Recently, I’ve come across many YouTube videos that have the “definitive” reason as to why Star Wars and the Snyderverse failed. Man, do their reason bore me. “It was woke.” “No one knew how the characters worked.” “Lazy writing.” All of those reasons are silly and lack depth. One of the major reasons for this is due to the fact that no one understand nuance, nor do they know how to do things without thinking about clicks.
Much of the content that discusses this lacks sincerity. They simply spew their own biases and know that there are a few people that share the same opinion. It is used to get many of their followers to comment and read the piece. Then, in turn, is used to get counter-minded people to comment about how wrong they are. Again, it is done for engagement purposes and not an actual “deep dive”.
This is one of the reason I don’t get a “viral” blog. I am too old for that type of “engagement bait” content. Even when Adam and I started The Lazy Geeks blog back in 2010, we operated under the idea of taking the clickbait out of these online stories. This gave us some very dedicated followers, but it never gave us any real standout clout. Mostly because we did the boring side of the internet.
Star Wars and the Snyderverse Shared the Same Problem
While people come up with wild ideas as to why the sequel Star Wars trilogy and the Snyderverse didn’t work, strips away all that noise and comes down to one thing: leadership.
Many studios with major properties wanted an Marvel Cinematic Universe-ish type of franchise. Something that would make the shareholders lots and lots of money. Yet, at the same time, bring in lots and lots of people. Kathleen Kennedy and Warner Bros. skipped one major detail: you needed a leader.
In the case of Star Wars, Kathleen Kennedy hired three directors and they were in charge of their stories that was supposed to be a trilogy. However, you have a popcorn director in JJ Abrams, a non-traditional director in Rian Johnson, and a wildcard in Josh Trank. This was just before his Fantastic Four bomb in 2015.
Based on all accounts, they never really spoke to one another in regards to their projects. In the end, you can see the different tonal shifts between The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. In my opinion, The Force Awakens was the perfect jumping off point. Introduce new characters in a retread of the original film, then try for something different in The Last Jedi, which I liked more. It took bigger swings and risks than the first film, which Abrams dropped when he took over Rise of Skywalker.
The reason this version of a trilogy didn’t work, unlike the original and prequels was because there was one story. George Lucas wrote the original film, but wrote the story for the next two sequels, even though someone else wrote the script. In the prequel trilogy, Lucas wrote episode one and two. I think after getting lambasted for his “I hate sand” line, he brought in another writer for episode 3.
They Needed a Fiege
The Snyderverse suffered the same problem. Not only did Zack Snyder not understand the concept of Superman, he was the wrong man to start it. It is important to understand that the studio system had some issues with it. Unlike their Harry Potter series, there was no playbook Snyder would’ve used to develop his version of Superman. Proving his misunderstanding of the characters was pronounced with “my Batman kills”.
Had Warner Bros. decided not to rush the march of a Justice League movie, they could’ve developed these characters in the way Marvel had done. Given that Geoff Johns said in 2010 that they felt no need to copy Marvel, which turned out to be a huge mistake.
No one cared if it took a couple of years to get to a Justice League movie, the fans just wanted good movies. Instead of making a DC Films, they still made these movies by committee. Without having one person in charge of the whole thing – like they have now – you got one man’s vision of movies with a conceptual understanding of how to make a franchise.
I remember when Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice came out. It was the same year Captain America: Civil War was released. People wondered how Marvel was able to debut their Spider-Man and Black Panther, while DC had trouble with just a Batman and Superman movie. With Wonder Woman squeezed in for good measure.
Why is Superman Getting So Much Hate?
Again, a lot of it is for clout. What Warner Bros. has done with James Gunn running the show is something that should’ve happened in 2010. In the MAGA universe that resides on Earth 1, many don’t want an inclusive and hopeful Superman. They want a Superman that was in the same vein as Christopher Nolan’s Batman. Which proves the point that the “Snyderverse” fans don’t have a proper understanding of the character. Dark and brooding is Batman shtick.
If Star Wars wants to do another trilogy, they need to have a pair of writers that can write a good trilogy. Have a proper story. Hired a proper director. Not three, but one. Like Marvel did with the Russo Brothers. Honestly, I would recommend a supervising executive that works solely on television content and one for film content. It seems like there wouldn’t be much overlap between them.
I imagine this would get some hate because I didn’t mention “woke” or “Mary Sue” female characters, even though Luke was a Mary Sue. But, as I said, this is the absolute reason both franchises were flawed. Or, at least, this is where it stems from. Yes, they can have weak scripts, bad choices, and all that. However, the issues always start at the top. Then, it works their way down.