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What If: Disney bought DC and not Marvel. Phase 1



In May of 2008 Iron Man was release and introduced us to the MCU. In December of 2009 Disney Purchased Marvel Entertainment. But what if things were a bit different?

In 2008 by almost every measure DC was more popular and had a bigger impact on the world. Even today the most well known and popular superheroes in history are likely Batman and Superman, not Iron Man and Captain America. So this begs the question... What if instead of of Marvel, Disney bought DC and created the DCU with the same level of investment, quality, and success of the IRL Marvel Cinematic Universe?

The goal of this exercise is to design and write the entire alt history of the cinematic universe, one phase at a time. Movies, TV, Streaming... starting with Phase One... the Years 2008 to 2012.

So let this be a freewheeling brainstorming and discussion session, which I will moderate and collect ideas and eventually come up with a detailed alt history for the DCU.

Reserved

2008

Movie 1:

TV Show 1:


2009

Movie 1:

TV Show 1:


2010

Movie 1:

TV Show 1:


2011

Movie 1:

TV Show 1:


2012

Movie 1:

Movie 2: Justice League

TV Show 1:

TV Show 2:

Good idea.

Anyway, here's some proposals for shows:

2010

Movie 1: Harley Quinn (with Fiona Gubelmann as Harley Quinn, in 2010 she wasn't a major star)

TV Show 1: Joker's Christmas (made-for-TV Christmas special, perhaps as miniseries x 8 episodes or 140-inute movie)

2011

Movie 1: Gotham by Gaslight

TV Show 1: Stargirl (Courtney Whitmore).
In this show, Courtney is played by British actress Darcy Isa (19 at the time in 2011).

2012

TV Show 1: Harley Quinn (continuation of movie, with Fiona Gubelmann as Harley Quinn).
Notable for turning Fiona into an A-lister which never happened in our timeline.

TV Show 2: Starwoman (following far-future same-named descendant of Courtney Whitmore)
Courtney Whitmore is played by Canadian-American actress Kim Shaw, from Hallmark Original movies.
This show also deviates slightly from usual DC canon by having a Justice League comprised of Starwoman, The Flash, Killer Frost/Louise Lincoln, and also Bekka (a New God).
Batman does make a cameo during this show, here he's portrayed as a broken superhero who's lost his fortune, to fit in with the mood of the times, the 2012-2013 recession.

West Bromwich Holme wrote:Good idea.

Anyway, here's some proposals for shows:

2010

Movie 1: Harley Quinn (with Fiona Gubelmann as Harley Quinn, in 2010 she wasn't a major star)

TV Show 1: Joker's Christmas (made-for-TV Christmas special, perhaps as miniseries x 8 episodes or 140-inute movie)

2011

Movie 1: Gotham by Gaslight

TV Show 1: Stargirl (Courtney Whitmore).
In this show, Courtney is played by British actress Darcy Isa (19 at the time in 2011).

2012

TV Show 1: Harley Quinn (continuation of movie, with Fiona Gubelmann as Harley Quinn).
Notable for turning Fiona into an A-lister which never happened in our timeline.

TV Show 2: Starwoman (following far-future same-named descendant of Courtney Whitmore)
Courtney Whitmore is played by Canadian-American actress Kim Shaw, from Hallmark Original movies.
This show also deviates slightly from usual DC canon by having a Justice League comprised of Starwoman, The Flash, Killer Frost/Louise Lincoln, and also Bekka (a New God).
Batman does make a cameo during this show, here he's portrayed as a broken superhero who's lost his fortune, to fit in with the mood of the times, the 2012-2013 recession.

I think these are good ideas for like a phase 4 and 5 but i think we need to start with three flagship movies that can put butts in seats without the MCU label. So Batman, Superman, WonderWoman need to go first before we can expand the universe

Dentali wrote:I think these are good ideas for like a phase 4 and 5 but i think we need to start with three flagship movies that can put butts in seats without the MCU label. So Batman, Superman, WonderWoman need to go first before we can expand the universe

Maybe, but I would also argue Flash is just about as popular as WW, at least nowadays. Mind you I’m not an expert on the state of DC in 2008. Admittedly I wonder if the Justice League could almost be earlier. It wouldn’t exactly match the MCUs creation of The Avengers as I assume this attempts to do, but it would make much more sense for DC as Justice League is the central element of DC, with all the major heroes practically being a part of it. By comparison, one could argue the X-men are a far more important group than the Avengers for Marvel, and they have way more random superhero groups as opposed to the once central bloc of DC (Midnight Suns, the 50 million assorted other avengers teams, defenders, runaways, etc etc etc). If anything, Justice League would maybe be produced sooner, with some of the members’ origins being explored afterwards, like Spiderman in Civil War.

Thousand Branches wrote:

Dentali wrote:I think these are good ideas for like a phase 4 and 5 but i think we need to start with three flagship movies that can put butts in seats without the MCU label. So Batman, Superman, WonderWoman need to go first before we can expand the universe

Maybe, but I would also argue Flash is just about as popular as WW, at least nowadays. Mind you I’m not an expert on the state of DC in 2008. Admittedly I wonder if the Justice League could almost be earlier. It wouldn’t exactly match the MCUs creation of The Avengers as I assume this attempts to do, but it would make much more sense for DC as Justice League is the central element of DC, with all the major heroes practically being a part of it. By comparison, one could argue the X-men are a far more important group than the Avengers for Marvel, and they have way more random superhero groups as opposed to the once central bloc of DC (Midnight Suns, the 50 million assorted other avengers teams, defenders, runaways, etc etc etc). If anything, Justice League would maybe be produced sooner, with some of the members’ origins being explored afterwards, like Spiderman in Civil War.

Flash is crazy popular even in '08, but DC clearly has a "Big Three". To say nothing of the fact wonder woman is the most well know female super hero and would be a massive deal... I was thinking we just keep the Flash TV show and just kinda incorporate it a bit better into the films

Thousand Branches wrote:

Dentali wrote:I think these are good ideas for like a phase 4 and 5 but i think we need to start with three flagship movies that can put butts in seats without the MCU label. So Batman, Superman, WonderWoman need to go first before we can expand the universe

Maybe, but I would also argue Flash is just about as popular as WW, at least nowadays. Mind you I’m not an expert on the state of DC in 2008. Admittedly I wonder if the Justice League could almost be earlier. It wouldn’t exactly match the MCUs creation of The Avengers as I assume this attempts to do, but it would make much more sense for DC as Justice League is the central element of DC, with all the major heroes practically being a part of it. By comparison, one could argue the X-men are a far more important group than the Avengers for Marvel, and they have way more random superhero groups as opposed to the once central bloc of DC (Midnight Suns, the 50 million assorted other avengers teams, defenders, runaways, etc etc etc). If anything, Justice League would maybe be produced sooner, with some of the members’ origins being explored afterwards, like Spiderman in Civil War.

As for introducing them later i definitely agree, but we shouldnt make the irl mistake of JL and trying to introduce so many people and concepts in one film

Dentali wrote:

Thousand Branches wrote:Maybe, but I would also argue Flash is just about as popular as WW, at least nowadays. Mind you I’m not an expert on the state of DC in 2008. Admittedly I wonder if the Justice League could almost be earlier. It wouldn’t exactly match the MCUs creation of The Avengers as I assume this attempts to do, but it would make much more sense for DC as Justice League is the central element of DC, with all the major heroes practically being a part of it. By comparison, one could argue the X-men are a far more important group than the Avengers for Marvel, and they have way more random superhero groups as opposed to the once central bloc of DC (Midnight Suns, the 50 million assorted other avengers teams, defenders, runaways, etc etc etc). If anything, Justice League would maybe be produced sooner, with some of the members’ origins being explored afterwards, like Spiderman in Civil War.

As for introducing them later i definitely agree, but we shouldnt make the irl mistake of JL and trying to introduce so many people and concepts in one film

What about doing it as a miniseries then? Or maybe a blockbuster followed by a show? That way you can have that big epic adventure that Avengers had, while still being able to really dig into the characters and themes of the group afterwards. Certainly wouldn’t mirror the MCU but it could be fun

Dentali wrote:
I think these are good ideas for like a phase 4 and 5 but i think we need to start with three flagship movies that can put butts in seats without the MCU label. So Batman, Superman, WonderWoman need to go first before we can expand the universe

As for the Joker and Harley Quinn, and Batman (in the Gotham by Gaslight), were they good ways to introduce them or not?

West Bromwich Holme wrote:

Dentali wrote:
I think these are good ideas for like a phase 4 and 5 but i think we need to start with three flagship movies that can put butts in seats without the MCU label. So Batman, Superman, WonderWoman need to go first before we can expand the universe

As for the Joker and Harley Quinn, and Batman (in the Gotham by Gaslight), were they good ways to introduce them or not?

I mean if we did that how do they get in modern day