Why DC’s raunchy, R-rated new superheroes are more popular than Zack Snyder’s serious attempts

By Chris Snellgrove | Published 27 seconds ago

I have a somewhat embarrassing fanboy confession: I love Peacemakerand I particularly like James Gunn’s R-rated take on superhero stories. The vulgarity, nudity and ultraviolence made this show incredibly popular.

This brings us to an obvious question: why did audiences (myself included) take this dark approach to superhero stories when everyone else rejected Zack Snyder’s grim and gritty DC superhero films? The straightforward answer to this question is that James Gunn creates mature stories aimed at intelligent adults, and the Snyder era has focused almost entirely on appealing to teenage overlords.

The art of darkness

Before Zack Snyder fans start throwing things, hear me out: the DCEU started out as a darker alternative to the MCU, which sounds great on paper because some of the best comic book stories ever told (from Guardians has Return of the Dark Knight) are remarkably dark. But these stories were only dark because the writers wanted to tackle adult themes like authoritarianism, hero worship, and the razor-thin line between good and evil.

However, the DCEU never really did that, instead presenting a series of really stupid moments created just for shock value, like Superman killing someone in his very first film. Or Lex Luthor blowing up Congress after sending a woman a jar of his own piss. Or Batman, the character who doesn’t kill, simply executing enemy after enemy in Batman v Superman.

An audience of Edgelords

Let’s be honest with ourselves: none of all of this was done to advance the characters or deliver a satisfying story. Instead, all of this was written to shock the audience into thinking they were watching something mature…or at least, a 90s teen Edgelord’s idea of ​​maturity. But what James Gunn effortlessly demonstrates with Peacemaker is that it takes more than just shock value to create a mature story.

Obviously, Peacemaker is full of its own shocking moments that range from naked orgies at our hero’s house to the murder of his own interdimensional doppelganger. Oh, and the absolutely crazy reveal that Peacemaker’s new favorite dimension is filled with nothing but racist Nazis. But even in its stupidest form, Peacemaker does not present these moments simply to shock or titillate the viewer; instead, they all tie into the development of our titular main character.

Zack Snyder ruined your childhood

For example, Peacemaker stages a drug-fueled orgy because Harcourt is not interested in him, which leads him to the discovery of a new dimension where he must fight and kill a version of himself who, incidentally, also has a drug problem. The revelation of the Nazi world helps demonstrate the stupidity of our main character (he doesn’t notice important things like everyone at ARGUS having copies of Mein Kampf and the building having a huge mural of Hitler) and the bittersweet decision he must face. Ultimately, Peacemaker realizes that it is better to be a depressed hero in his own world than to live in a dimension where his happiness depends on the suffering of millions of people.

Simply put, every shocking moment Peacemaker moves the story and characters forward in every way. For example, Peacemaker’s Justice Gang interview is filled with vulgar jokes, but it helps to further reveal what a jerk Guy Gardner is while also explaining why Peacemaker doesn’t join the world’s most famous team of heroes.

In the DCEU, shocking moments come at the expense of our favorite characters. Can we all agree that Batman and Superman both become murderers, making fans like them? lessno more.

And seeing Superman commit a hundred 9/11 attacks while fighting Zod doesn’t make him seem like a hero. If anything, it just makes us more sympathetic towards Lex Luthor for wanting to kill this reckless alien demigod before he accidentally breaks the world in two. And when DC’s attempts to make its heroes dark and realistic make the supervillains look like the good guys, it’s clear that this attempt at creating a dark cinematic universe is a complete failure.

James Gunn: leader of Crass

Peacemaker isn’t a perfect series, but it proves that it’s possible to create R-rated comic book stories without ruining the characters and sabotaging the universe like the DCEU did. There’s nothing wrong with creating grim, realistic stories, but what’s the point if you’re just trying to create something that only dumb teenagers would find cool? The DCEU collapsed because it bet everything on shocking moments that almost fatally poisoned the brand, leaving James Gunn to build a new cinematic universe from scratch.

In a final irony, it will take a man obsessed with asshole jokes to create the most astonishingly mature cinematic universe in Hollywood history. That maturity didn’t stop him from creating a lighter, funnier world, which was so successful in large part because the DCEU tried so hard to be dark. Ultimately, James Gunn keeps winning because he makes movies and shows for actual adults, while Zack Snyder focuses almost entirely on pleasing teenage internet trolls.