DC Studios THREAD - GunnVerse Begins - Chapter ONE: Gods & Monsters

DC movies, tv and comics obsession with Cyborg is bizarre to me.
It's either 1 of 2 things. Either somebody at WB/DC really advocates and loves the character and they are in a position of power, or they are trying to shoehorn in a black character and the only known black D.C. Heroes are Static, GL Jon or Cyborg. And they can't use static due to licensing issues.
Geoff John's and the rest of DC comics editorial realized with Marvel's movie success right when they were planning the New52 that they needed a prominent black superhero. They don't have one with any long history AT ALL. Not from the 30s to the 60s.

There were legal and maybe some other internal issues with Black Lightning and the creator. John's is a huge Hal Jordan fanboy so it wasn't going to be John Stewart. They passed on Vixen and making Martian Manhunter's human identity black was probably an idea they wanted to commit to. I can't really think of any other superhero that's black that's at least B-list they could push that isn't. A legacy character. They'd have to basically turn a white hero black.

So they went with the 80s Cyborg who was never really developed enough but enough of a clean slate they could fold in to the JL origin. As mentioned maybe any fans he has would carry over. Plus I guess the young hero learning the ropes is an easier character type to interject in to the team instead of a well established hero which would create new character dynamics. Also they kicked MM out. Plus clearly for the movies they made Flash young as well and GL doesn't appear to be a founding member.
 
Not sure if it had anything to do with him being black or not, but I'm sure it had more to do with finding their tech advanced super hero, just like Iron Man.

My take:

Batman - The Detective

Superman - The Alien

Wonder Woman - The Goddess

Flash - The Meta Human

Cyborg - Tech force

As cool as Batman's tech is, it's not nearly as capable as what Cyborg can do...
 
Not sure if it had anything to do with him being black or not, but I'm sure it had more to do with finding their tech advanced super hero, just like Iron Man.

My take:
Batman - The Detective
Superman - The Alien
Wonder Woman - The Goddess
Flash - The Meta Human
Cyborg - Tech force

As cool as Batman's tech is, it's not nearly as capable as what Cyborg can do...
I think it's that they've been pushing Cyborg for years now as their black character is what I was getting at. He was going to be the de facto choice for JL no matter what

DC movies, tv and comics obsession with Cyborg is bizarre to me.
It's either 1 of 2 things. Either somebody at WB/DC really advocates and loves the character and they are in a position of power, or they are trying to shoehorn in a black character and the only known black D.C. Heroes are Static, GL Jon or Cyborg. And they can't use static due to licensing issues.
Geoff John's and the rest of DC comics editorial realized with Marvel's movie success right when they were planning the New52 that they needed a prominent black superhero. They don't have one with any long history AT ALL. Not from the 30s to the 60s.

There were legal and maybe some other internal issues with Black Lightning and the creator. John's is a huge Hal Jordan fanboy so it wasn't going to be John Stewart. They passed on Vixen and making Martian Manhunter's human identity black was probably an idea they wanted to commit to. I can't really think of any other superhero that's black that's at least B-list they could push that isn't. A legacy character. They'd have to basically turn a white hero black.

So they went with the 80s Cyborg who was never really developed enough but enough of a clean slate they could fold in to the JL origin. As mentioned maybe any fans he has would carry over. Plus I guess the young hero learning the ropes is an easier character type to interject in to the team instead of a well established hero which would create new character dynamics. Also they kicked MM out. Plus clearly for the movies they made Flash young as well and GL doesn't appear to be a founding member.

Black lightning is getting his own show on CW. Static is the one with the rights messed up

And yeah the list of black heroes is short.

Static- rights are weird

Black lightning- relegated to TV

Firestorm- also on TV

Vixen- cartoon

Cyborg- ding ding ding

John Stewart- isn't the preferred JL but he is in new Gl movie

Mr Terrific- somewhat obscure but he could've been the watchtower guy

Aqualad: Cartoon created. Could maybe be in the Aquaman movie

I would have no issue with them either creating a new hero or converting a lesser used white character and convert them

They could've had hawkgirl/hawkman or Captain atom instead of Cyborg and make them black
 
Last edited:
Vixen would have been cool, Same with Mr. Terrific.


I WISH Static would appear in a movie. I'd go see the movie 10 times.
 
Not sure if it had anything to do with him being black or not, but I'm sure it had more to do with finding their tech advanced super hero, just like Iron Man.
:lol: For 75 years what did the JL do without their advanced tech guy like Iron Man?

No offense the rest of your take doesn't even address and/or fit in with the need you're saying Cyborg provides.

He's the tech guy but Superman is just the alien? :lol:

You need to step back and look at optics. Their main JL squad was gonna be all white with a green guy. They needed some diversity.
 
Last edited:
Black lightning is getting his own show on CW. Static is the one with the rights messed up
No. Go look it up.

There were legal issues with Black Lightning's creator Tony Isabella for over a decade with DC which just resulted in his low profile and irregular use. Claims that Isabella owned the character and it wasn't work for hire, the major dislike for how his character used by other creators, etc. They've just patched things up.

There is no rights issue with Static. Static is not a DC character. DC does not own him at all. Static is a Milestone Media character who was basically leased to DC through a distribution deal. Even then he wssnt used a lot cuz the Milestone creators had final say on Static's use.
 
Wouldn't call this a race issue. More of a Cyborg issue. DC has black characters period and it's not a matter of prominence if a B-string guy like Cyborg is on the cinematic JL lineup.

I also don't really believe in an agenda to "push" Cyborg on the fans. They added him to the JL in 2011 and he's in Injustice, a few animated movies, and TT Go.

All would be forgiven on my end if they choose Jon as the Earth-stationed, JL affiliated Green Lantern. Have Hal be the grizzled vet in space on long-term assignment and Jon be the result of the guardians needing to have someone stationed on Earth due to the constant and escalating threats, they literally plucked an angry young black architect off the streets :lol: (a la the comics)
 
DC needed a non-white character, they chose Cyborg. Simple as that. There's then been a clear trend of them giving him far more prominence in the last few years than they ever did in the previous twenty. He want from only being on the Teen Titans to featuring in the Justice League comics. Beyond that comic, they've now given him his own solo title, the first the character has ever had, along with placing him on the JLA in the animation department as well. Y'all are lying to yourselves if you don't think this is the case, because there's not a single thing that Cyborg brings to the team that various other characters, who have actually been on the JLA before now, don't also bring. :lol: They completely reworked his origin with the New 52, throwing in Boom Tube/New God technology, just to make him being on the team more plausible, because without that the idea of Cyborg standing alongside these other guys is even sillier and DC knew it.
 
Last edited:
Cyborg is in JL because they were developing these movies during the New 52 where he was retconned to be a founding member. Gotta have that synergy.

Just like the comics I could see them expanding the roster with each sequel. I wouldn't be surprised to see Vixen or Ryan Choi or Black Canary eventually. I kind of want to see both John AND Hal on the roster because they have two GL's on the Rebirth squad and it would be a dope dynamic.



DC needed a non-white character, they chose Cyborg. Simple as that. There's then been a clear trend of them giving him far more prominence in the last few years than they ever did in the previous twenty. He want from only being on the Teen Titans to featuring in the Justice League comics. Beyond that comic, they've now given him his own solo title, the first the character has ever had, along with placing him on the JLA in the animation department as well. Y'all are lying to yourselves if you can't see the trend here.

Cyborg had an ongoing during DCYou, but it didn't last past 12 issues. The current Rebirth ongoing isn't doing that well either.
 
DC needed a non-white character, they chose Cyborg. Simple as that. There's then been a clear trend of them giving him far more prominence in the last few years than they ever did in the previous twenty. He want from only being on the Teen Titans to featuring in the Justice League comics. Beyond that comic, they've now given him his own solo title, the first the character has ever had, along with placing him on the JLA in the animation department as well. Y'all are lying to yourselves if you can't see the trend here.

Cyborg had an ongoing during DCYou, but it didn't last past 12 issues. The current Rebirth ongoing isn't doing that well either.

That's the series I was talking about. I assumed that the current one was just a continuation of that one, in the same way that the current Batman run, even with a new writer, is following the events of the previous one under Scott Snyder.
 
I never bought it, so I'm not sure, but I think it was cancelled and dead for several months. Maybe one of the 10 people who bought it is an NTer and can fill us in. :lol:
 
Again, it's a Cyborg issue. From an admittedly limited pool of black heroes, a less-than-naturally compelling character was chosen when others were certainly available. And like I said, before this wouldn't be an issue with superbly written narratives centered around Cyborg,and maybe if the character looked cooler period, but hey.

I forgot to take into account that the cinematic JL was likely conceptualized around the time they were still retconning Cyborg as a founding JL member across the other media
 
Wouldn't call this a race issue. More of a Cyborg issue. DC has black characters period and it's not a matter of prominence if a B-string guy like Cyborg is on the cinematic JL lineup.

I also don't really believe in an agenda to "push" Cyborg on the fans. They added him to the JL in 2011 and he's in Injustice, a few animated movies, and TT Go.

All would be forgiven on my end if they choose Jon as the Earth-stationed, JL affiliated Green Lantern. Have Hal be the grizzled vet in space on long-term assignment and Jon be the result of the guardians needing to have someone stationed on Earth due to the constant and escalating threats, they literally plucked an angry young black architect off the streets :lol: (a la the comics)
To me it's undeniable that they're pushing Cyborg to be in the level of the rest of the JL. As lame as his reputation is, Aquaman is a household name.

To me it was totally a race issue. JL is all white, they decided that would be the goal and focal point in movies and elsewhere. That had to change. They did it in 2011 cuz they were planning ahead for the DCEU. Notice all the cartoons and movies reflect each other except for the tv shows mainly focused on all white heroes.

How can it be a Cyborg thing? Can you name a black A-list DC owned superhero that isn't a GL? :nerd: You think if they had someone like that they'd still pick Cyborg? :lol:

Cyborg was the next best thing unfortunately. Nobody gives a **** about him like that. If Cyborg was white you'd think he'd get retconned in to being a JL founder right now? I'm just talking from an optics standpoint.

They had a specific task (race was involved), felt Cyborg fit it or was the best of what they had and then went about pushing him hard. It's just nowhere as good.

Marvel did the same thing when they let Bendis do him on Avengers and New Avengers. Son raised the profile of Luke Cage (and others) like crazy. The difference from DC is Marvel saw a lot of success and interest with those changes and they had way more lead in time from the MCU exploding. Its been like a 10 year effort.

DC needed a non-white character, they chose Cyborg. Simple as that. There's then been a clear trend of them giving him far more prominence in the last few years than they ever did in the previous twenty. He want from only being on the Teen Titans to featuring in the Justice League comics. Beyond that comic, they've now given him his own solo title, the first the character has ever had, along with placing him on the JLA in the animation department as well. Y'all are lying to yourselves if you don't think this is the case, because there's not a single thing that Cyborg brings to the team that various other characters, who have actually been on the JLA before now, don't also bring. :lol: They completely reworked his origin with the New 52, throwing in Boom Tube/New God technology, just to make him being on the team more plausible, because without that the idea of Cyborg standing alongside these other guys is even sillier and DC knew it.
I'll repeat myself but I would've respected the initiative more if they just created a new black magic based character and worked on that character the past 6-7 years. An added plus if it's a female.

That's what the JL team lacks. Could even form a connection to JLD.

Nothing about Cyborg on his own pre-retcons scream yeah this guy needs to make the jump to the elite team of DC. Son was created before Robocop and the Borg but they are more popular or more threatening.

Now I'm looking at movie stills and promo posters and set pics getting the same feeling when I see him I got fro. Ryan Reynolds GL.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom