Small screen DC fans have "Arrow" and "The Flash" on the CW. They've got Jim Gordon and a young Bruce Wayne in "Gotham." They're getting "Supergirl" on CBS and "Titans" on TNT. Even NBC has "Constantine." The only thing missing is a connection between them all.
Marvel has "Agents of SHIELD" to buff its continuity and its ratings. Why shouldn't DC have a similar setup?
"...is a single 'shared universe' for DC's TV heroes being planned - or even possible?" Andrew Dyce of Screenrant.com opined.
It's a fair question to ask. After all, DC's TV properties are scattered to the four-corners of television channels, making crossovers and shared experiences very difficult. Contrast that with Marvel's convenient in-house platform on ABC (both Marvel and ABC are owned by Disney) and you can see why creating a shared universe of DC television properties may be challenging.
But you can also see why it's an appealing option. Marvel's success mainly derives itself from its massive slate of successful blockbusters. But its TV properties receive a significant boost from that as well. DC execs have maintained that their only goal is to tell the best stories possible and not necessarily dive into world building. But it still remains an attractive possibility.
Showrunner Greg Berlanti - the captain of the "Green Arrow", "Super Girl" and "The Flash" ships - has expressed his interest in cross overs before, while maintaining his desire for quality shows.
"So much has to go right for us to be able to make a great show," Berlanti said. "Again, I think of myself as like, if I were watching them I would want to see [a crossover]. But we have to get so many things right to make a good show and so much of it is luck, unfortunately."
Considering the different timelines and tones of DC's television properties, lumping them all together under one roof may not be the best decision from a creative standpoint, even if that is what fans are clamoring for. But DC Comics C.O.O. Geoff Johns has said that the stories are still related, even if they aren't connected.
"Arrow and Flash are the same universe, and we get a lot of great story out of that - especially when we have episodes that cross them over, but that's also where our superhero universe lives," Johns said. "We look at it as the multiverse...they all co-exist."
Okay, so we know the logistics of a shared DC TV universe are very challenging. But we also know that superhero team-ups are all the rage in today's entertainment landscape. So where does that leave us?
"We've long argued that the rise of 'event television' and comic blockbusters have changed the game for superhero properties," Dyce wrote. "It's also worth noting that DC's TV universe began on The CW - a joint venture between CBS and WB - and that Titans is in the works at another Time Warner subsidiary. Given those relationships and the ratings records set by the first Arrow/Flash crossover, the sales pitch for a shared superhero universe is obvious. Sony realizing that adding Spider-Man to the Marvel Universe would benefit both sides certainly didn't hurt.
"Network executives may still choose to ignore that a rising tide really can lift all ships, but if Titans or Supergirl wins early praise or ratings success, don't be surprised to hear rumors of Warner Bros. Television plotting a multi-night, multi-series, multi-network crossover sure to dominate the TV conversation for weeks."
