'Aquaman' is DC's last hope at a Cinematic Universe

Picture a middle-aged white guy trying to catch Usain Bolt in a sprint.

DC is that middle-aged white guy, and Marvel has lapped them twice over.

When the Marvel Cinematic Universe kicked off in 2008, DC fans were quick to wonder when Warner Bros. would begin its own franchise with the characters from Marvel's archrival. Their hopes became a reality in 2013 with the release of 'Man of Steel', which was the best Superman installment since 'Superman II' in 1980.

While some critics bashed it, I was a huge fan of Zack Snyder's take on the Kryptonian. It had a similar tone to Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, but wasn't as dark. I liked how it gave us a look at Krypton's government and Jor-El's struggle to give his son a chance to survive. The only time we'd seen Krypton before this was very briefly in the first Superman film.

I also thought that the casting in 'Man of Steel' was spot-on. Henry Cavill put himself on the map with his role as Clark Kent/Superman. Amy Adams was predictably great as Lois Lane. The star of the show was Michael Shannon as General Zod, who gave a convincing and intense performance as Superman's physical equal, and probably his second arch-nemesis behind Lex Luthor.

So when 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' was announced, it was the most excited I'd been for a movie since 'The Avengers'. I was finally going to get to see the Dark Knight and the Man of Steel on the big screen together. When it came out that they would be fighting each other, it seemed too good to be true.

It was.

Batman v Superman was probably the most disappointed I'd ever been in a movie theater. While Ben Affleck as Batman was a pleasant surprise, everything else just seemed bad. The casting of Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor was a terrible mistake. The plot was pretty inconsistent and felt like it was thrown together at the last minute. Batman and Superman fought for a grand total of 10 minutes. The action was great, but that would be pretty hard to mess up in a movie featuring the two most iconic superheroes in history.

With the exception of 'Wonder Woman' in 2017, everything about the DC Extended Universe went downhill fast. 'Suicide Squad' made a lot of money but was just as much of a letdown as Batman v Superman. 'Justice League' was decent but was a massive box office bomb (grossed $657 million on a $300 million budget). It also had to go through extensive re-shoots and it was outperformed by 'Thor: Ragnarok', even though Warner Bros. was expecting profits similar to Marvel's Avengers flicks.

The next film on DC's schedule is 'Aquaman', set to be released this December. It'll be followed by 'Shazam' in 2019, but I feel like any projects after that will be determined by Aquaman's success. If it flops at the box office and the fans hate it, it could be the kiss of death for DC's cinematic universe.

However, I'm optimistic about 'Aquaman'. The trailer looks promising (but so have all of the previous DC previews). Jason Momoa is one of the few casting decisions that turned out to be right for DC. I really liked the way he played Aquaman in 'Justice League', and somehow made the King of Atlantis seem like a badass when he's always been played off as a dumb character. Villains like Black Manta and Ocean Master are going to be in it, which will be a plus I think.

The main reason that DC has so far failed to replicate the success of Marvel is that they've done their movies in the wrong order. Look at the Marvel model. First, they did solo films for Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Captain America, while introducing characters like Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Nick Fury in supporting roles. After establishing their heroes with solo movies, they then went for the home run with 'The Avengers', and the rest is history.

DC has gone a different route, to put it nicely. They started with a solo Superman movie, but then went straight for a team-up with 'Batman v Superman'. Then, for some reason, they opted to go with 'Suicide Squad', which felt like a cool idea at the time until the minute the film started rolling. If I was running the show, I'd go with the solo movies first (where have Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter been?), then go for the Justice League flicks after that.

Don't think that I'm rooting against DC. I'm not. I just think that a universe of movies isn't their style. And that's fine. They've always been great at solo films and they even produced the first big-budget superhero movie (Christopher Reeve's Superman). I mean, just look at the Dark Knight trilogy or the Tim Burton Batman movies. They were great, made a lot of cash, and made fans happy. That last part's the key; if you can't satisfy the fans, you're not on the right path.

Because of their success with solo superhero movies, I think 'Aquaman' is going to be just fine. I really hope it performs well because I don't want to see the DC universe crash and burn after just five years and six movies.

Here's hoping.

Image credits: wallpapercan, justiceleaguethemovie.com

YouTube channel: Warner Bros. Pictures

Box office stats: BoxOfficeMojo.com