movie or IP popularity. We don’t blame companies for wanting to capitalize on that, but more times than not, from a consumer level, those games end up being utter trash. Do we want to go back to having really bad movie games again?
That doesn’t mean that said video games can’t deviate a bit from the film project themselves. Spider-Man 2 (PS2) is an excellent example of this. While it featured the same story told in the film, it also expands it by introducing us to several of Spidey’s other rogue galleries of villains like Rhino, Shocker, and Mysterio.
That does beg the question, though, if Sony Pictures had plans to use any of those villains well before the thought of the game came into mind, would Spider-Man 2 have been the hit game it would have been?
The Potential of Limiting Creativity
That question is hard to answer, but when you think about it, the chances of it affecting the video game would have been highly likely. With DC, it’s even more so since these games would be considered canon to the entirety of DC.
Look at it like this. Let’s rewind back to when Batman Begins was released until the final film, The Dark Knight Rises. An incredible trilogy that, to this day, many still regard as the best Batman films. Now let’s look at the Arkham franchise. A trilogy of games developed by Rocksteady and is regarded as one of the greatest superhero franchise games ever to release. These trilogies are vastly different from one another, yet they both managed to find success amongst the fans.
However, could you imagine that instead of the Arkham franchise, Rocksteady gave us a trilogy of games based on Christopher Nolan’s films? Could it have been a success? Sure, but it just wouldn’t be the same.
There are several reasons why the Arkham series is so beloved, but ultimately the game we got was a product of the total freedom given to the studio. It was the game that Rocksteady wanted to make and tell, and we can’t imagine it being any different.
If Rocksteady were bound to what the films established, they’d have to go to DC whenever they wanted to use a villain or do a specific storyline. If it didn’t match up with the movies, then chances are it wouldn’t have been approved.
That’s my concern with the DC Universe trying to tie these games in with the films and animations. Not to mention maintaining consistency between all the projects. Why can Batman do this in the video game but never in the movie? Too many factors limit what one can do when you share a universe across the board like this.
While I love the idea of having more adventures of my favorite onscreen character, it seems messier in execution. That’s especially true when you consider that Gunn wants to use the same actors in movies and video games.
Movie Actors – Busy Schedule and Dropping Out of Failed Projects
Movies stars have a very active and busy life, and the idea of being tied to a single film franchise and working on its side projects like games and movies might be too much of a commitment for many stars out there. Almost immediately after finishing a project, they’re off doing another shoot for another film.
And when things overlap, stars often have to make the tough choice of choosing one project over the other. That has been a blessing in some cases, as some of the most iconic movie characters and actors portraying them are due to another actor passing up for being too busy.
Could you imagine a game being tied up because they must wait for the actor to finish their current film role? And sure, that probably has happened plenty of times in the voice acting community, but there’s no denying that the demand for big-name movie stars is often higher than the roles given to voice actors.
Not to mention if a superhero project ends up being a flop or ill-received, actors will often try to look for a way out of those contracts. Look at Ben Affleck; he was poised to be the next main solo Batman, only to eventually drop out of the race after the reception of Batman v. Superman and the Justice League film. Movie stars don’t like working on bad projects. Voice actors, of course, don’t either, but how many of you end up remembering a bad game and the voice actor associated with it, versus a bad movie and its actor? Ben Affleck is still getting flack to this day for Daredevil, a film released 20 years ago. Not to mention the whole Ezra Miller situation that’s happening right now.
Then this begs the question, can a movie actor be a good voice actor, and vice-versa?
Replacing the Greats
A movie actor and a voice actor are two entirely different things, believe it or not. Sure, they both have to act, but anyone who has done both can tell you that they’re both completely different beasts from one another. And just because someone is an incredible movie actor does not mean that those same talents can be applied to voice acting. Voice acting works the same way. Just because they’re capable of bringing an animated character to life doesn’t mean they can accomplish the same on the big live-action screen.
That creates some worry in the community, as many feel movie actors won’t give the same level of love and effort as a voice actor would provide for a video game character.
Advances in technology have, in the least, helped improve this, allowing actors to be motioned and captured while giving their performance. However, placing them in a closed-off booth, with nothing but their imagination to bring that character to life, can be challenging.
So why ruin a good thing with the established voice actors who have brought these characters to life over the last decades? Can you imagine a different actor voicing Batman (rest in piece Kevin Conroy,) Superman, Joker, Harley Quinn, and so many others? I mean, it’s been done, but every one of us has that definitive voice for these characters. I can’t imagine Batman having a different voice than his animated series version, and even newer actors try to resemble the original performances.
When you hear these iconic voices, you can’t help but think of that character. Mark Hamil has played hundreds, if not thousands, of other voices characters, yet I can’t help but think of the Joker every time I hear his voice. That might not be a good thing, but it also works the other way around. If Jason Momoa ended up voicing Aquaman in the games, I would always think about the actor rather than the character themselves. I think Margot Robbie killed it as Harley, but I can’t imagine her replacing Tara Strong in the games, or animated shows.
I get that these roles need to be re-casted (such as Tara Strong replacing Arleen Sorkin) eventually, but is mixing the movie actor the right choice, especially when things might go wrong?
In Closing
I think it’s fine if you want to make movie-tie in games, but at the same time I do think that DC should continue to operate with keeping its main cinematic universe separate from its video games. You can make your own video game universe, but the success of one should be independent of the other. I’d hate to have another DCU failure that ends up dragging good games down with it, and vice versa.
And yes, I do understand that James Gunn has said that non-cannon projects will be labeled as Elseworlds, suggesting that we’ll continue to get games outside of this shared universe. However, if he and the rest of the DC execs are serious about this new plan, I just can’t see future titles deviating away from it to be its own thing. Too much is riding on the success of the DCU with the new leadership, and movies takes years to take off. You need to plan everything around it in order for it to work. And maybe it will end up working out, but I can’t help but have this feeling that we’re about to enter yet another age of bad super hero games. I hope not, but I guess we’ll see in the years to come.
