There is talk out there that Warner Bros. and the DC cinematic universe may be looking beyond the Batman sandbox and the super-serious nature of their current films, and livening things up with a Booster Gold/Blue Beetle team-up that would be styled as a superhero buddy cop comedy.

According to Tracking Board, Greg Berlanti is set to direct and executive produce, with Sarah Schechter also executive producing. Berlanti, of course, basically kickstarted the current wave of DC TV properties with Arrow, elevating a little-known comic character to primetime. The Flash has also been a huge success, and the CW is also doubling down with another spinoff, Legends of Tomorrow (plus, there’s the new Supergirl series coming to CBS, also under Berlanti’s wing).

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But Booster Gold and Blue Beetle, you say? Well, one reason the Marvel cinematic universe has been so successful is because it has taken (not because it initially would have chosen to, but it was a rights issue) characters out of the comic mainstream and made them stars (Thor, Iron Man, now Ant-Man, Black Panther, and Captain Marvel). DC has still been mainly focusing on its huge legacy properties of Batman and Superman, which has been both good and bad. Profitable so far, but maybe not creatively sustainable (as far as expanding the universe).

Booster Gold is kind of like DC’s Iron Man — he’s a showboat personality and former sports star from the future who uses his knowledge of historical events plus futuristic technology to engineer heroic moments. And Blue Beetle is a.k.a. tech genius Ted Kord, who uses his inventions to fight crime.

So, this kind of comedic team-up with lesser-knowns could be the right kind of move for DC, especially since Booster Gold is a member of the Justice League, and could appear in that crossover as well. Booster Gold has also been a character that has been in consideration for the small screen for a long time, with Berlanti pitching a show based around him to Syfy in the past, as well as rumors that he (and Blue Beetle) might appear on Legends of Tomorrow (at the time “something bigger” was hinted at, and this seems like it could be it).


There is also the potential, according to TB, that Zak Penn (The Avengers) could leave Marvel and go work for DC in regards to writing this movie, if and when it happens. But these kinds of rumors all piling up at once seem to suggest there’s a good possibility of it coming together. If so, it seems like the right move for DC — or at least, a worthy experiment. One of the things that has made The Flash such a successful series (and so accessible even for only mild comic book fans) is its more playful tone. Serious things happen and real emotions are broached, but The Flash is also just a fun show. It would be nice to see some of that fun brought into the DC cinematic universe as well.

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