DC Comics TV & Movies: Should There Be Continuity?

Within the past few weeks, DC and Warner Bros. TV have decided to surprise fans by announcing two television shows based off of DC properties, the first being Gotham, developed over at FOX by Rome showrunner Bruno Heller, and the second being Constantine, produced by Man Of Steel’s David Goyer at NBC. A few months back, The CW announced that The Flash would be coming on to Arrow in hopes of spinning off into his own series.

Combined, that’s a possible four different Warner Bros television shows based off of DC Comics properties we could have on the air by the end of 2014 on three different networks, and with Amazon not quite dead and the Warner Bros. CEO teasing big plans for DC Comics on television, we wonder: Would continuity between the shows on different networks really matter?

Yes, Marvel has Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on television, a series based off of their feature film The Avengers, but the show runners seemingly feel the need to exercise continuity a bit too much by throwing in references to film and it’s universe to ensure that we know it’s part of a bigger brand. Why do they do this? Perhaps it’s because Marvel is trying to get new viewers of the series to ‘Google’ these references and purchase their movies. But if S.H.I.E.L.D. stood alone (whilst still being in the same universe), could it be successful?

We do know that Arrow and The Flash are within in the same universe simply because the latter is spinning off of the former, but they also share the same network, which makes it easier for spinoffs. For example, The CW has also spun The Originals off of The Vampire Diaries and there’s also a yet-to-be titled Supernatural spinoff in development as well.

Could Gotham and Constantine fit in with the universe of Arrow and The Flash’s universe? Probably, but since networks don’t play nice with each other, we’d probably see zero-continuity between the four besides petty and sly references, akin to how Marvel and FOX or Sony can’t put Spider-Man or The X-Men in an Avengers film. However, if there’s one thing that Warner Bros. could use to their advantage, it’s DC Comics. Using DC Comics as a device can ensure that on-screen continuity isn’t a problem to them, as long as Warner Bros. tell the show runners not to recast or reuse a character in a certain way or to highly contradict an event.

How could DC Comics create a continuity, you say? DC Comics has a lineup they call “Digital-First”, which publishes a ten page-per-issue comic series every week for one dollar. The majority of these books are based off of an already-existing DC franchise (Injustice; Arrow; Smallville; Batman Beyond) and has outsold some of DC’s print comics and is also critically-praised as well. Who is to say that DC won’t launch tie-in books for The Flash, Constantine and Gotham as well? It’s very highly likely that they will, and since this is comics and not television, a crossover or intertwining stories with references could totally work and it would only drive the audience from one show to the other, which is also a benefit of continuity. However, continuity can also restrict the show runners from telling stories in their free will with characters they want to use. For example, if Gotham and Arrow are in the same canon, Gotham has no right to use Firefly, since his story was already told in full on Arrow, and Deadshot can’t be used in Gotham unless it’s a prequel to Arrow.

For producers, the ability to stand alone is likely what everyone wants. They really want to tell their stories their own way and don’t want to be restricted by someone else’s continuity, and while this may not be a problem for comic books, it certainly is with television, especially considering one network may not agree with the casting choice or direction a character has gone on the other network, so they have the full right to recast or rewrite. Andrew Kreisberg once mentioned that his SyFy Booster Gold series would have a mention of “the hood” and “Starling City,” but later said that Ted Kord would probably appear on both shows with two different actors. I feel though, that continuity would work and these shows would be able to standalone even with themselves being canon within each other. It builds the larger (and smaller) characters of the DC universe while the money makers stay head-on with a film franchise that millions will pay money to see. Depending on where Bruno Heller is going with Gotham, there could be literally almost no restrictions with the show being canon to the new Batman universe, as long as he is in co-ordinance with David Goyer, Zack Snyder and the people who produce the next Batman film. Would it matter if Gordon is played by a younger actor in the series? Not really. Also, David Goyer’s involvement with Constantine could prove that the show could, eventually, be in-continuity with the film franchise if he pleases.

It could also be fun if each network came up with their mini-continuity for the DC shows. For example, what if Zatanna spun-off from Constantine and eventually led to Del Toro’s Justice League Dark movie? What if Gotham spun off into any Batman-related TV show? The pairs would be successful  and money makers, but could also be referenced or even show up in the feature films and the mixed audience of the DC television shows would know who they are. There are plenty of disadvantages and advantages for both.

In the end, continuity or not, each show will target a different base of fans, and ventually, DC Comics will have a place in everyone’s homes on television. That is ultimately a sure-fire win.

I leave you on this question: Does continuity actually matter to you?

It didn’t seem to bother people that Smallville and Superman Returns or Birds of Prey were in separate continuities, but now we live in an era where Marvel has increased the expectations. Would The Graysons or Deadman have been in continuity with Smallville? Maybe, because they would have been on the same network. Would fans have been irked 

if Tom Welling’s Clark Kent didn’t show up on the Aquaman series had it gone past the pilot? What if all DC shows were connected, but didn’t act as if they were? All things to think about. What do you think? Leave some comments below.