So…The Avengers is a “hit”…What’s DC gonna do about it?

I was on the fence for a while about posting this. My panic stemmed from the thought of someone at DC reading this, taking my advice and beating the pants off of any future Marvel Studios movies.

Then I realized - this isn’t about which company’s films make the most money…

It isn’t about which films are “better” or more successful…

This is about The Avengers proving once and for all that the Super-Hero genre of film is here to stay and will continue to be tapped for the rest of time…like Sci-Fi, Western, Horror, Rom-Com, etc…

So here is the open letter I wrote over a week ago and stressed about…until now.

Dear DC.,

I’m a Marvel Zombie from the eighties. I knew the universe inside-out, upside-down and sideways. Your stuff…not so much.

But I’m a fan of your characters and some of your films, but even more so – I’m a fan of the genre. Any successful film that can be added to the “comic-book movie” roster is a boon for us all (i.e. Sin City, and Hellboy)

So while I expect the awesomeness that is the “Marvel Cinematic Universe” to continue expanding for the next five or six millennia, I offer you some helpful hints to get your “stuff” together, your heads in the game and your DCMU on the screen…

1) Forget the Summer Blockbuster

Just look at Marvel’s schedule. They’ve got releases set for FCBD weekends and summers overall for the next 3 years. Don’t even try to fight it. Let it go and focus on the other high-volume movie season of the year – Christmas.

Remember - Superman: The Movie came out near Christmas, 1978. True, Thor 2 is slated to come out next November, but then Marvel would be treading onto your turf. What other cinematic competition exists? Oscar-nomination hopefuls? There’s nothing wrong with mixing a little Super-Heroic action in amongst sappy dramas.

‘Tis the season. Own It.

2) Forget about the real world

In your comics, you have Gotham and Chicago, Metropolis and New York.

Stop it.

Don’t do it in your movies. Marvel’s all over the real world. Embrace your fictional Earth so you can begin building your fictional universe. Let Bruce Wayne train in Nanda Parbat. Have a young Dick Grayson meet Boston Brand at a circus in Central City. Make Tim Drake attend a “Detective’s Convention” seminar by Ralph Dibny in Metropolis.

3) Convince Warner Bros. to get off the pot

Warner had the potential to be the predecessor to Marvel Studios by decades. Marvel knew it, you guys knew it, your fans knew it…

…but they’ve dropped the ball too many times.

Green Lantern was their shot. They had their marketing machine behind it…their full support…their influence. In short, they had too many of their fingers in the pie. Don’t forget, Warner wasn’t even supportive of Superman: The Movie....at first.

Take matters into your own hands. Get whatever you need to make it happen and start from scratch on your own terms.

4) Start small

Whatever you do, don’t start with your big three. Build up to them. I’ve been itching for a World’s Finest type film for twenty years. Other fans even longer. Guess what, we’ll wait some more - as long as we see some headway in that direction. Word is, you’re working on Flash and Lobo as possibilities. My opinion? Start with Flash…he’s been known to kick-start an Age or two.

5) Verisimilitude

It’s what made Superman: The Movie work - full and complete belief.

Nolan proved it again with his Batman Begins trilogy (which is awesome by the way), but I’m sure he cut a deal stipulating that there would be no “outside influence” in his films. No Metropolis, no Coast City, no Apokolips – nothing of your ‘verse beyond Batman. Which is okay, but does nothing to help establish your overall presence in cinema.

Healthy competition is one of the things that has built the medium of comics to its present level, and has been a driving force between you and Marvel. Only now it has sprawled over to another powerful form of entertainment. The bar has been raised.

Step up!