The Justice League commotion - two CUTS and a Case Study

Since the time ‘Justice League’ hit the theatres in 2017, disappointed fans demanded a ‘Snyder Cut’ to release. Hoping the original director’s story would do justice to the plot and characters, the audience asked for its release. Their pleas saw some respite when Zack Snyder announced his version of the movie titled ‘Snyder Cut’.

 

The movie is now released and is well-received. The entire commotion has left many learning scopes for businesses, and there are many management lessons to be learnt from the same.

 

What had happened? Zack Snyder, who had directed two previous films under the DC Extended Universe banner, was roped in for a third movie – ‘Justice League’. Upon completing the movie, the executives of DCEU and Warner Bros. wanted to add ‘humour and quirkiness’ in the film. It was a direct inspiration from their competitor – the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU had pioneered the superhero universe storytelling, something the DC was far behind and wanted to catch up with.

 

The audience is all grateful and in appreciation of the recently released Snyder Cut. Worse to Warner Bros.'s worry, they became even more critical of Joss Whedon, the director whom the DCEU hired for making changes to Snyder’s version. The YouTube and content platforms are brimming with the inevitable comparison between the two versions. While Snyder’s version has seen mixed reviews, everyone agrees that it is much better than Whedon’s version.

 

Without going much into the art of it, I tried to relate the incidents and draw parallels with the theories of management, and here’s what I found:

 

Positioning matters:

While the MCU has established their movies in the ‘fun action movies with quirky dialogues and witty characters, the DC had recognised darker and more serious superhero storytelling since its inception. The true DC loyals – the ones who grew up reading comics, prefer DC that way. When DCEU tried foraying into Marvel's positioning, not only did the the movie disappointed, the fan base lost faith in DC demanding for a Snyder Cut, hoping he would have done justice to their beloved characters. Losing their positioning to eat up the MCU’s share turned out to be a big mistake.

 

Building a brand is essential:

The MCU has started slow. Upon Blade’s success in 1998, Marvel gained some footing. Slowly since then, they have been building their characters from Iron Man, Hulk, Fantastic Four, and the like. By the time their Magnum Opus, ‘Avengers’ hit the theatres, Marvel was a well-established brand.  Each character had a good brand awareness. The audience knew Iron Man to be a boastful millionaire; Captain America was sleeping for seventy years. The arguments between them in the movie was a good brand recall exercise for the viewers. The DC, helmed by Warner Bros., was never under one umbrella brand until 2013. ‘Man of Steel’ was the first film in the newly formed DC Extended Universe. They decided to create an umbrella brand when their competitor MCU had already done so and witnessed the success of their first heavily branded product. So if DC has to reap the benefits similar to that of MCU, it needs to focus on its core values and build a brand instead of competing out rightly with an incumbent with a loyal customer base.

 

Uniform Brand communication is needed:

One thing that’s sure to backfire is a confused brand statement. While in MCU, the TV series ‘Agents of Shield’ is well in line with the movies' plot and characters; DC falls behind here too. The fans of the series ‘Flash’ were disappointed by the character’s portrayal in the film. Though the TV series is not under the banner of DCEU, they must have been aware of the brand image and have done justice to the character. Thanks to the Snyder Cut, the audience can gain back their respect for the character.

 

Imitators don't last:

While imitating a competitor’s strategy bears fruits in the short term, it is one’s differentiation points that establishes them in the long term game. DCEU’s decision to have a humorous offering in their otherwise serious plot backfired. They were called out and made fun of by the audience. The viewers want to see a DC universe they can trust. The movies like ‘Wonder Woman’, ‘Aquaman’ have been appreciated by the audience for sticking to its core. While ‘Aquaman’ had some funny moments in the coming of age story, it never felt out of place as the main character, Aquaman himself, was a drunkard recluse with a foul mouth. DC’s move to include a fun component in every movie was seen as a metoo action and left DC with an impression of a wannabe.

 

The Star employee of your competitor may not be your star employee:

When Joss Whedon left MCU, he had two successful ‘Avengers’ to his portfolio. He was the sought after director before he left MCU due to creative differences. But why, then, did Whedon tank upon coming to DCEU? Has he lost his charm? Certainly Not. In MCU, he had the scope to develop and grow his characters. The entire plot and offerings were in line with ‘Action-Adventure with humour’. But Warner Bros. hired him to add humour to their serious product. The result- disappointed audience. The ‘Justice League’ movie in 2017 had inputs from two directors Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon. None of them worked together. While the former had completed the film, the other made edits based on the producers' input. Their asynchronous project made the movie look like an amputated car (like Volkswagen’s doors on a Benz). Joss Whedon was out of place. What he brought into the DCEU’s table from his MCU experience wasn’t suited for their appetite.

 

Customer is the destination, but employees are the vehicles to reach them:

Both DCEU and MCU target the same demographic audience. It was expected of them to see each other as competitors. But to achieve the audiences’ attention, one cannot turn back on someone who understands them better. Companies need to understand and give their employees space to work on their terms, especially those in the front seat. The demand for Snyder Cut is an example of why employees need to be respected. This goes for both MCU and DCEU. While the last two Avengers were successful despite Whedon leaving, it was due to the Russo brothers from MCU itself taking up the charge. Imagine Snyder was given the task of another ‘Avengers’.

 

Now that both DCEU and MCU have promising movies in their line up, as an audience and a fan of superhero movies, I can only wait to see what is in store for the two giant production houses. Hoping to see both the universe flourishing and having an exhaustive list of options to choose from.

 

 

 

Cover Image courtesy: Google